This November, as Victoria goes to the polls to elect the next Parliament, the number of Indians, albeit small, participating in the elections certainly adds to the political theatre.
The question hanging therefore: will they, won’t they win at the hustings? In a bid to know more behind these faces, The Indian Sun is reaching out to candidates. Here are the first two respondents.
Deepak Joshi, the Greens candidate for Warrandyte
Uttarakhand born and Delhi raised Deepak Joshi was a professional in the financial services sector when he moved to Australia as a skilled migrant in 1997. He has also had a short stint in the Australian Public Service before he decided to quit and become an entrepreneur.
The road to politics, for Joshi, is something he discovered in 2019. He was on a trip to Delhi in December of that year and was a full witness to the Citizenship Amendment Act (Bill) protests. In fact, at one stage he even made it to a viral video on Facebook where he and his lawyer sister were questioning the police for arresting students who were not clearly violating the Section 144 order (which prohibits gathering of four or more people).
Soon followed the Shaheen Bagh protests on the same issue, when protestors mainly led by Muslim women formed a sit-in for more than four months.
“It was a poignant moment for me,” reflects Joshi, who then came back to Australia. It became clear that he had to make a specific choice and commit to working for human rights.
He had little political inclinations initially but became an activist forming the social justice advocacy group, The Humanism Project, with like-minded Australian-Indians. His portal, NRI Affairs, started a year ago was with the intent to address bold diaspora issues.
Joshi is also one of the founders of Hindus for Human Rights Australia and New Zealand, a group that advocates for pluralism, civil and human rights; and provides a Hindu voice of resistance to caste, religious extremism, racism, and all forms of bigotry and oppression.
Interestingly, Joshi started doing advocacy work with the government and reached out to all political parties. “The idea being to influence Australian public policy towards India and getting MPs to mention India’s human rights situation in the Australian State and Federal Parliaments. But the only people who responded positively were the Greens and over time I became a member in mid-2020. I thought I was doing so much work with them and joined out of solidarity,” he says.
The other project Joshi was keen on was to encourage “progressive Indians to enter Australian politics”.
Joshi’s denunciation against victims of extremism is no secret. “I have been talking about human rights, divisions within the diaspora, anti-Muslim bigotry and talking to security and law and order agencies about how Hindu extremism is trying to influence politics, infiltrate media and public life here.”
He says he has also been reading about caste prejudices in the diaspora being carried over here on many levels.
Against this backdrop, what impressed him about the Greens is “their fierce position on human rights around the world. That’s what brought me to them, they are the only ones who openly state their position without worrying about what to say, for which audience, far from the kind of doublespeak that other main parties indulge in”.
And it was a surprise when “out of the blue” he was asked to put in his candidature for the Warrandyte seat, which has been a Liberal stronghold. But Joshi is quick to qualify this by saying, “In the last elections, I think they had a seven per cent plus margin on a two-party preferred basis, but Greens made substantial gains in the Federal election. The last Federal elections show Greens are on a roll. I am very positive; I think there is a good chance of us doing much better this time.”
With a diverse electorate, the issues Joshi is advocating are good infrastructure such as good public transport, more affordable homes, transitioning to renewable gas – all aligned to party ideology. “Accountability and integrity is very important,” he adds.
Joshi says the Greens is a party that does not accept corporate donations and relies entirely on people. “So our policies are based on people, you can see their transparency in their policies… I could go on.”
Because there is limited budget to advertise, Joshi says he starts his campaigning early. “We got to do it smart, I try to be at markets and other public places where I can meet a lot of people.”
So how do people react to an Indian face campaigning? “I am amazed by how people are responding and the people who are volunteering. I expected some hostility, but I haven’t experienced it,” he says.
To a question on why Australia is at the bottom when it comes to the representation of people of colour in politics, Joshi says the diaspora is very young in Australia. “Most people are trying to establish themselves, raising children, adjusting to a new life and so on. There is also hesitancy, a large number of people who get into leadership positions have not entered politics for some reason. Similarly, you don’t see many diaspora people in the media or the corporate or public service,” he says, adding, “People will have confidence if they see role models, which is sadly lacking.”
Irrespective of how he fares at the hustings, Joshi believes, “It will at least give me the experience of what needs to be done. It will force me to think more deeply about local issues.”
Shwetali Sawant, Independent candidate from Point Cook
After completing her Bachelors in Electronics and Communication from Nirma University in Ahmedabad and Master’s in Biomedical Engineering from Cornell University in New York, Shwetali Sawant did not end up taking up a lucrative career based on her educational smarts. The reason being, she had a baby soon after.
And then the family relocated from the United States to Australia in 2008. It was here that her business instincts kicked in, and a desire that would serve her well.
Sawant says entrepreneurship and being her own boss was always imbedded in her brain. Her initial gambit after relocating to Australia was an online business. In 2017, she set up her venture The Indian Bazaar, a social enterprise, certified by Social Traders Australia, that supports and promotes home-based businesses run by Indian women entrepreneurs through events, exhibitions and pop-up markets.
Her initiation into politics was something that came out of the lockdown. Sawant says the Victorian Chamber of Commerce was giving out free membership at the time, which she signed up. “They give you mentorship from the number of companies associated with them.”
And it was Sawant’s first mentor Bill Lange from Small Business Australia, who asked her if she would be interested as a candidate for Point Cook for the Victorian Party, which he started last November.
“To be honest, I was happy with my business and working with the community. But an opportunity like that came and it was worth mulling over,” she says.
However, the Victorian Party which had selected her candidature was deregistered last month on 15 September, it has chosen not to run the elections this year. But Sawant found her political ambitions had been tickled as she saw it as an opportunity to work and connect with the wider community.
Therefore, she decided to run the elections as an independent candidate for Point Cook, which, for the first time, has emerged as an electoral district of the Victorian Legislative Assembly after the redistribution of electoral boundaries in 2021.
“Working in Point Cook for the past so many years, I have come across so many problems and priorities that need to be sorted. I thought if no one else is doing it let me get it done,” says Sawant.
The main issue right now, she believes, is the infrastructure. “The population of Point Cook is growing tremendously. So, it is a great time to get an opportunity for representation in this brand new seat.”
That apart, well-being, education and women, and culture are the other issues she is campaigning for. “When it comes to women, the average homeless age used to be 55, now it is 45. When women start a family, they are the ones who take the major responsibility of raising a child at the expense of a break from their career. When they get back into the workforce, they don’t get the same job portfolio or job description they had earlier.”
Sawant adds, “Down the line as they approach retirement age, they have little savings or super to help themselves if they are on their own. I know a lot of people even among the Indian community who are in difficult and abusive relationships do not leave because they don’t have a backup plan for themselves.”
In her contest to succeed this elections, Sawant also harps on the fact that more opportunities and support for domestic violence survivors is need. “They have temporary places to go, it’s not for the long run. That is where I need to help more and more.”
Sawant, in character to the last, is spending her time campaigning door to door, meeting and talking to as many people as possible. She has also organised a fundraiser. “Thankfully because of The Indian Bazaar, a lot of people already know me as I am in Point Cook every first Saturday of the month running the market,” she says.
Finally, to the question as to why Australia is at the bottom when it comes to the representation of people of colour in politics, Sawant says that’s one of the reasons she took the plunge.
“I have a teenager and when I think about opportunities or where she would want to stand five years down the line when she goes out on her own, she must find role models or heroes to emulate. I have taken that challenge because I want her to see that if mum can do it, she can do it too.”
As the momentum of Sawant’s campaign picks up, she remains “hopeful of winning”.
(If you are standing for elections, please reach out to The Indian Sun at office@indiansun.com.au)
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This November, as Victoria goes to the #polls🗳 to elect the next #Parliament, the number of #Indians, albeit small, participating in the #elections certainly adds to the political theatre. #TheIndianSun @JoshiGreens @indira_laisram https://t.co/MGJkSaJ7ET
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