How can Labor reflect Australia's diversity?

Join Dr Anne Aly MP and Osmond Chiu in a discussion facilitated by Jananie Janarthana as we discuss what Labor needs to do to reflect to the cultural diversity of Australia’s population and what the failure to do so means for progressive politics.

Australia is one of the most multicultural countries in the world yet our public institutions do not represent that diversity. According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, nearly one in five Australians have non-European heritage but less than one in twenty federal MPs have non-European heritage. Australia does significantly worse than comparable Westminster parliamentary democracies like Canada, New Zealand and the United Kingdom when it comes to representation.

There are electoral implications if parties do not engage with the diversity of the electorate. In NSW, the Coalition has made significant inroads to multicultural communities at a state level and won middle-ring multicultural seats that were once strong Labor seats at a federal level. Labor is starting to understand the challenge it faces, the both the state and federal election reviews highlighting Labor’s need for a more coherent strategy for engaging with culturally diverse communities, but more needs to be done.

How can Labor reflect Australia’s diversity?

Wednesday 19th August, 6pm AEST (date has been changed from original date of 18/08/20)

RSVP to recieve zoom (details will be sent to you before the event)

Dr Anne Aly is the Member for Cowan in Western Australia. Anne is an internationally renowned expert in counter-terrorism and counter radicalisation, she has published over 100 articles and books on topics related to terrorism and international security.

Osmond Chiu is the Senior Policy and Research Officer at the Community and Public Sector Union and a Research Fellow at the Per Capita thinktank. He has written for the Guardian Australia, Sydney Morning Herald and Canberra Times and is the author of the China Matters report "What should Australia do about its politics being too white?" He is also a directly elected rank-and-file member of the NSW Labor Policy Forum and editor of Challenge Magazine.

The discussion will be facilitated by Jananie Janarthana. Jananie is a Political & Community Campaigns Organiser at the CPSU and a passionate advocate for better CALD representation in Australian politics and in civil society, she also an Australian Progress 2019 Fellow and an active Emily’s List NSW executive member.