An Obstacle For Chinese Australian Candidates To Success

In recent decades,with more and more Chinese flowing into Australia,Chinese Australian political participation has received relatively more attention from scholars than before.Many have discussed the favourable factors for Chinese political participation in these years,like multicultural policy,growing up of the second generation,large population base,more activism in politics,and so on.Indeed,Chinese participation in political activities has increased.Nevertheless,judging from the number of Chinese candidates and their results in the 2021 Federal Election,especially when compared with other ethnic groups,there is little improvement.Given all these advantages,the Chinese low presence in the parliament is worth researching.In this study,this problem is approached from within-group heterogeneity.It argues that the Chinese community in Australia is too diverse to unite.According to the ethnic competition theory,this study analyzes internal heterogeneity from two aspects,one is cultural identity and other economic competition in the first part of this thesis.Cultural identity is further discussed through birthplaces,languages and degrees of acculturation.As for the economic competition part,it focuses on diverse income levels and occupations.Diversity in economic status builds up a large ethnic network,but this network seems to have negative effects on Chinese job-seeking and career development.It identifies the coexistence of help and competition inside the Chinese community.The second part of this thesis analyses how heterogeneity influences the foundation of community organizations at different periods of time.The first period is in the 19th century,the second is at the time of federation,and the third is the new era of multiculturalism.These organizations are important for Chinese participation in Australian society when most of them do have not got the right to vote.In the 1960s and 1970s,ethnic votes,which includes Chinese votes,came into researchers’ eyes.Therefore,the next part of this thesis discusses how within-group heterogeneity influences Chinese voters during different times.With the adoption of the "catch-all"policy by major parties and the fall of the Unity Party,the homogenous Chinese voters’ group was dismantled step by step.Today,within-group heterogeneity has been the main obstacle to Chinese candidates’ success and Chinese presence in the parliament.In summary,Chinese Australians differ from each other in their cultural identity and economic status.They are born in different places,speak multiple dialects,are assimilated to different degrees,and work in different fields and at different income levels.The problem of heterogeneity has always existed throughout history,leading to active but fragmented political participation.But in recent years the rise of "catch-all"parties and the fall of the "One Nation party" have made the problem even more pronounced,leading to poor support for Chinese candidates.Applying the notion of within-group heterogeneity,this thesis offers a new perspective to analyze the low presence of Chinese in the House of Representatives.