The next parliament set to be more culturally diverse

Sally Patten and Campbell Kwan

May 23, 2022 – 6.16pm

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The electoral success of candidates such as Dai Le, Sally Sitou, Sam Lim and Cassandra Fernando will take the number of MPs from non-European backgrounds in the lower house to double digits.

A total of eight ethnically diverse MPs were elected to the House of Representatives on Saturday as part of the rout of the Liberal party. Of the eight, seven are Labor MPs, while Ms Le, who beat Kristina Keneally in the western Sydney seat of Fowler, is an independent.

Sally Patten edits BOSS, and writes about workplace issues. She was the financial services editor and personal finance editor of the AFR, The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald. She edited business news for The Times of London.

Campbell Kwan covers commercial and residential real estate for The Australian Financial Review, based in the Sydney newsroom. He was previously the breaking news reporter.