This seminar is the third in the Migration, Mobility & Movement Network Seminar Series presented by the School of Archaeology & Anthropology and the Migration Hub at the School of Regulation and Global Governance.
The 2022 Australian Federal election observed record-level ethnic minority candidates elected. However, the shares of candidates and elected Members of Parliaments with ethnic minority backgrounds are still much lower than their relative shares in the population. In this regard, Australia has lagged behind other major settler countries.
The underrepresentation of ethnic minorities in the political institutions can exacerbate inequality between majority and minority populations and increase feelings of alienation among minority groups, as political representation is a crucial step towards having the interests of the represented groups heard in the democratic system.
In this seminar, we look at the political representation of ethnic candidates in the federal election and examine whether ethnic minorities are selected by political parties in areas with high ethnic minority concentrations.
Our findings suggest a positive association between higher ethnic minority concentration and ethnic representation, albeit an overall under-representation of ethnic minorities in the Parliament. However, for the two major parties, ethnic minority candidates are less likely to be in safe seats, even when there is high ethnic minority concentration. Findings from our research suggest that ethnic voting is evident but it is perhaps too early to celebrate higher levels of ethnic representation in Australian politics.
About the speakers
Qing Guan is a research fellow at the ANU School of Demography and a member of the Australian Centre on China in the World. Her research focuses on understanding the trends and consequences of international migration in Australia and the Asia Pacific region using demographic and statistical tools.
Juliet Pietsch is a Professor of Political Science and the Head of School of Government and International Relations at Griffith University. She is a leading scholar in the specialist fields of migration politics and political behaviour in Australia and Southeast Asia, and an expert on irregular migration in Europe, Southeast Asia and Australia.
How to attend
This seminar is being held at the School of Regulation and Global Governance on Level 2 of the Coombs Extension Building in the Teaching Room (Room 2.10).
You can also join the seminar online by registering via this Zoom link.
Image credit: Red Check Mark on Box by Tara Winstead from Pexels (free to use under Pexels licence)