How Labor Party’s China hand won over swinging Chinese voters in New South Wales

China hand's cultural bridge between Australia and China a key step

Chris Minns declared victory surrounded by crowds on March 25. (ABC News: Harriet Tatham)
Chris Minns declared victory surrounded by crowds on March 25. (ABC News: Harriet Tatham)

STORY TOPIC & ANGLE

Labor Party achieved the desired result in the 2023 election in New South Wales, in Australia. On March 28, Labor leader Chris Minns swore in as the new Premier of NSW. This is the second time the Labor Party has been in power in NSW after 12 years. There is a large Chinese Australian community in the relevant electorates and their choice is very important to the Labor Party. However, the genuine needs of the Chinese community have not been given enough attention by all parties, including the Liberal Party.

Australian Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns celebrate Chinese New Year with the Chinese community. (Credit: jinriaozhou.com)
Australian Immigration Minister Andrew Giles and NSW Labor Leader Chris Minns celebrate Chinese New Year with the Chinese community. (Credit: jinriaozhou.com) https://www.sydneytoday.com/content-1023470878440002

Against this backdrop, the Australian Labor Party has been implementing various strategies to appeal to the Chinese community. For example, focusing on multicultural affairs, supporting minority language education and building a stable relationship between Australia and China. In order to make these strategies better known to Chinese voters, the Labor Party has recruited a group of China hand volunteers within the party.

This story will look at how the volunteers, who are knowledgeable about Chinese culture, have helped the Labor Party to attract and influence Chinese voters. The news will help to raise awareness of the situation of Chinese people in the Australian community and support them in cultural, educational and political terms. This feature has news value, including timeliness, human interest, relevance, and proximity.

TARGET AUDIENCE

The primary target audience includes Australian citizens aged 18 to 50 with an interest in Australian politics and NSW elections, with a particular focus on Chinese Australian voters. News can help the target audience understand the specific tactics used by the Labor Party to reach out to the Chinese-Australian community and the broader implications of this approach on the election outcome.

DESIRED PUBLICATION

I would like to publish this story on ABC NEWS to reach a wider audience. The story is focused on the political, multicultural Australian community, so it will fit into the ABC NEWS Politics and Chinese categories. In addition, the story would include images, video and social media interaction, and the ABC NEWS platform’s web layout and content categorization would be appropriate for the story’s scannability and searchability.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

I will gather information from a wide range of sources, using in-depth interviews, public interviews and data queries to enrich the news and views.

  • In-depth interview

I will be conducting an in-depth offline interview with Labor Party volunteer David Kelly. He studied Chinese language and literature on an exchange at Beijing and completed a PhD in Chinese Studies at the University of Sydney. His current area of study is China policy. Through talking to him, I hope to understand how the Labor Party has developed policies and propaganda content to appeal to swing Chinese voters by studying Chinese culture. The interview is tentatively scheduled for mid-May. It will consist of approximately 10 questions and the interview will be 30 minutes long. The interview location will be in a coffee shop or at the interviewee’s home.

  • Mass interview

I will be conducting random video interviews with members of the public in Burwood, a Chinese-speaking area, to get a visual understanding of Chinese-speaking views on the NSW election results and Labor’s strategy towards the Chinese.

  • Data and related news

NSW Electoral Commission

ABC NEWS

THE GUARDIAN

MULTIMEDIA & INTERACTIVITY

This paper will use multimedia, hypertext and interactive materials to achieve navigability and interactivity. These will include:

Photographs of interviews

Video interviews

Hyperlinks to relevant news, websites and available data

Embedded social media pages

Total Words: 580

1 Comment

  1. Hi Yuchen.
    Your topic selection is very interesting. For a long time, the performance of Chinese Australians in social and political participation has not been satisfactory. However, in recent years, more and more political parties have begun to value the power of Chinese voters. As you mentioned, Labor’s victory in the 2023 New South Wales election was inextricably linked to the contribution of Chinese voters. The interviewee you chose, David Kelly, is very representative as a volunteer of the Labor Party. He has a deep understanding of how the Labor Party uses Chinese culture to develop policies and propaganda to appeal to swing Chinese voters. I am looking forward to reading your final article, which explores Australian politics and Chinese political participation in greater depth.

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