Latest news with #ChineseAustralians
ABC News
23-05-2025
- ABC News
Chinese migrant allegedly assaulted by teenagers in Sydney's Eastgardens
NSW Police has charged two minors with assault after a Chinese woman and her husband were allegedly attacked by a group of teenagers in Sydney's east. Police said two 12-year-old girls were charged with assault and granted conditional bail to appear in a children's court next month. The charges followed the circulation of graphic footage of the alleged attack. Nearby residents in the suburb of Eastgardens filmed it and shared the footage on social media, drawing widespread condemnation — particularly from Chinese Australians. In the video, a woman is seen knocked to the ground and repeatedly punched and kicked by several people. A man who tries to intervene appears to be struck in the eyes, as a woman walking her dog also attempts to help. As the woman manages to sit up, she is kicked in the face before the group flees. The video went viral on social media, prompting calls for action and heightened concern among members of the Chinese community. The woman, a 42-year-old pharmaceutical worker who moved to Sydney from Shanghai last August, told the ABC she had been left feeling fearful and disillusioned. "I still believe that most people in this country are good, including many people who came forward to help me after I was attacked," she said. "But after the incident, I feel the life here is not safe, because you may be attacked without warning. This really took the shine off my impression of this country. "I hope all friends of Asian appearance, wherever they are, stay safe and look after themselves." The woman told the ABC she was searching a local park for a lost set of keys when a young boy suddenly approached and yelled an obscenity at her. She said moments later a group of teenagers gathered around her and her husband. When she challenged them for swearing, she says she was attacked from behind and dragged to the ground. "The process was so fast. I didn't really know who these people were, and I hadn't done anything to hurt them," she said. "My clothes were covering my eyes so I couldn't see who was kicking and punching me, but I could feel kicks and punches to my back, my head, my eyes and my arms and legs." It wasn't until she saw the footage that she realised how many people had been involved. After attending a nearby hospital, the woman was found to have extensive bruising, particularly on her back, as well as facial injuries, fractured fingers and impaired vision. The incident prompted others in Chinese-speaking communities to speak out about similar experiences in Sydney over recent months. "I can't guarantee it 100 per cent, but from what I've seen and heard so far, basically all the people who have been physically harmed in these cases are Chinese," the woman said. NSW Police declined to confirm if the Eastgardens attack was racially targeting Chinese people, as their investigation was ongoing. In a statement, China's consulate in Sydney described a number of recent attacks as "violent acts against ethnic Chinese and Chinese students". The consulate "firmly opposed and strongly condemn[ed]" the incidents, and urged Chinese nationals in Australia to stay alert, strengthen safety awareness, and avoid going out at night. The ABC has approached the Australian Human Rights Commission for comment. Read the story in Chinese: 阅读中文版
The Guardian
21-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Has the Liberal party lost Chinese Australian voters for good?
After two thumping election loses, the Liberal party has a lot of soul-searching to do if it wants to regain government, especially with Chinese Australian communities. In its post-2022 election review, the party admitted more work needed to be done to win votes with Chinese Australians after electorates with significant communities all voted against the Liberal party at a higher rate than others. So why was the drubbing repeated in 2025?
West Australian
13-05-2025
- Business
- West Australian
How Liberal MP Ted O'Brien rose from ‘runt of the litter' to Deputy Leader of the Opposition
Ted O'Brien has come a long way from being the 'runt of the litter'. The youngest of nine children, the new deputy leader of the Opposition says he quickly came to understand the value of working as part of a team through his upbringing. 'Mum and Dad had two girls, seven boys. And so, as the runt of the litter, I came to know, very early, the importance of the broader group — that it's not just about you, it's about everybody else,' Mr O'Brien said on Tuesday. 'It's with that sense of team that I am feeling particularly humbled and honoured to serve as the deputy leader of the Liberal Party.' Before making his entry to Parliament in 2016 — when he won the seat of Fairfax, on Queensland's Sunshine Coast — Mr O'Brien spent 20 years in business, starting on the shop floor as a trainee baker at his family's flour company. He helped the business break into new markets overseas, and spent a decade living and working in China and Taiwan across a range of industries, including agriculture and technology. Mr O'Brien said he planned to bring a 'commercial' and 'practical approach' to his new role, describing himself as a 'pragmatic sort of a person'. 'I think that, too, is going to be key for the Liberal Party as we move forward and we form policy,' he added. Mr O'Brien is fluent in Mandarin and is among the most qualified people on the Liberal side to help the party reconnect with Chinese Australians. He is the shadow minister for climate and energy, and energy affordability and reliability, but that could change when Sussan Ley appoints her shadow Cabinet. Asked whether he would request the shadow treasurer role currently held by Angus Taylor, Mr O'Brien said he was yet to have the discussion with Ms Ley. Mr O'Brien also said he was a 'very experienced deputy at home' to his wife Sophia and their three children, who range in age from 12 to 20 months.
First Post
12-05-2025
- Politics
- First Post
Chinese Social Media Becomes Key Battleground in Australia's Election Race Firstpost America
Chinese Social Media Becomes Key Battleground in Australia's Election Race | Firstpost America |N18G Chinese Social Media Becomes Key Battleground in Australia's Election Race | Firstpost America | N18G As Australia heads to the polls on May 3, Chinese social media platforms like WeChat and RedNote have taken centre stage in a high-stakes political battle. With Chinese Australians playing a key role in marginal seats, both major parties — especially the Liberals — are flooding these platforms with targeted ads, videos, and promises. Candidates are dining at Chinese restaurants and delivering messages in Mandarin. This digital outreach comes amid rising concerns about racism, strained China-Australia relations, and migration policy. Meanwhile, Julian Assange has publicly endorsed Anthony Albanese, adding weight to Labor's momentum. Our final report dives into the platforms, players, and power struggles shaping this election. See More
The Age
11-05-2025
- Politics
- The Age
Australia votes 2025: The Liberals had a plan to court Chinese Australians. Then they blew it up
'We've seen this before from the Liberal Party. Why is it that the Liberal Party continues to question the loyalty of Chinese Australians?' Wong said in the video. 'We all remember how Peter Dutton weaponised the relationship with China. He didn't care about the consequences for us, for our communities. Peter Dutton and Scott Morrison in 2023. Sources say the Liberal Party has been unable to shake the perception it is anti-China. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen 'Now he wants your vote, he says something different. But Chinese Australians know what Peter Dutton is like. 'While mountains and rivers can be changed, one's nature is difficult to alter.' This proverb, spoken in Mandarin, is now haunting the Liberals as they seek to alter their nature into a party that can again win elections. Key to this is reconciling how a community that is crucial to the Coalition's electoral chances has swung against it in several crucial seats in the past two federal elections. The Liberals' Keith Wolahan lost his seat of Menzies, in Melbourne's eastern suburbs. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen In her statement responding to Wong's criticism, Hume pointed to the taskforce's investigation and said: 'It is deeply concerning that the minister for foreign affairs would politicise an issue as important as possible foreign interference in our election.' The irony of the situation is not lost on Liberal Party members. Following the defeat of the Morrison government, it was Hume who co-wrote the party's 2022 election review that called for careful language as Liberals sought to rebuild their relationship with the Chinese community. 'There is a particular need for the party's representatives to be sensitive to the genuine concerns of the Chinese community and to ensure language used cannot be misinterpreted as insensitive,' the review says. Loading Liberal sources said the party spent three years working to achieve this goal, hiring Chinese-speaking staff and building the infrastructure to sell the party's message to these communities. They hoped to appeal to Chinese-Australian voters by talking up the Coalition's economic credentials and stance on crime. Liberal candidates such as Katie Allen and Keith Wolahan, running in the respective seats of Chisholm and Menzies in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, appeared in WeChat videos with Chinese language captions and speech. Loading Wong was the face of Labor's pitch to these voters and appeared in WeChat clips introducing ALP candidates in seats with significant populations of Chinese Australians, including Deakin, Chisholm, Aston and Menzies. In these videos, she spoke about her Malaysian-Chinese ancestry. Labor also mailed out Chinese language flyers from Wong and tailored specific phone banks and community doorknocking campaigns to seats with large populations of Chinese speakers. Unknown to most of the voting public, a mini-campaign was playing out in the suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney in April and the first few days of May. But, one Liberal source said, the Coalition's battle fell apart at the final charge. 'It wasn't the only problem, but after that video from Penny Wong was seen 500,000 times, that was the number one most damaging issue for us,' they said. Other sources have pointed to comments by Dutton, who named China as the biggest threat to national security during the Channel Seven leaders' debate, as another example of the rhetoric that was turned against the Liberals. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at a Chinese language school in the seat of Chisholm during the election campaign. Credit: Alex Ellinghausen There was a belief internally that Dutton had failed to rebrand himself, and the Liberal Party's image had not recovered from Scott Morrison's prime ministership, when there was a perception the Liberal Party was anti-China. In the last two weeks of this year's election campaign, as Labor began to believe it could win Menzies and Deakin, Dutton and Morrison's faces were plastered at the top of full-page advertisements in WeChat groups. 'A vote for the Liberal Party candidate is a vote for Peter Dutton. Don't let Australia-China relations regress to the Morrison era,' the ads said in Chinese language. Former Liberal MP Christopher Pyne, a government minister under Morrison, told the ABC on Thursday night that Australia's Chinese community had been targeted by the Liberals during the campaign but ended up feeling left out. 'There's a way of saying things that people will agree with and there's a way of saying things that make people feel like we're not for you.' Former Liberal MP Christopher Pyne 'While we weren't racist about Chinese people, certainly, we cast a suspicion, or they felt that we were casting suspicion, over Chinese people because of our comments about mainland China, the People's Republic of China,' he said. 'There's a way of saying things that people will agree with and there's a way of saying things that make people feel like we're not for you.' The final results indicate that in this election, Chinese Australians did not feel aligned to the Liberal brand. In four Melbourne seats with significant Chinese-Australian populations, Labor snatched heartland Liberal seats Deakin and Menzies, retained marginal Chisholm and improved its margin in Aston, a seat even the ALP had largely expected to lose. Dutton and Liberal candidate Katie Allen campaigning in the seat of Chisholm on April 30. Credit: James Brickwood Recriminations among Victorian Liberals started early in the count when results pointed towards a 'disaster', a source said. The Liberal Party had stopped representing modern Australia, moderate Victorian state sources said. 'It's not really a broad church any more,' one said. Loading The sources felt the party offered the biggest voter bloc – young people – nothing. And it was distracted by culture wars while beating up on migrants, Chinese people and Indigenous communities. As one party figure framed it: why would any of those people vote for us? Elections are a popularity contest, another said, and Australia is majority multicultural and majority women. The party had to make up ground among professional women and young voters. 'We were talking to the wrong voters,' they said. In Sydney, notable swings to Labor were recorded in seats such as Bennelong and Reid. The battle for Bradfield remains on a knife edge. Last week, the Chinese Community Council of Australia's Victorian chapter put out a statement requesting an apology for Hume's remarks, and said the comments concerned thousands of Chinese Australians. Jimmy Li, the president of the Victorian chapter, said political parties should engage with the community genuinely and consistently. He said Labor did a better job this electoral cycle, and efforts by the Coalition to organise community events in the months before the election came too late. 'The language they use is very important … These kinds of comments will stoke fear and division that's really unhelpful,' Li said. 'Fundamentally, any political party should value inclusion, not othering. Over the long term the Chinese community have been made to feel they are not part of Australian society. So politicians should see Chinese Australians as not 'them' but 'us'.' As Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan seeks to capitalise on Labor's federal success, she announced on Friday that her next trade mission would be to China and referenced the Coalition's woes. 'Over the last few years, we've heard unnecessary and divisive rhetoric from conservative politicians that have been hurtful to Chinese-Australian families,' Allan said. 'In an era of divisive, Trump-style rhetoric here and abroad, I want to make the case that Victorians from overseas are a proud part of our story to the world.' It wasn't just the Chinese diaspora that Liberal campaigners believe the Coalition pushed away during the election campaign. Two sources said Indian Australians, many of whom live in growing suburbs in Melbourne and Sydney, were repeatedly sounding the alarm about the Coalition's immigration and international student policies and how they affected family members. Loading 'The immigration plan was so stupid,' one Liberal source said. 'We had an outer-suburban strategy, but we ignored the [migrant] communities who actually live in those suburbs.' Attack ads claiming the Coalition would cut pensions for visa holders who left the country for more than four weeks were also shared thousands of times across WhatsApp and other social media.
