MELBOURNE, June 17 2023: In a bid to woo multicultural communities (MC), the Australian Labor Party (ALP), Victoria has at its state conference 2023, decided to create a ‘Victorian Multicultural Labor Network’ (VMLN), for ALP members. A resolution passed today on the first day of the Victorian Labor State Conference 2023 is aimed to “attract and support ALP members who are people of color or are culturally or linguistically diverse.” The passed resolution was proposed by the powerful Prahran and Richmond branch of the party in Victoria.
The VMLN membership aims to involve MC at all levels of the ALP, prepare unrepresented cohorts of MC for public office, create awareness about issues facing them in the party, increase representation MC in party positions and encourage the employment of MC in staff and party positions and improve to state and federal policies and party platform in areas of interest to MC.
For the free membership concerned ALP members have to contact the party head office and membership will be advertised while joining VMNL, while renewing it, and confidentiality mentioned.
The resolution says, the VMLN will have 2 Co-Convenors, a Secretary, an Assistant Secretary and 9 Executive members. The VNML election will take place by propositional representation at the same time as the FEA (Federal Electoral Assemblies) elections by postal ballot, except that it will take place by the end of 2023 along with the ballot for the Labor Women’s Network Executive.
Who actually constitutes ‘multicultural communities’ or ‘people of color’ or ‘culturally or linguistically diverse’ people, has not been defined in the resolution. The resolution was passed with massive approval after it was proposed and seconded. Does it mean only non Anglo-Sexans (all non-whites) or specific ALP members who belong to specific communities?
Or, could MC be called ethnic communities?
“The terms ‘ethnicity’ and ‘ethnic’ can be associated with different meanings and there is no internationally agreed definition. The ABS has adopted a multidimensional approach to understand ethnicity in Australia. This approach was recommended by Borrie (The Measurement of Ethnicity in the Australian Census of Population and Housing, 1984 (Borrie report); accessed 22/08/2022) and is consistent with the Law Lords definition of ‘ethnicity’ which refers to the shared identity or similarity of a group of people based on one or more distinguishing characteristics.
These characteristics include:
- a long-shared history, the memory of which is kept alive
- a cultural tradition, including family and social customs, sometimes religiously based
- a common geographic origin
- a common language (but not necessarily limited to that group)
- a common literature (written or oral)
- a common religion
- being a minority (often with a sense of being oppressed)
- being racially conspicuous.” says the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
A definition of MC, could be ticklish to work out. Some of the communities already have representation through the ALP and others in the Victorian Parliament. But it should reflect the changing demographic face of Victoria.
“Hutch Hussein, a former Victorian Labor president of Turkish Cypriot background, and Julijana Todorovic, assistant secretary of the Victorian Socialist Left faction and of Serbian and Bosnian descent, said Labor must lead the way in ensuring the Victorian parliament looked “more like our neighbourhoods rather than Ramsay Street” (January 19, 2023).
For example, the fastest growing Indian community in Victoria has no representation in the the Senate (Upper House) or the Legislative Assembly (Lower House). The last Indian and first India-born member was Kaushaliya Vaghela, elected from the Western Metropolitan Region (2018 to 2022) to the Upper House. On 9 February 2022, Vaghela crossed the floor in support of Adem Soumyurek’s (leader of the Right faction) and in March 2022, she resigned from the ALP. She now leads the New Democrats party, which did not show much headway in the last election.
Can this vacuum be filled by the VMLN, which wants an inclusive Labor Party with MC in important positions. Many ALP members belonging to the MC category (whatever be the definition) are active in unions, branches and society at large. The next election is three years plus away, politically and organisationally a reasonable time to make the difference. No doubt, the VMLN initiative is a positive step. The proof of the pudding is in the eating.
