When news about the Liberal party’s usage of Chinese social media platform WeChat to spread misleading information about marriage equality and the Safe School program within the Chinese-Australian community came to light during the 2016 federal election campaign, I remember speaking to some of my LGBT friends explaining the misrepresentation of Chinese culture, traditions and values characterised by certain individuals within the Chinese-Australian community.
My first response to them was not all Chinese-Australians share these views – we are not a monolithic community but diverse in views and opinions. To give the Australian community a clearer picture: according to the 2016 ABS census, more than 1.2 million Australians (5.6% of the overall Australian population) have Chinese ancestry.
The census indicated more than 500,000 Chinese-Australians were born in the People’s Republic of China (PRC) while over 700,000 were born in places such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, Indonesia, Vietnam, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Cambodia and Australia.
While migrants from the PRC have grown in recent years, at least 51% of Australians of Chinese ancestry speak languages other than Mandarin such as Cantonese, Hakka, Hokkien, Teochew, Shanghainese or other Chinese dialects. Those born in Southeast Asia often speak an additional language such as Vietnamese, Khmer, or Bahasa Indonesia while Australian-born Chinese usually speak English as their first language.
Overall, the census indicated over 900,000 people spoke at least one Chinese dialect at home. Based on these statistics alone, it is simply inaccurate and unfair to assume Chinese-Australians are bound by the same beliefs and share the same views as portrayed by the Liberal candidate for Chisholm, Gladys Liu.
In 2016 Liu said a lot of Chinese-Australians opposed the Safe Schools program and same-sex marriage, saying “Chinese believe same-sex is against normal practice”.
“The Chinese people come to Australia because they want ... good things for their next generation, not to be destroyed – they used the word destroyed – by these sort of concepts, of same-sex, transgender and intergender, crossgender, and all of this rubbish,” she said. “To them this is just ridiculous rubbish.”
Liu has since said that she was responding to a question about comments she had received from some members of the Chinese-Australian community and in a statement assured voters: “I firmly support equality across our community.”
At a time when Chinese-Australians are in desperate need of political representation and leadership at the national level, I, as an Australian of Chinese heritage, am disappointed to witness a Chinese-Australian candidate of a major political party suggesting the Chinese-Australian community wants bigotry and discrimination against members of our society.
Chinese-Australians have felt the full force of discrimination, and the last thing I want is for another group to experience this and worse, our community being perceived as the perpetrators by directing bigotry to other groups.
Chinese-Australians like me and my forebearers didn’t just experience discrimination, we have spent the majority of our lives pushing for equality and inclusion. From the earliest of Chinese migrants and labourers in the goldfields fighting xenophobia, anti-Chinese legislation and the White Australia policy to Chinese migrants, and Chinese-Australians today battling the bamboo ceiling and dealing with accusations as being members of the fifth column working as PRC agents of influence, we know what it’s like to be the object of discrimination and bigotry.
The reputation and standing of Chinese-Australians has reached a critical point as a result of the public debate on PRC influence and Chinese Community Party (CCP) interference. This discussion has put Chinese-Australians in the spotlight like never before since the gold rush and pre-federation.
Whether Chinese-Australians like it or not, we are being wedged in the middle of this debate as a result of our ethnicity and cultural background. To address these issues more clearly and concisely, we require greater representation and leadership at the political level in Australian institutions. Those within the Chinese-Australian community I have spoken to are banking on the outcome in Chisholm to do just that.
From the Chinese-Australian community’s perspective, the 2019 federal election is historic because for the first time both major parties will be represented by a candidate of Chinese-Australian heritage contesting the same electorate.
Despite Chinese-Australians being one of the largest multicultural communities in Australia, we are hardly seen and represented at the Australian parliament with only Penny Wong and Ian Goodenough flying the flag.
Regardless of who wins between Jennifer Yang and Gladys Liu on 18 May, the Chinese-Australian community is excited at the mere fact we will have more representation in the federal parliament.
Yang or Liu’s victory will come with big expectations. Some of these expectations are to speak up on our behalf, find their own voice in the parliament on the big policy issues facing Australia and be accountable for their opinions and actions – not shirk responsibility and throw our community under the bus for political purposes.
• Jieh-Yung Lo is a Chinese-Australian writer and commentator
• Comments on this article will be premoderated to ensure the discussion stays on topic
