Wed Jul 31

About half the Asian migrants we surveyed said they didn’t fully understand how our voting systems work. It’s bad for our democracy

Written by Fan Yang, Research fellow at Melbourne Law School, the University of Melbourne and the ARC Centre of Excellence for Automated Decision-Making and Society., The University of Melbourne

When an election rolls around, most of us know what to do on voting day. With varying degrees of enthusiasm, we go to our closest polling place, give our details and cast our ballots. After a century ^[1] of compulsory voting, it seems pretty straightforward.

It’s easy to forget not every Australian is used to this process. What if you’ve never lived somewhere with compulsory voting? Or if you moved here from a place that actively discourages political engagement?

This is often the case for newer migrants. They can end up with lower levels of political literacy. This only further disadvantages these groups, which often have less social and cultural capital to begin with. It also makes our democracy less representative.

Our research shows more than 50% of Chinese people surveyed said they don’t fully understand how the Australian democratic system operates. Just under half our South Asian respondents said the same thing.

Varied political participation

Chinese and South Asian communities are rapidly growing ^[2] in Australia. We researched rates of political literacy and participation in these populations.

Political literacy is the knowledge someone has to participate in a society’s political processes and have informed discussions about sociopolitical issues. This could include knowing how to vote, how to make a submission to a parliamentary inquiry, or simply understanding the structure of government.

People stand at voting booths in a gymnasium

Lower levels of political literacy leaves people vulnerable to misinformation. Morgan Hancock/AAP ^[3]

Over the course of 2023 and 2024, we surveyed 192 Chinese and South Asian migrants. We also conducted five focus groups. More than 80% of our research participants are first-generation migrants and more than 90% have lived in Australia for more than six years. More than 70% of these are Australian citizens and therefore have the right to vote.

Our survey found Chinese and South Asian communities demonstrate varying degrees of political participation. Some actively ran political campaigns as candidates. Others were hesitant about extensively researching before making political decisions.

The majority of our participants actively consume political news and express political views publicly. Most also participate in political events such as petitions, protests and demonstrations. We found a higher degree of political participation among Chinese migrants compared with South Asian communities.

When deciding whom to vote for, our surveys show both Chinese and South Asian migrants prioritise policies and the social and political background of candidates. This aligns with the concerns of Australian voters in general.

Chinese respondents also consider what the candidates say about China and their related political preferences. South Asian respondents instead pay more attention to the individual candidate’s reputation.

Interestingly, shared ethnicity with a candidate plays a minimal role in political decision-making, though politically literate respondents are interested in meaningful representation of their communities.

Our focus groups also reveal that a lack of political literacy can lead people to favour candidates who share their cultural heritage while not understanding the policies the candidates stand for.

This is what potentially gives rise to tokenistic representation ^[4] in unwinnable seats by some parties.

Challenging to get involved

Respondents demonstrated varying degrees of understanding of the Australian democratic system, including political parties, the two houses of parliament, and the electoral systems at all levels.

More than half of Chinese respondents said they didn’t fully understand the systems of government. This lack of understanding is likely due to the authoritarian system ^[5] in China, where direct elections only occur at the local level, not at the national level.

Respondents from South Asian communities demonstrated a higher rates of political literacy. However, slightly under 50% of them reported not fully understanding the the way Australian politics works.

According to the 2022 Australian Election Study ^[6], trust towards democracy reached record lows in 2019. This shows a general trend towards the need for more authentic engagement from the political class.

Other research ^[7] has highlighted using the internet for political information is only further widening the gap between those who are highly engaged and those who are disengaged.

The gap in understanding Australian politics allows for the spread of political misinformation and disinformation. This was seen in the the 2023 Voice referendum ^[8].

It then makes sense that nearly 50% of our research participants found it challenging to engage with Australian politics.

Chinese respondents said language barriers were a significant issue. Both Chinese and South Asian communities reported social exclusion from Australian mainstream society and a lack of shared concerns with non-migrant cohorts as common obstacles to their political engagement.

For instance, one focus group participant who is a South Asian migrant and has been here for eight years noted:

I vote on immigration issues, but I’m not sure that my white colleagues care.

Indeed, past surveys ^[9] show aged care, climate change and education are among voters’ top concerns. Our research, however, reveals different priorities.

The economy and international relations are shared concerns among our participants, but our survey also highlights slightly differing approaches between Chinese and South Asian communities.

Chinese respondents focus more on Australian politicians and immigration, whereas South Asian respondents prioritise human rights, gender equity and social welfare.

What can be done to help?

Our research so far highlights a lack of organised efforts to increase political and media literacy among new migrants who are naturalised citizens.

A few engaged participants are making concerted efforts online and offline to educate their friends and family. But at the same time, many are resorting to finding information on unreliable social media platforms.

This study indicated there’s space for organisations that engage with migrant communities to leverage the political literacy of community leaders and members to help others.

It also provides a glimpse into what political parties could be doing better to engage more meaningfully, tailor their messaging to make it more relatable, and not take new migrant communities for granted.

The authors wish to acknowledge the contributions of Hao Zheng, Allies in Colour, and the research participants.