Speaker 1: From Schwartz Media. I'm Daniel James. This is seven AM.
Speaker 1: Australia's Chinese community proved to be a powerful voting block
Speaker 1: in the last election, and as the time draws need
Speaker 1: to vote again, more and more politicians are realizing that
Speaker 1: appealing to the country's one point five million Chinese Australians
Speaker 1: is key to electoral success. But as journalist Wing Quang
Speaker 1: has found, the major party's attempts to court Chinese voters
Speaker 1: are proving to be rocky. The Chinese owned Red Note
Speaker 1: app is a new frontier in trying to reach Chinese voters,
Speaker 1: but with speech of Red Note filled by an authoritarian regime,
Speaker 1: eraises questions about how political debate in Australia is being
Speaker 1: shaped by foreign rules. Today contributed to the Saturday Paper,
Speaker 1: Wing Quang on how the Chinese community might shape the
Speaker 1: outcome of the election and what they really think of
Speaker 1: Albanesi and Dutton. It's Saturday, March fifteen, Willen, Welcome to
Speaker 1: the show. Do you have a Red Note account?
Speaker 2: I do, and I have actually been a longtime fan
Speaker 2: of Red Notes. I use the account to look for
Speaker 2: recommendations on restaurants, on good shops, on brands, and how
Speaker 2: to find the best outfit for my first job as well.
Speaker 2: So red Notes was launched in twenty thirteen at a
Speaker 2: time when China just had this massive boom of transborder
Speaker 2: e commerce, which means that people look online and try
Speaker 2: to buy products directly from overseas, and this is how
Speaker 2: red Note was first launched as an overseas shopping guide.
Speaker 2: Red Notes is quite similar to TikTok in terms of
Speaker 2: how it used this algorithm that goes really strong on personalization,
Speaker 2: making your feet customized on your interest, but also it
Speaker 2: endorse a really strong geolocational algorithm. You can always see
Speaker 2: posts shared by people who are nearby, and because of
Speaker 2: that function, the app stand out among the Chinese diaspora.
Speaker 2: So since twenty twenty one, red Note has become quite
Speaker 2: a phenomenon within the Chinese Australian community. By November last year,
Speaker 2: there are almost seven hundred thousand people in Australia actively
Speaker 2: using red Notes. If you compare that to the Chinese
Speaker 2: population in Australian which is one point four million, that's
Speaker 2: like half of the Chinese population in Australia using the platform.
Speaker 1: If it works through jail location, that sounds like it
Speaker 1: would be useful for electoral politics. So have politicians been
Speaker 1: using it?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So it makes it so easy for politicians to
Speaker 2: make posts that target their local voters. ABC News actually
Speaker 2: a research last November and it had found over twenty
Speaker 2: politicians of all levels having an account on Red Notes.
Speaker 2: So firstly from the current sitting MP at the federal level,
Speaker 2: we have Liberal Parties Keith Wallacham who is from the
Speaker 2: Siege of Menzies.
Speaker 3: Dajah Howe Wargio, Keith Wallahan, your Federal Member of Parliament,
Speaker 3: Josha Sarah, my wife. We wanted to wish you.
Speaker 2: His electorate has a huge Chinese population and he's been
Speaker 2: a star on Red Notes.
Speaker 3: This is the Year of the Snake and I was
Speaker 3: born in the Year of the Snake, and I know
Speaker 3: that means it's a year of renewal and we need
Speaker 3: that more than ever.
Speaker 2: We also have Labor MP Karina Garland, who is from
Speaker 2: the Siege of Chisholm, also another big Chinese electorate Kwala.
Speaker 2: I wanted to take a moment to wish all Chinese
Speaker 2: Australians in Tism a very happy Dragon Bribe festival. Also
Speaker 2: in this election, I have spotted some first time running
Speaker 2: Chinese Australians. One person I have spoken to is Wenley,
Speaker 2: who's the Greens candidate for Boner in Queensland, and he's
Speaker 2: using that platform to communicate with potential voters. But something
Speaker 2: I do find very interesting is that the Greens has
Speaker 2: always been very vocal in terms of like global human
Speaker 2: rights issues, including China as well as the Israel Hama's War.
Speaker 2: But I didn't really see these posts, and he told
Speaker 2: me that it's not that he is not aware, but
Speaker 2: he decides not to pose about the war on red
Speaker 2: notes because he thinks that this is quite irrelevant to
Speaker 2: the community, so he decides to just post topics that
Speaker 2: the Chinese users are interested in, such as public transport,
Speaker 2: such as immigration policy, small businesses, or economic policies.
Speaker 1: Would there be any risk of him being seen or
Speaker 1: banned by a Red Night if he was to talk
Speaker 1: about China similars records for.
Speaker 2: Example, Yes, And in fact redno has really clear terms
Speaker 2: of services that state that your account could be investigated
Speaker 2: or even suspended if you post anything that made damage
Speaker 2: to Chinese national security, socialist system, or break any Chinese law.
Speaker 2: So what made red noos very different from we chat
Speaker 2: or tech Talk, which are the two major Chinese apps
Speaker 2: that we are very familiar. Is that we chat and
Speaker 2: tech talk are actually the international version of their Chinese prototype,
Speaker 2: Wasting and Dogging. And the reason why they are the
Speaker 2: international versions is because China implemented a really strong censorship
Speaker 2: system and it also introduced two strong laws on data
Speaker 2: and privacy which required all Chinese owned app operating in
Speaker 2: China to pan the data to Beijing if Beijing wants
Speaker 2: them to. This has sparked a lot of concern in
Speaker 2: the international community, and so they introduce these international versions
Speaker 2: to address the international regulations and also try to say
Speaker 2: that we draw a line from our domestic apps. We
Speaker 2: won't hand our data to Beijing if they request. But
Speaker 2: Rednods is a purely local app for China. So what
Speaker 2: happened right now is there have been lots of federal
Speaker 2: politicians in Australia using the app to post politics related stuff,
Speaker 2: but they somehow just got shadowed banned. So, for example,
Speaker 2: Keith Willaholm and Karina Garland, their accounts still exist, but
Speaker 2: when you try to type their name on the search
Speaker 2: it never occurs coming up.
Speaker 1: After the break, how the major parties cut through when
Speaker 1: censorship on red note stops them from speaking to Chinese voters.
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Speaker 1: When you've been reporting on how candidates are trying to
Speaker 1: reach Chinese voters in the lead up to the election.
Speaker 1: So what do we know about how the Chinese community
Speaker 1: voted last time around?
Speaker 2: I think in twenty twenty two, after losing several key
Speaker 2: Liberal seats such as Cheers them, the Liberal Party actually
Speaker 2: the internal review and they said that they lose the
Speaker 2: Chinese Australian voters because of their stands on China being
Speaker 2: too hotkysh. When the COVID started, Scott Morrison directly told
Speaker 2: all the international students to go home, and following that
Speaker 2: his government was the one that requests an independent inquiry
Speaker 2: into the COVID nineteenth region and that annoyed China and
Speaker 2: as a result it was seen at the beginning of
Speaker 2: five year long trade disputes and within the Chinese Australian community,
Speaker 2: this group of people suffered a lot as a result
Speaker 2: of the dispute and as a result, you can see
Speaker 2: the Liberal Party this time tried really hard to win
Speaker 2: back the voters from the Chinese community. Not only did
Speaker 2: they just start the launch in Chisholm, but also Peter
Speaker 2: Dunham himself had said that I'm going to be very
Speaker 2: pro China this time.
Speaker 5: Well, I'm probably China and the relationship that we have
Speaker 5: with them, and I want that trading relationship to increase,
Speaker 5: and nobody's against pandas of course.
Speaker 1: But so Hel was being pro panned working at for
Speaker 1: Peter Dutton.
Speaker 2: I have seen a few commons saying that I don't
Speaker 2: want to vote for Labor, but I would never ever
Speaker 2: vote for Peter Dutton. Chinese voters remember what Peter Dutton
Speaker 2: was like when he was holding the Homo face portfolio.
Speaker 2: Don't forget that many of these people were actually first
Speaker 2: generation migrants who went through the law migration process, probably
Speaker 2: under Peter Dutton. So I think they have been trying
Speaker 2: to push some more moderate faces to the Chinese Australian
Speaker 2: community and one of the candidates that they have spent
Speaker 2: a lot of marketing and advertising on is Scott Young,
Speaker 2: who is running for the seat for ben Alone, which
Speaker 2: is now held by labor Well.
Speaker 1: In the heart of bad Along. Tonight Ingladesville with Maria
Speaker 1: and Susan talking to many small business owners who are
Speaker 1: working so so hard during this time. Maria, thanks for Banahi,
Speaker 1: thank you for having us. Scott and thank you.
Speaker 2: Been known by the community since his first run for politics,
Speaker 2: probably back in twenty nineteen, and he does have this
Speaker 2: handsome look, successful entrepreneur, great son of Chinese migrant parents.
Speaker 6: One of the things that excites me most about Scott
Speaker 6: is that those young kids in the local primary school
Speaker 6: today will be able to look to Scott when he
Speaker 6: goes as a member for ben Along to that local
Speaker 6: school to present the certificates to go to the fundraising and.
Speaker 2: Scott Young has also been seen as like one of
Speaker 2: those young Chinese Australians who actively engage in the community
Speaker 2: and speak up for the community.
Speaker 6: Those young Asian kids in particular will look at him
Speaker 6: and they will be inspired by him to take part
Speaker 6: in public life themselves to join the Great Liberal Party, so.
Speaker 2: I could understand why this time the Liberals actually invested
Speaker 2: a lot on Scott your own to and promote himself
Speaker 2: on Chinese social media.
Speaker 1: And what about the government, how are they faring with
Speaker 1: Chinese vote?
Speaker 2: From the comments I've seen on red Notes, people do
Speaker 2: give a lot of acknowledgment on Labor for fixing the
Speaker 2: Australian China relationships and also talking about how Ethny Albanizi
Speaker 2: being a very underground politician under the leadership of Foreign
Speaker 2: Minister Penny Wall, who by the way, was also a
Speaker 2: very popular leader among the Chinese Australians. We saw that
Speaker 2: China lifted up bands on Australian wine, Australian lobster and
Speaker 2: also beef and Labor party has tried to use this
Speaker 2: as their advantage for this election by reminding people that
Speaker 2: they have been a contributor of the Australian Chinese relations
Speaker 2: and they are the one that fixed the problem. But
Speaker 2: probably to the surprise of many people, China itself is
Speaker 2: actually not on the top of a gender for this
Speaker 2: election among the community because of living and migration policies
Speaker 2: are the two big topics that people who discuss a
Speaker 2: lodge and it seems to going to be the very
Speaker 2: issue that will affect how Chinese Australian community will vote
Speaker 2: this time.
Speaker 1: What do you think politicians are missing if they overlook
Speaker 1: the Chinese community in elections.
Speaker 2: The Chinese community is always perceived as being a political
Speaker 2: as someone that just want to earn money go for
Speaker 2: the business, but people are trying to learn more about
Speaker 2: the politics. Last year during the local government elections, we
Speaker 2: are seeing an increased number of Chinese Australians running for
Speaker 2: politics and that says something. What Australian politicians should pay
Speaker 2: attention to is the genuine, authentic discussion about the election
Speaker 2: from the Chinese Australian community. Lots of the users of
Speaker 2: Redinoes are like the young, well educated people in their
Speaker 2: mid thirties and many of them will be first generation
Speaker 2: migrants who can actually vote, and they have had some
Speaker 2: really interesting discussion about this coming election.
Speaker 1: Willing thank you so much for your time and thank
Speaker 1: you for speaking with us.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much Daniel for having me.
Speaker 1: Seven Am was a daily show from Schwartz Media and
Speaker 1: the Saturday Paper is made by Atticus Basto, Shane Anderson,
Speaker 1: Chris Dangate, Daniel James, Eric Jensen, Ruby Jones, Sarah mcvee,
Speaker 1: Travis Evans, and Zaltenfecho. Our theme music is by Ned
Speaker 1: Beckley and Josh Hogan of Envelope Portio. We'll be back
Speaker 1: on Monday with a special two part episode taking a
Speaker 1: closer look at Elon Musk, the Department of Government Efficiency,
Speaker 1: and what it looks like when you try to run
Speaker 1: the US government like a tech company. See you then,
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