Cairns federal election: Women, Asian Australians and small business owners hold power

Saowani “Tiss” Bunwong ticks all the boxes when it comes to new polling about who sits in the driving seat for the upcoming federal election.

SAOWANI “Tiss” Bunwong ticks all the boxes when it comes to new polling about who sits in the driving seat for the upcoming federal election.

As an Asian Australian, a woman and a small-business owner, she has a foot in each camp for the make-or-break voter segments most likely too sway their decisions based on party policies.

The Ma Der Thai Street Food and Jam Thai restaurateur has urged political hopefuls not to overlook the polling – and she has some ideas about what policies could sway her vote.

Firstly, the ability to simply and succinctly explain tax policies will go a long way to earning her support and those of thousands of Asian small business owners across the region.

Owner of the new Jam Thai restaurant on Lake St Saowani “Tiss” Bunwong. Picture: Peter Carruthers

“I think that’s a big barrier for Asians who are often very weak in English,” she said.

“For me, English is my third language.”

Ms Bunwong often struggled to source local products despite her best efforts, which hurt the bottom line due to increased costs.

She believed dedicated business support programs for operators for whom English was their second language would receive fantastic support at the polling booths – particularly if it focused on linking them to suppliers.

“We use a lot of peanuts and the peanuts from Mareeba are very good quality,” she said.

“But we can’t get them because they have to be sent somewhere else.

“So the peanuts we get are from an Asian shop, and I’m not sure if they’re from Australia or somewhere else.”

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Parties’ response gender equality issues could be an electoral turning point for voters like Charmaine Saunders.

The managing director of Aboriginal fashion and art label Mainie Australia said women’s rights topped her list of voting considerations.

The gender pay gap, representation of women in government and the private sector and climate change policy also were all key to her vote.

“As a grandmother, climate change is now one of the foremost issues in my mind as I look at my grandchildren growing up,” she said.

“What sort of world am I leaving them?

“And of my seven grandchildren, five of those are girls.”

Ms Saunders was devastated when Julie Bishop resigned from federal politics and later vented over “gender deafness” within the Liberal Party and politics at large.

“I was a great admirer of her, and it hurt when she walked away,” she said.

Business at Mainie is at least 50 per cent down on pre-Covid levels, but Ms Saunders believed both sides of the political fray were doing their best under the circumstances.

“I’m a firm believer in the free market,” she said.

“There are times you just can’t expect the government to continually bail out the business sector.

“We either sink or we swim on out.”

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Originally published as Cairns federal election: Women, Asian Australians and small business owners hold power