Election 2022: ‘Silent uprising’ at Coalition’s Beijing bombast

Chinese Australians appear to be abandoning the Coalition in large numbers over the Morrison government’s anti-Beijing rhetoric.

‘A lot of people have expressed to me that they want to switch to Labor as a protest’: Melbourne businessman Alex Lim. Picture: Aaron Francis

Chinese Australians appear to be abandoning the Coalition in large numbers over the Morrison government’s anti-Beijing rhetoric, with potentially disastrous consequences in at least seven marginal seats in Sydney and Melbourne.

Recent polls point to a “silent uprising” in electorates with high proportions of Chinese Australian voters, including crucial NSW seats of Reid, Bennelong, Parramatta and North Sydney, and Victorian seats of Chisholm, Deakin and Kooyong.

Almost 75 per cent of Chinese Australians backed Labor in an online poll published last week by Sydney Today, one of the country’s largest Chinese-language media groups, with under 18 per cent supporting the Coalition.

The results stand in stark contrast to those of a poll conducted by the same outlet before the 2019 election, which found 61 per cent favoured the Coalition over 28 per cent for Labor.

Sydney Today editor-in-chief Martin Ma told The Australian the poll reflected the change in sentiment he was hearing from the community.

Online polls can be manipulated through multiple voting by bad-faith participants, but Ma said access to the page from overseas IPs had been disabled and the same phone number could participate only once.

Australia-China relations dominated concern for voters, with 81 per cent worried about the direction of the relationship ­between the two countries; the economy (75 per cent) was second and defence (11 per cent) last.

Almost three-quarters of voting participants would give priority to a political party that was “friendly to the Chinese community”, and 53 per cent would give priority to supporting candidates of Chinese or Asian background.

Of the 6093 people who participated in the poll, 61 per cent (3713) were voters, with two-thirds having lived in Australia for more than a decade.

The poll backs findings by a Lowy Institute survey last year in which Chinese Australians overwhelmingly saw China more as an economic partner than a ­security threat (73 per cent) in contrast to the broader Australian population, where 63 per cent saw it as more of a security threat.

Senior Liberals believe the China issue has significant mainstream Australia voter appeal, but have been surprised at the extent of the backlash from Chinese Australians. Comments by ­Defence Minister Peter Dutton that Australia should “prepare for war” shocked many.

Labor sources said the Dutton commentary was “coming back very strongly” in their phone polling and face-to-face research with Chinese Australians.

Melbourne businessman Alex Lim, who lives in Kooyong – held by Josh Frydenberg on a margin of 6.4 per cent – describes himself as a traditional Liberal supporter likely to change his vote.

“Whenever Peter Dutton opens his mouth about the Chinese or declares war on China, it has a very negative impact on our economy and a social impact as well,” he said.

“It creates a lot of fear among the Chinese community.

“Most of us are traditional pro-Liberals but a lot of people have expressed to me that they want to switch to Labor as a protest.”

Mr Lim, who is president of the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Victoria, said he was open to voting for the “teal” independent, Monique Ryan, as a protest over how the government had ­handled the relationship with China.

Additional reporting: Noah Yim