ELECTIONS 2018:

PREETI JABBAL talks to a few Indian-origin candidates in the upcoming state elections

Family violence. Lack of infrastructure. Migrant women’s empowerment. Family concerns. Passion for community work. A variety of issues have motivated members of our community to take the plunge into state politics.

What convinced you to join the party of your choice?

Tarang Chawla: I am an independent. I do not belong to one of the major parties. I am not affiliated with Labor, Liberal or the Greens. The reason I maintain political independence is because problem solving issues which impact on people’s lives is more significant than towing the party line. The structure of the major parties does not allow politicians to represent the best interests of the people. It demands they support the party line, to the detriment of the voting public. The voting public are not sheep, but the people who represent them lack vision. They are busy arguing with each other instead of doing the work.

I have campaigned to end violence against women since my sister Nikita was murdered in 2015. In the last three weeks, 11 women have been murdered in Australia. It will take courage and leadership from government to change this awful statistic, which affects our Indian community.

That leadership is missing and that is why I am running for public office.

One thing which sticks out is the lack of Indian-origin politicians. Although Indianorigin candidates sometimes run for one of the major parties, they are usually preselected in unwinnable seats. I am the first Indian-origin independent.

Arnav Sati: I am contesting as an independent candidate to stand against the neglect that Tarneit electorate faces by both sides of politics as it is a safe Labor seat. There is a strong need to make Tarneit marginal, so that we get adequate funding to address and resolve local infrastructure issues that are worsening into a major crisis. The electorate has also witnessed both a rorting MP and a parachuted candidate contesting from Labor party.

Nildhara Gadani: I have been working in the community for many years. My passion is working for women’s empowerment, especially in a migrant context. I met with many people who guided me through my journey. Jasvinder Sidhu, who is an active member of the Australian Labor Party encouraged me to set up a women’s association and invited me to various political forums. I really connected with Labor policies and in 2016 with encourage from Jasvinder and many others, I ran for City of Whitehorse council elections. I received lots of assistance and guidance from Labor in my community projects, and it was a gradual decision to join the ALP.

Pratibha Sharma: Being aware that the major political parties that represent the community are only seeking outcomes that are in the best interest of the party they are representing and not necessarily the people. I feel that by running as an independent, I can voice the concerns of the community better and not feel pressured by party motives. An independent candidate like myself is representing the public and voicing their concerns at a higher level. Residents of Werribee need to have their issues heard loud and clear and together we want actions taken to address these concerns. The only agenda I have is to represent the Werribee community and make it the most liveable suburb.

Neelam Rai Dhingra: I joined the Liberal Party because I wanted to put my values into action. I want to advocate for real people in my community and am fighting to provide a good and honest government for all Victorians.

Why are you seeking public office? What are you trying to achieve?

Tarang Chawla: I am running for the Upper House so if elected I will represent a region, not just a local seat. As I am an Independent and not affiliated with either Labor or Liberal, my focus will be on specific policy issues and holding government accountable for what they say, rather than simply letting them make empty promises which seems to be their current speciality.

My primary focus will be on addressing community safety for the area and ending violence against women. I have publicly maintained from the outset of my announcement to run as an Independent that if I am elected to the upper house, then I will work with whichever party forms government to govern for the good of all Victorians. What I offer this community that no other candidate can offer, is that my foremost duty remains to the great people of this region. I am not bound by party lines. Our region is often considered an afterthought because Labor, Liberal and the Greens appear to assume we will just vote for one or them and not make an informed decision about all of our options at the ballot box. I think that is very unwise for the parties to look at us like that.

They take us for granted, only showing their faces to us at election time to throw money at us to buy our vote. We’re worth more than that. This is why people like me run for office - to give a genuine voice for our community and represent us. We are a smart group of people in the south east of Melbourne and we deserve to have a stronger voice in our Parliament. I will advocate for the people first and work with the government, whether Labor or Liberal, but never at the expense of the people in this area.

This area has the highest reported cases of violence against women for five years in a row. And yet neither party has a plan for how to address this holistically. For example, the Labor plan to build 1000 public housing properties for victims fleeing violence, does not include any indication of providing resources in the south east where they are so desperately needed.

Liberals have suggested they will look at the “financial impost” of fulfilling the Royal Commission into Family Violence recommendations, but not given voters any indication of what that means in a practical sense. They will look to cut costs, and history would point to them doing this if they are elected.

For the voting public, I will keep the issue of violence against women firmly on the political agenda so we do not see another murder on the front cover of our newspapers every few days. This shouldn’t happen on our watch and it does because the government is letting us all down.

Arnav Sati: I am seeking public office because I cannot trust any other politician to look after Tarneit electorate and its issues. I intend to win and make the electoral seat of Tarneit a marginal, so that we get the funding we deserve.

The infrastructure issues cannot be resolved without significant funding, and based on the current political landscape, only marginal seats are getting adequate funding. Hence, I am trying to make Tarneit marginal.

Moreover, as a resident I have had enough of false hope and fake promises with no time-frames given by our elected representatives. I encourage every resident to support me in taking away the safe-seat status from Tarneit electorate.

Nildhara Gadani: I have always aspired to serve the public - it does not matter in what role. Over the years I’ve seen a major gap in the representation of Indian-origin Australians in politics. There are many issues that otherwise get ignored due to a lack of cultural understanding among