We can't sell our freedom for Chinese-Australian votes

Australia has 1.2 million people of Chinese ancestry. Now there are warnings that the Liberals should go soft on the Chinese dictatorship, to keep those voters happy. That toxic identity politics is a danger to Australia and an insult to many of our Chinese. My column here.

Last Saturday The Australian reported warnings about the votes of our 1.2 million Chinese Australians that were frightening – and damn our disintegrating political culture.
 

Those warnings weren’t subtle. The Morrison government should not criticise the Chinese dictatorship so much, because “Coalition strategists are increasingly uncertain about the effect on the substantial Chinese vote”.

SBS, our multicultural broadcaster, had days earlier reported the same threat: “Some Chinese-Australians believe the Morrison government’s strong stance on China could backfire at the next election as many marginal electorates contain large communities with Chinese heritage.”

I know Chinese Australian votes matter. They make up more than 20 per cent of the voters in no fewer than six federal electorates, four in Sydney.

But is this what multiculturalism and mass immigration now mean? 

(Read the full column here.)