Whenever most of us think about running for politics, the “to go to” places are the major political parties of Labor and Liberal and minor parties like the Greens. Not many of us look to standing as Independent candidates, well not before. Now there seems to be a sea of change and if major parties do not change their ways in placing Asian Australians in unwinnable seats or parachute privileged middle aged white candidates into culturally diverse electorates, then we will continue to see more Asian Australians coming out as Independent candidates.
For many Independent candidates the dissatisfaction of major party representation in their respective electorates is one of the reasons for running as Independent candidates, but there are also many other reasons such as showing more local candidates who understand the electorate and wanting to stand for themselves rather than subscribe to another party’s values and principles. For Asian Australians who are running as Independents, it is these reasons but also to show an alternative and to show how important cultural diversity is. Here are the Asian Australians who are standing as Independent candidates ( in both lower house and the senate).
DAI LE – FOWLER (NSW)
- Dai Le is the current Deputy Mayor of Fairfield City Council;
- Like many Vietnamese Australians, Le came to Australia with her mother and siblings as refugees in the 1970s;
- Her family settled and lived at Bossley Park;
- She helped set up the Fairfield City Champion in Barbara Street Fairfield;
Want to know more about Dai Le? You can check out her campaign site here!
DR FUXIN LI – ACT SENATE CANDIDATE
- Dr Fuxin Li has lived in Australia for 29 years, with 21 of the 29 years in the ACT;
- In the almost past 2 decades, he has been working for the communities including donation of 10000 surgical masks and 5000 sanitizers to local and domestic communities during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020)support the donations for Queensland drought (2019), Canberra bushfire and battle against COVID-19 in ACT (2020), visits to the Junee Correctional Centre NSW to support Asian Inmates since 2013, voluntary promotion Asian Cup in Canberra in 2014 and visit and donation to the orphanage in Nairobi Kenya in 2014;
- He is also an active community leader in the area of Australian community language for nearly 30 years;
Want to know more about Dr Fuxin Li? You can check out his campaign site here.
SHENELI DONA – HUME (NSW)
- Sheneli Dona, 23, is a human rights activist and youth advocate, who has represented Australia to a number of United Nations agencies and international discussions;
- She established her own not-for-profit, youth-led human rights organisation, The Dona Faith Alliance, in 2018, based in Western Sydney and named for Sheneli and her niece;
- Sheneli has a dual Law and Global Studies degrees from the Australian Catholic University. Sheneli completed further studies in international politics/democracy, human rights and foreign policy at St John’s University, New York, which also provided her the ability to complete her advocacy at the United Nations HQ in NY;
- She is due to be admitted to the NSW Supreme Court, as a lawyer;
Want to know more about Sheneli Dona? You can check out her campaign site here.
KIM HUYNH – ACT SENATE CANDIDATE
- Kim Huynh came to Australia with his family when he was 2 years old as refugees and settled in Canberra, ACT;
- He has taught politics and philosophy to students at the Australia National University, and has authored books;
- He currently works for the ABC as a radio presenter;
- He is actively involved in a number of local community groups and ran as a candidate for the ACT Legislative Assembly in 2016;
Want to know more about Kim Huynh? You can check out his campaign site here.
WAYNE TSENG – CHISHOLM (VIC)
- Wayne began his career as an InfoTech lecturer at RMIT, and works as a management consultant for a number of large companies;
- He is also the founder of multiple multicultural communication firms such as Multicultural Events, Pure Translate, Multicultural Austalia;
- He was a former member of the Liberal Party and have contested in 4 elections (2 state and 2 federal) on behalf of the Liberals.;
Want to know more about Wayne Tseng? You can check out his campaign site here.
We will also be interviewing a few independent candidates ( all if we are able to), so stay tuned, but if you are interested in looking beyond the major parties, then you can check out these independent candidates!
For more information, please go to the #ASIANAUSPOL site at: http://www.asianauspol.net .