The Sydney suburb of Cabramatta sits in the federal electorate of Fowler, one of the most culturally-diverse seats in Australia.
In the lead-up to next month's election, SBS Radio has hosted a Meet the Candidate session in Cabramatta.
Laura Murphy-Oates went along to witness the event, and to speak to some of the locals about the election campaign.
Van Khuc runs a small fabric store on the busy Johns Street strip in Cabramatta.
His shop is one of the oldest in the strip, and he's been there for 15 years.
Like the majority of the greater Fowler electorate, Van is a Labor voter.
He says he is happy with what Labor has done in the area.
"The atmosphere is good and also the business is better. Especially when the corruption of the police is cut out and then in here the security in here is much better, much better than before. You remember in 1995 nobody wanted to come here and it was very dangerous you know. Now I can stay here up to midnight, no problem at all."
The Fowler electorate, spanning across part of the south-west of Sydney, has been a Labor stronghold since its creation in 1984.
It's currently held by Labor MP Chris Hayes with a margin of almost nine per cent.
More than half of the electorate's residents were born overseas.
The biggest overseas-born community in Fowler by far is Vietnamese, but there are also other large immigrant communities, including from Cambodia and Iraq.
No longer having the reputation as the heroin capital of Australia, concerns in Cabramatta have now turned to issues like jobs, cost of living and education.
At the event hosted by SBS Radio,the people of Fowler were able to take these concerns to those seeking to represent them in federal parliament.
"I just want to know why I should vote for you, what do you think the main issue is for this community and what are you going to try to do to change it?"
Chris Hayes along with the Greens' Benjamin Silaphet and Darren McLean of Katter's Australian Party, fielded questions for over an hour.
The Liberal Party's Andrew Nguyen was a noticeable absence.
Despite being Vietnamese himself, Mr Nguyen declined invitations to attend the Vietnamese community event.
Greens candidate Benjamin Silaphet says he's disappointed the Liberals did not send their candidate.
"I think that is really poor because basically this is the community that he is in. We had a lot of forums before this and they did not turn up which is unfortunate because we would like to hear their viewpoints and that's the whole purpose of forums so personally I do think it's a negative thing for him not to come here."
Labor's Chris Hayes, who's seeking re-election, says he's not concerned about Mr Nguyen's absence.
Mr Hayes says he's also not worried about Labor's neck-and-neck polling with the Liberal Party.
"I've never really been into looking at the polls. My view is that as a local member I work hard to ensure that the issues relevant to my community are brought up. I honestly believe if the community. I think I've done a half-decent job, they'll reward me with their vote, if they don't well I shouldn't get their vote."
Cabramatta has a strong refugee community so the asylum seeker issue is a hot topic.
The major parties' hardline policies on asylum boat arrivals provoke a mixed response.
Socdy Mann, a refugee from Cambodia, thinks stricter rules on boat arrivals are fair.
"I was a refugee in Thailand for seven years, I wait like that, like crazy but I think that they come by boat like that I don't think it's right. We basically have no life over there, we had no money. Whoever take me I will go. That's how we felt."
However the president of the National Vietnamese Community Association, Tri Vo, says the refugee community has a deeply personal interest in human rights.
"The thing that I think is the most important for us, we were former refugees of the Vietnamese communist regime, is about human rights. That's why we would like our federal member, especially in Fowler which has the most Australians with a background from Vietnam, to be more concerned about human rights, to be ready to speak up and speak in parliament."
At the forefront of everyone's mind, however, is the issue of jobs.
Fowler has the second highest unemployment rate in the country at 10 per cent.
At the time of the 2011 Census, almost three-quarters of Fowler's 150,000 residents spoke a language other than English at home - with Vietnamese, Arabic and Chinese languages being the most commonly-spoken.
Labor member Chris Hayes says language barriers are a big part of the struggle to find work.
"More than two-thirds were born overseas. It's a very multicultural seat. English as a first language is low. I need more opportunities for people to undertake English courses because that is one of the barriers to employment."
Evel Pananena, a refugee from El Salvador, says Labor is still the party of jobs and the working man.
"I always vote Labor you know what I mean maybe because I come from not the high class, the middle class. I have two houses. I have been working hard."
Candidate Darren McLean believes Katter's Australian Party could be the real job creators for the area.
He says the solution lies in the much-debated second Sydney airport proposed for nearby Badgerys Creek.
"That would create a lot of jobs. Badgerys Creek would create jobs to the level of 20,000 just for the Liverpool area- Liverpool/Fairfield. The jobs will grow eventually as the airport begins."
In such a strong Labor seat, it's not likely Mr McLean will get to put his ideas into action.
But many voters such as Jason Do remain undecided.
"I think it's just the start of the campaign and there's too much information at this stage. Hopefully they can actually keep their words. There's too much promising and I'm not sure if they're actually going to do it or not."
