For a community that has been traditionally represented as averse to getting involved in politics, Chinese Australian groups have recently made headlines for doing just that. This doesn't mean Chinese Australians have not been politically active all this time; more that it hasn't often been noted.
During and since the federal election, there have been instances of Chinese Australian political action that are useful to note. In the first instance, in the aftermath of the election, commentators highlighted the influence of an anti-Labor Chinese language campaign conducted through WeChat and targeting voters in the strongly Chinese-speaking seats, including Chisholm in Victoria.
This campaign spread disinformation about what it meant to vote Labor, especially targeting topics such as the Safe Schools program, same-sex marriage, and refugee policy. Commentators credit this scaremongering campaign with winning Chisholm for the Liberals.
In a similar vein, all New South Wales MPs received the same form letter on 15 August, signed by people with apparently Chinese names, demanding that the Safe Schools program be removed from NSW government schools. On the heels of this, a petition — again, apparently from the 'Chinese community' — was submitted for tabling to NSW Parliament.
One could argue that this particular set of anti-Safe Schools actions are a continuation of the sustained attack on the program by Australia's conservative Christian Right, and have more in common with their homophobic values and virulent tactics than representing 'Chinese Australians' per se. Counter-petitions supporting Safe Schools, generated by Chinese Australians, are now circulating.
In the second instance, the Chinese Australian Forum (CAF) witnessed the traction that One Nation had regained, and the re-emergence of Pauline Hanson as senator. This spurred them to mobilise against the rising prevalence of racist hate-speech against Muslim communities.
Informed by previous experiences of One Nation coming to prominence in the 1990s, the CFA launched a #saynotoPauline campaign that sought to 'stand by any minorities at risk of vilification'. The solidarity with which the CAF would like to stand with Muslim groups is just one example of inter-community collaboration that is rarely noted yet crucial in building momentum for broader anti-racist activity.
"Chinese Australians should feel free to comment and debate any issue we choose to, not just those that appear to have cultural community or racialised relevance."
In the final instance, Alpha Cheng wrote an open letter to publicly shut down Hanson's exploitation of his father's death as part of her party's anti-Muslim platform. Cheng's considered