Commenting on the millions of dollars worth of electoral promises made by both Labor and Liberal parties in the lead up to the elections, all of four panellists at SBS agreed this was "intended to grab votes", with one panellist saying "the Indian community vote is not for sale."
Another said, "The Indian community is smart enough to see through it", whilst yet another said, “There should be some laws about this. After all, this is not the politicians’ pocket money – this is the taxpayers' money” he said, saying there should be clear laws around last minute promises.
These Victorian elections have seen an unprecedented number of Indian origin candidates in the fray. SBS Punjabi asked many voters in various parts of Melbourne if the ethnicity of the candidate would influence their vote, and indeed, would the last minute funding promises cut through. Some responses are captured in the video below.
Despite repeated requests, none of the Labor or Liberal candidates made themselves available for the panel discussion held on Monday, November 19, but SBS Punjabi was delighted to have four candidates of Indian heritage, from varied constituencies across Melbourne, who provided us various insights into the upcoming elections.
Some questions we asked the four candidates, namely Moti Visa (Transport Matters Party), Tarang Chawla (Independent), Arnav Sati (Independent) and Naresh Bhalla (The Greens) included issues like overcrowding, immigration level, safety and security issues, long stay parental visas and of course, the expected outcome of the November 24 elections.
On the point of the election outcome, two of the panellists predicted it would be a hung parliament, one said Labor was likely to win and the fourth said it was too close to call.
All said they “were in it to win it”, and regardless of the outcome of the election for themselves, personally, they promised to remain in politics for the long term.
Watch the entire panel discussion by clicking the link below
SBS Punjabi team also asked many Punjabi voters in Melbourne about the main issues at play for them. A majority of them identified better public transport as their prime concern.
And finally, hear from the four Indian origin candidates who came to SBS studios for a panel discussion about what drove them to run for the elections. At least two candidates said, they would like to "make their seat marginal" because safe seats are neglected.
More from SBS Punjabi
Elections in Victoria: Indian community and candidates
