ALP review: costly mistakes on religious freedom and Chinese PhD comment

Labor needs to improve its appeal among practising Christians and Chinese Australians.

Former NSW Labor leader Michael Daley. Picture: AAP

Labor needs to improve its appeal among practising Christians and Chinese Australians, with both groups turning away from the party under Bill Shorten.

The ALP election campaign ­review found that “identifying as Christian was associated with a swing against Labor”, noting “the most pronounced swings were among devout, first-generation migrant Christians”.

It said Chinese Australians swung away from Labor by 2 per cent, which may have enabled the Coalition to retain Reid in NSW and Chisholm in Victoria despite the departure of sitting members.

The report found the religious freedom debate sparked by the ­Israel Folau controversy put the Labor leader on the back foot, while Scott Morrison’s public demonstration of his faith helped him connect with Christians.

The Craig Emerson and Jay Weatherill-chaired campaign review found the relatively high number of Christian voters in Queensland electorates contributed to the party’s nightmare ­result in the state.

“The groups of voters who swung most strongly against Labor were self-described Christians and economically insecure, low-income voters who do not like or follow politics. These voters are heavily represented in Queensland,” the review found.

It said Labor’s decision to ­announce its sexual and reproductive health policy 10 weeks out from the election, which included a pledge to lower the cost of abortions, had affected the party’s standing among some Christian voters.

“(It) enabled conservative groups to target Christian voters in marginal electorates around the country, and in traditionally safe Labor seats in western Sydney,” the review found.

It said the party “would be wise to reconnect with people of faith on social justice issues and emphasise its historic links with mainstream churches”.

The election post-mortem also recommended Labor “develop a coherent strategy for engaging more fully with culturally and linguistically diverse communities, including Chinese Australians”.

“Chinese Australian voters swung against Labor in strongly contested seats,” it found.

The importance of the Chinese vote was recognised by both ­parties ahead of the May 18 poll, after former NSW Labor leader Michael Daley’s disastrous anti-Asian comments ahead of the NSW election months earlier.

The federal campaign review failed to analyse the cause of the Chinese swing away from Labor.

However, party figures believe there was lingering anger among Chinese Australian voters, amplified on the WeChat social media service, over Mr Daley’s claim that Asian students “with PhDs” were taking young people’s jobs. The campaign review cited ANU professor Ben Phillips, who found electorates with a high proportion of Christians swung away from Labor, while voters with university degrees or earning more than $100,000, swung towards the ALP.

It said Mr Shorten’s call for Mr Morrison to condemn Folau’s ­remarks — that gay people went to hell — left him “defending ­criticism he was seeking to embarrass Morrison because of his ­religion”.