Labor and the Coalition Are Competing for Indian Australian Votes

Indian Australians are now the largest migrant group in Australia, and politicians want their votes. Both Labor and the Liberal-led Coalition have been reaching out to this community ahead of elections. But many Indian Australians say they feel hurt by the country's heated debate about immigration, and they want more than just kind words from politicians.

Kusum Mirchandani is a high school teacher who has lived in Melbourne for more than 21 years. She noticed a change when anti-immigration rallies were held across Australia last year. Some of those rallies used materials that singled out Indian migrants. 'The migration rallies, they're targeting the Indian community because now we are the largest migrant population here. I think that's a bit unfair,' she says.

The immigration debate has gotten louder since then. Labor, the Liberal-led Coalition, and One Nation have all announced plans to reduce the number of people moving to Australia each year. At the same time, the number of Indian-born residents in Australia grew so large that it passed the number of British-born residents last year, making the Indian-born population the biggest migrant group in the country.

Mirchandani says she leans toward voting for Labor in the upcoming Victorian state election. She cares most about education and healthcare. She has ruled out voting for One Nation because of its tough policies on family migration. 'It would make it harder for us because we have family back home, especially with ageing parents,' she says.

Not every Indian Australian feels the same way about the immigration debate. Satish Devarakonda, a 49-year-old technology consultant in Melbourne, thinks the debate is just a short-term reaction and is more worried about the economy. 'We have not recovered from the whole Covid slump,' he says. 'It's been six years and counting and other economies around the globe have rebounded.' He usually votes Liberal but has not yet decided who to support in the state election.

Devarakonda also thinks about the cost of staying connected to family in India. His family is planning their first trip to India in nearly two years to attend a wedding. Rising costs have made even family visits harder. 'Travel is not a luxury for a migrant. Travel is a necessity to go and see family, and that's taken a bit of a beating,' he says.

Polling data shows that Labor currently has a small lead among Indian Australian voters in Victoria. Kos Samaras, a director of the polling group Redbridge, says surveys show Labor leads the Liberals by about 53 to 56 percent among Victorians of Indian background. That lead grows much larger when the comparison is between Labor and One Nation. 'Indian Australians provide a base which will enable Labor to protect their safest seats,' Samaras says.

Samaras says comments made by federal Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price pushed Indian Australians away from the Liberal party. Price suggested that Labor was encouraging migration by specific ethnic groups, including Indians, to gain votes. Samaras says this sent a strong signal to the community that they were 'not welcome here.' Many Indian Australians told pollsters they lean conservative but feel they cannot vote Liberal because of attitudes like this.

Still, Samaras says the Victorian Liberals have made some smart moves. Their plan to open more selective high schools in the outer suburbs was seen as a way to appeal to Indian Australian families, who strongly value education. 'That's a sign that they understand the challenge and understand the constituency culturally,' he says. He thinks the federal Liberals could learn from this approach.

Pawan Luthra, who runs the India Link newspaper, says a small group of newer Indian migrants do think Australia's migration numbers should be cut back. Many of them struggle to find affordable housing and link that problem to high immigration levels. 'Connecting housing problems to migration numbers seems to be working for the parties who are making that argument,' Luthra says. But he says most Indian Australians are still uncomfortable with One Nation's harsher policies.

Both major parties have worked hard to win Indian Australian voters. Former Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan made India her first overseas trip as state leader in 2024. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Melbourne in July, and about 25,000 people attended a stadium event where Albanese and Allan also spoke. Recently, Premier Ben Carroll and opposition leader Jess Wilson both appeared at Victoria's Diwali celebrations.

But Luthra says the community wants more than appearances at events. Politicians often attend Indian Australian functions and say migrants are wonderful and valued, but do not make that case loudly to the wider public. 'The feedback from the community is that the politicians need to go out and say it a little bit more loudly and clearly, the value of migration and why it's important,' he says. Many Indian Australians feel their community's positive story is not being told where it really counts.