Ordinary Versus

Australians are waiting for their major political players to make an impact before the Federal Elections, but

BY MAMTA

For India and the Indian-Australian community here, the federal elections on August 21 will be particularly interesting for several reasons. These include the issues of supply of uranium to India, the recent changes to immigration policies, as well safety and security of the thousands of Indian students here.

To sense the political sentiment within the Indian-Australian community, Indian Link conducted an in-house election survey, asking 100 registered voters their choice of party and candidate. They were also asked other questions like which party they think would be better for Indo-Oz relationships and their views on circumstances which led to this election.

The results were interesting. While the community has historically leaned towards Labor, the balance of power seems to have shifted. Perhaps not completely in favour of the Liberals, but the odds are being evened. However it is clear that indecision is in the air, and in this, the Indian community joins the rest of the country in trying to figure out exactly who could be best for the general good of Australia. At the time of going to press on August 2, figures on Newspoll indicate that the Liberals and Labor are split 50-50.

Liberals lead, Labor follows

While a section of Indian Australians (27%) seemed undecided when asked about which political party they currently supported, the majority (39%) supported the Liberals. This is largely in the hope that they will offer better policies and services for the Indian-Australian community and the India-Oz relationship as compared to Labor, which managed to get only 24% of the community’s support.

“Though they have not done well in the past, I currently support the Liberals and believe that this time around they will be better for the Indian Australian community in dealing with issues like immigration policies and student safety,” says Ashok Sharma.

“I support the Liberals as Labor’s policies are not good when it comes to Indian student issues and immigration. When Julia Gillard was the education minister, she took some really bad decisions,” claims Sheela Singh. From the community’s viewpoint, Gillard as education minister totally mishandled the international students’ situation, which affected a large number of Indian students in Australia.

However, many respondents thought that the Liberals lacked a good leader in Tony Abbott. “I will support the Liberals, but they don’t have a proper leader in Tony Abbott,” says Avinash. “Change Tony Abbott, I will vote for the Liberals,” adds another critic.

Another category felt that both parties were no good but when it comes to choosing between two devils, they would rather go with the Liberals than Labor!

With the debate over a sustainable population and immigration levels a central theme of this election, Labor has certainly been no friend to India or Indian-origin voters. Under fire for its non-friendly policies towards India like students’ safety, the Visa Capping Bill and the sale of uranium fiasco, Labor received just 24 % votes with most supporting Julia Gillard and her promises for the future, instead of cribbing over what she had done in the past.

Looking forward to better policies from Labor in the future, Apoorva says, “I am not thinking of Labor’s past policies. I find their campaigning agenda very promising, and I see a good leader in Julia, rather than Tony Abbott”. Interestingly, the Labor party became the obvious choice for some, thanks to Tony Abbott. “Because Abbott represents the Liberals, Julia becomes my obvious choice, and hence the Labor party. Abbott has been responsible for some really bad decisions in the past, like in the health sector,” says Priyanka.

Going for Green?

Toiling along dutifully on environmentally friendly policies and sticking to issues they’ve long campaigned, the Greens may not have raised a great deal of national attention, but they are still making an increasing impact. 10% of the respondents were overwhelmingly in favour of the Greens.

Predicting the party to be the “future of Australia”, Jayashankar feels that Greens will win a big majority in Victoria, as they have made some good decisions. “Being an environmentally friendly party will certainly help,” he adds.

Anupam Suri has also decided to support the Greens, but simply because he doesn’t find any of the other major political parties worth voting for. “Though I don’t find all their policies practical, at least they can unite with the majority party and move them towards a bit of good work,” he says.

“I would like to vote for the Greens, but they don’t have the maturity yet to lead this nation,” confesses Debbie F. “Their policies should be more broad-based and should focus more on defence and international issues, rather than just on environmental ones.”

The Greens are gathering their forces, and it is possible that they’ll be a significant factor to both the Liberals and Labor, if the race is set for a close finish.

However, a whopping 47% of the respondents felt dissatisfied with the choice of parties. IndianAustralians in general are disappointed and dissatisfied at the way the leading political parties are reaching out to the community. 33% responded that political involvement in community affairs didn’t affect them and 20% were unsure.

Community issues

Respondents were asked who they thought would be the better power in relation to India-specific issues, such as safety for Indian students and the recently reviewed immigration policies. By and large, 41% supported the Liberals, as best equipped to offer more practical policies, but 32% went with Labor, in the hope of better policies in the future. However, a highly frustrated 27% were vehement that none of the parties will tackle these issues or support these causes.

“No matter which brand of milk I buy, I know it will be tasteless and with little or no nutritional value,” says one angry voter.

“No one will benefit from these elections except the government and the political parties themselves. We will have to pay taxes as usual. The government operates for big enterprises and business people, but not for retirees and the poor,” says Ashok Kumar.

Kicking out Kevin

How did respondents feel about Labor’s seemingly ruthless ousting of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard’s subsequent slither into the seat of power? About 40% of the respondents were negatively influenced by the way he was treated, and this has influenced their decision to not vote for Labor.

“So what if it was an internal matter of the party? Julia may not be directly responsible for the action but she was a part of it. If she did not support the decision she could have backed out, but she did not do so. It was really wrong on her part to do what she did,” says Ashutosh.

“My vote goes for the Liberals. Apart from