Cooking curry to visiting temple, Aussie parties woo Indian-origin voters

New Delhi, April 16

Indians settled in Australia are coming under increasing attention in the forthcoming federal elections on May 21 with the most retweeted visual being of Prime Minister Scott Morrison posted an Instagram selfie of him cooking a curry to celebrate Australia’s recently signed free-trade deal with India.

Posting the picture a day before he called for the elections, Morrison said he was cooking dishes from Gujarat, the home state of “dear friend” Narendra Modi. Morrison is not alone. Labor leader Anthony Albanese was spotted at a Hindu temple where he said, “Australia without you is simply unimaginable”.

A Labor candidate Andrew Charlton also made haste to the Shri Swaminarayan Mandir in Sydney to network with Indian-origin worshippers.

It is with good reason that the Australian media, which in the past had focused on Chinese-origin candidates with some of them rising in the Labor party, is now turning the spotlight on voters and candidates of Indian origin. The bonhomie with China, which once saw its President Xi Jinping address the Australian Parliament, has turned bitter. A leading Chinese-origin politician was forced to take a backseat after concerted attacks on her for being close to the Beijing regime.

The number of Indian-origin Australians has climbed from 3.30 lakh in 2010 to an estimated eight lakh in 2022. As is the case in the US, this has made Indian-Australians a decisive swing vote in a few constituencies. This explains why Morrison last year confessed to an addiction to Bollywood songs.

Already Harris Park in west Sydney has been locally called “Little India” and the announcement of the elections saw Morrison’s party candidate Maria Kovacic coming over to meet community leaders.