Indian Link Survey on 2010 Federal Elections

1. Which political party do you support at this point in time?

Labor Liberal Greens Not decided 24% 39% 10% 27%

2. Which Party would be better for the Indian-Australian community?

Labor Liberal None 32% 41% 27%

3. Which party do you think will work towards better relations between India and Australia?

Liberal Labor None Greens 37% 32% 30% 1%

4. Are you satisfied with the manner in which the leading political parties are reaching out to the Indian community? Yes No Not sure 33% 47% 20%

5. Who will make the better prime minister Julia Gillard Tony Abbott Neither 57 % 26% 17%

6. How much is your decision influenced by the manner in which Kevin Rudd was removed as PM by Julia Gillard?

* Positively influenced: I liked the strength she showed 17%

* Did not matter to me at all 43%

* Negatively influenced: I thought Kevin Rudd was wrongly treated by Julia Gillard 40%

7. How much has state politics influenced your decision? * A little 14%

* A lot 20%

* Has not influenced my decision at all 66%

8. Which party do you think will support the Indian students’ issues relating to safety and immigration?

Liberal Labor None 41% 36% 23%

9. Which party do you think will offer better immigration policies to migrants?

Liberal Labor None 41% 32% 19%

10. Is your vote influenced because Julia Gillard is a woman? Yes No 15% 85% the spate of debacles that Labor has produced, the manner in which Julia removed Kevin Rudd from power also helped me decide. It was so very wrong. I personally hate people who backstab and what Julia did was a kind of backstabbing,” claims Sujeet.

“You can’t trust her because of how she ditched Kevin Rudd,” says Savita. Interestingly, it did not matter to a majority of people (43%) who said that they couldn’t judge if it was wrong or right as “it was an internal matter of the party, and it knew what was best for them.” voters.

And surprisingly, 17% people were positively influenced by the entire episode. “It shows what a hard politician she is, not leading on emotions,” says Srinivas.

“In these times, it does not really matter whether you are a woman or a man, because basically, you are a politician first. There’s no way that Julia being a woman will affect my voting decision. I will vote for her as I support the Labor Party, and not because she is a woman,” says Sreedhar.

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

Kevin Rudd found a supporter in Partha, among others. “I supported Labor until Kevin Rudd was removed in that manner. But not any more! I would have voted for Labor if it was Kevin Rudd, and not Julia,” he claims, echoing similar sentiments of many others.

Who will make a better Prime Minister?

The Federal Elections seem to be shaping up more as a contest between Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott’s political styles and personal values, rather than between Labor and Liberal.

Besides, both leaders’ move up into their current roles has not been inspiring. Gillard ousted her leader while Abbott gained ascendancy over Malcolm Turnbull by just one vote. Gillard’s policies on education and the youth seem uninformed, while Abbott has the unfortunate tendency for a politician, to say in honesty, things that come back to bite him.

So when we put the big question of who will make a better PM, a whooping 57% of the respondents showed confidence in Julia Gillard, but Tony Abbott trailed with 26% votes. The balance 17% thought both would fare equally badly as leader of Australia.

Another supporter of Labor and Julia Gillard has probably the best reason to not be influenced by her gender while voting. “Why will my vote be influenced because she’s a women? I am married, you see,” laughs Singh.

The balance 15% of respondents, however, did not deny the fact that gender does play a role in politics.

“Gender has a role to play in politics. If you look back at the history of Indian politics, there was a blind vote bank from women for India’s first woman Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, and she very cleverly used that emotion in her favour,” says Kapoor.

Fitting finale

So while Julia Gillard appears as a promising leader to some, the majority favour the Liberals who they feel are a reassuring government. Liberals have shown support for India-related issues like the sale of uranium, which the nation has been promoting for a long time now. There are others who see Australia’s future with the Greens, and finally, there are the ones for whom the election is all about “two imperfect parties with two flawed leaders”. Unfortunately, there’s not much one can do about that, because voting is compulsory in Australia, unless you have a sufficient and valid reason for not doing so. Says Sukhbir, “It is sad to see that there is no party worth voting for. However, I have to vote, to avoid paying the $20 fine. How I wish I could vote both parties, Labor and Liberal, and cancel my vote!” But we hope he can make up his mind by August 21.

Gillard’s policies on education and the youth seem uninformed, while Abbott has the unfortunate tendency for a politician, to say in honesty, things that come back to bite him

“Julia will make a better Prime Minister any day! I find her really confident and firm with her decisions, and way more dynamic than Tony Abbott. She is a hard politician and that’s what a leader should be like,” says Amit Singh.

“At least Julia doesn’t have her own agenda. She will definitely be a better leader than Tony Abbott,” adds another.

However, Jagdish Kapoor does not agree. “Julia Gillard is an inexperienced person for the job. She is just like a raw fruit which is sour, and is yet to ripen!” he claims.

Gender Politics?

So how significant is the fact that Julia Gillard will make a better Prime Minister because she’s a woman? And this is one of our most surprising statistics. A whopping 85% of the respondents claimed that Julia Gillard being a woman does not affect their decision to vote for her as the better leader of the country. In fact, a female PM ruling Australia seems like a commonsense idea to many

Amit Singh a mature voter, felt it was time the Indian-Australian community took a voting decision on the basis of what was good for Australia, and not the community alone. “I am sorry to say that hype has been created around the immigration issues and the racial attacks etc., with respect to Indian community here. If one goes into detail, one will realize that the reality is not what it is made out to be... the immigration policies of Labor don’t tell Indian students particularly to not come to Australia. It’s high time we understood the larger picture of an issue before jumping to conclusions,” he says.

The Indian Link survey covered but a fraction of the community, and we are sure opinions will differ as August 21 draws closer. Political pundits are reluctant to predict an outcome to this race in which neither candidate inspires confidence, not just from the Australian voters, but even from within their own party. In this we have to agree with John Kenneth Galbraith’s quote: Politics is not the art of the possible. It consists in choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable.