Three Indian Diaspora voices in WA Parliament this year 2021

Three Indians have made their way into the Western Australia Parliament after the 2021 state elections were conducted on 13 March to elect members to the Parliament, where all 59 seats in the Legislative Assembly and all 36 seats in the Legislative Council were up for election.

The incumbent Labor Government, led by Premier Mark McGowan, won a second consecutive four-year term in office. Their primary challengers were the opposition Liberal Party, led by Opposition Leader Zak Kirkup, and the National Party, led by Mia Davies. Several minor parties also contested the election in the Assembly and Council.

Candidates were elected to single-member seats in the Legislative Assembly via fullpreferential instant-runoff voting. In the Legislative Council, six candidates were elected in each of the six electoral regions through the single transferable vote system with group voting tickets. The election was conducted by the Western Australian Electoral Commission (WAEC).

Kevin Joseph Jude Michel, born 26 March 1961 in India is an Australian politician. He has been a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since the 2017 state election, representing Pilbara.

Michel was born in Golden Rock, India, and migrated to Australia in 1990. He ran an air conditioning business in Karratha before entering politics. Kevin Michel, the Labor candidate who could snatch the seat of Pilbara from Nationals leader Brendon Grylls, wants local business to account for half of all major projects in the region.

Mr Michel said he would seek to track local content and lobby big business to boost Pilbara contracts on infrastructure and resource projects, complaining the region currently got only about 10 per cent of the work.

He said Perth and Eastern States workers were flying in for work and flying out with the profits, claiming the trend had left Karratha with 1000 empty houses.

“It’s cries of passion. It just hurts me to see what is happening,” he said. “I can’t understand why we are suffering in the Pilbara.”

Mr Michel was born in India, moved to Australia 27 years ago and to the Pilbara in 2001.

Dr. Jags (Dr. Jagadish Krishnan), local Labor Candidate won the Riverton seat at the 2021 State Election.

"I have been a GP for over 14 years, and I’m committed to making sure local families have access to the quality, affordable healthcare you deserve. I worked on the frontline of the Coronavirus pandemic and saw first-hand the strength of Western Australians, working together to get through the pandemic," said a statement from the Labor candidate during his election campaigning.

Another Indian candidate who got electedto the WA Parliament is Yaz Mubarakai MLA, the WA Labor Member for State electoral district of Jandakot, in Perth, Western Australia.