Could a migrant's background influence the way he or she votes?
Or do migrants simply vote on the key policy issues which most Australians are concerned about like the economy, health, and education?
Research at the Australian National University has found there are clear patterns in the way migrants from a non English speaking background vote, although these start to disappear among their children and grand-children.
Professor Ian McAllister from the ANU's politics department has conducted surveys after every federal election in Australia since the late 1980s.
All the surveys have looked at the way migrant background can influence voting decisions.
Professor McAllister says the studies have found, for example, that more Middle Eastern and Asian-Australian voters tend to support Labor than the Coalition.
By contrast, he says his research has found Eastern European-Australian voters are more likely to support the Coalition over Labor.
The professor says foreign policy decisions and homeland experiences can influence voting patterns and in some cases this extends back a number of decades.
"With the Whitlam Labor Government in the early 1970s, they did two things: They recognised the Soviet incorporation of the Baltic states and they also recognised the position of China and Gough Whitlam visited China at that time. From that period onwards, Eastern Europeans became very anti-Labor to the extent of about 20 percentage points in the late 1980s."
Professor McAllister says that anti-Labor sentiment is not as strong with younger generations of Eastern European migrants who settled in Australia after the collapse of Communism in Europe in the late 1980s.
However, he believes some more recent political events in Australia in the 1990s have continued to influence many Asian Australian voters and led them to be more supportive of Labor.
Professor McAllister believes the Coalition's standing with Asian Australians was damaged by former Liberal Leader John Howard's concerns over Asian migration in the 1980s and his initial reluctance to speak out against former One Nation leader Pauline Hanson.
"There were various statements by people in the Liberal Party in the late 1980s and early 1990s about Asian migration and that tended to push them towards Labor and then also I think the association of Labor with the policy of multiculturalism has been very important for all non English speaking migrant groups. So in principle, Asian migrants, because of their generally (higher) socio economic background and because of their propensity to engage in small business, they should really be natural Coalition supporters, but they're basically not and I think those are the reasons for it."
Some Asian Australian community groups say the ANU research findings are a reflection of the views they have heard expressed within their communities over recent years.
Phong Nguyen is the President of the Vietnamese Community in Victoria and a former chairperson of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria.
He says many Vietnamese Australians entered the country as asylum seekers and are disgruntled over the tough asylum policies being adopted by the major parties during the current campaign.
Mr Nguyen says many middle aged and older Vietnamese Australians remember the debate over Pauline Hanson's policies in the 1990s and are still reluctant to support the Coalition because of its record then on multiculturalism.
"Our community can have a long memory. The Howard era of the 1980s and Pauline Hanson and all that- it's still fresh in people's minds and I don't think it has ever gone away- the whole issue of race relationships and multiculturalism- it's very important to them."
Another community group, the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations, agrees that past political decisions can continue to influence voting patterns.
The association's Chairman, Victor Rajakulendran says the Tamil-Australian community is politically-diverse, with many small business owners more likely to support the Coalition than Labor.
But he believes many Tamil Australians tend to vote Labor because the Hawke Labor government in the 1980s allowed relatively high immigration of Tamils, especially Tamils from Sri Lanka.
Many Tamil Australians came as asylum seekers from Sri Lanka, and Dr Rajakulendran says many members of the community are disappointed with the tough asylum seeker policies now being adopted by the major parties.
"We had a public meeting in a hall and a lot of boat people were there and they were all worried about Tony Abbott coming to power and scrapping all the review processes (for asylum claims). So they are all highly worried because they have to go through all these processes and if Tony Abbott comes to power that will go. That is a concern that is there in the community now."
Professor Ian McAllister from the A-N-U says research shows that migrant communities tend to become more politically-diverse the longer they settle in Australia.
He says the children and grand-children of migrants tend to have the same diverse political views as the broader Australian community.
Professor McAllister says this is particularly noticeable in the Italian and Greek Australian communities, where many migrants settled in the country decades ago.
A former Italian Senate candidate and past President of Club Marconi, Tony Labbozzetta has been an active member of Sydney's Italian community for many years.
He says while many Italian Australians tended to be more pro-Labor in the 1970s, the community is a lot more politically diverse in its outlook today.
"I think we've integrated significantly in the community and there is a diverse feeling and my experiences have told me over many years that there has been a change and people have become much more open and broader in their thinking about what is really the best for our country."
