The Victorian federal seat of Holt will be an interesting one to watch as the candidates for Labor, Liberal Greens and the Liberal Democrats are all Asian Australians from a South Asian background. Holt is located in the outer south-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, with a very significant South Asian population. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2016), 7.1% of Holt comes from an Indian background, 4.2% from a Sri Lankan background and 3.7% from an Afghan background. The incumbent for Holt is Labor MP Anthony Byrne, who is retiring from politics, so even though it is considered “safeish” for Labor – anything can happen in elections.
So it is quite fitting and suitable in terms of demographics that candidates for the upcoming federal election come from these backgrounds. So who are they?
CASSANDRA FERNAND0 (LABOR PARTY)
Cassandra is Sri Lankan background and works as an organiser for the Shop Distributive and Allied Employees Union;
RANJ PERERA (LIBERAL PARTY)
Ranj is Sri Lankan background and most recently was the Chief of Staff to the Assistant Minister for Customs, Community Safety and Multicultural Affairs – Jason Wood MP.
SUJIT MATHEW (THE GREENS)
Sujit worked for the United Nations in sustainable policy development before migrating to Australia in 2013;
MATTHEW NUNEZ-SILVA (LIBERAL DEMOCRAT PARTY)
Matthew was formerly a small business owner and has worked in the workers compensation industry;
This will be an interesting electorate to follow – don’t you think?
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