Politics is close to the heart of migrant communities. We’ve felt the consequences of short-sighted political decision-making. It is the desire to see social and economic progress for our adopted home that calls migrant communities,like my own,to follow politics as keenly as the latest cricket scores.
We will learn many lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic,especially this latest outbreak. One of the most crucial is the importance of representatives at all levels of government with deep roots in their communities. Representatives who speak our languages and deeply understand our lived experience.
Social cohesion has frayed over the past few months,including our trust and faith in our elected leaders. Beaches in the east are packed while western Sydney’s essential workers choose between feeding their families or keeping them safe. People see leaders who do not understand how they live,their cultural obligations to family,or the challenges faced by non-native English speakers to understand and apply fast-changing public health orders.
Now more than ever,our community needs elected leaders to live,breathe and feel their hopes,ambitions,and even their fears. NSW Labor has a golden opportunity to follow through on its reputation as the party of equality and multiculturalism. The federal seat of Fowler straddles the Fairfield and Liverpool local government areas;both have borne the brunt of inequality stemming from this pandemic.
The decision by NSW Labor to impose a candidate at the expense of a local,Tu Le – who speaks to the experiences,aspirations and goals of the people who live in western Sydney – flies in the face of this.
Let me be clear and say this is not about that candidate,Kristina Keneally,who is a respected parliamentary performer and a role model for women in Labor politics. It is about ensuring our political leaders and institutions better represent our communities,and that culturally and linguistically diverse communities are not taken for granted and used as fodder in internal party disputes.