Brad Battin and his colleagues from the Liberal Party walked into the Liberal Room at Parliament House with a simple message: ethnic media matters—and it’s time that state policy reflected that. Speaking to more than 40 multicultural media representatives from across Victoria, the Opposition Leader acknowledged the state’s failure to genuinely engage with communities beyond superficial event appearances or translation tokenism.
“We can’t just be speaking at communities. We need to start listening to them,” Battin said. “And that means working with the people who actually carry their stories every day—you.”
The Victorian Liberal Party’s Multicultural Press Conference marked one of its most direct appeals yet to culturally and linguistically diverse voters, many of whom have long expressed frustration at being treated as photo ops rather than equal stakeholders in public discourse.
Shadow Minister for Multicultural Affairs Evan Mulholland was candid. “During the pandemic, it was the multicultural press that got the messages through. The government failed to communicate in-language in time. You did the job. And you should be supported for it.”
Battin echoed those concerns and called for a new statewide multicultural media strategy, modelled on the government’s existing regional media policy. He floated the idea of guaranteed advertising allocations for ethnic press across all departments. “It shouldn’t just be about the Herald Sun and The Age. If you’re trying to reach people in real time, you’re not doing it without the multicultural press.”
He also stressed the need to modernise communication channels. “Multilingual digital newsletters, social media in different scripts, and outreach via WhatsApp groups—these are tools, not afterthoughts.”
Battin shared that his office already redistributes paid media content across a network of MPs to help fund placements in multicultural outlets—a workaround, he admitted, in the absence of formal government support. “We divide the cost between us because we believe in what you do. But it shouldn’t depend on ad hoc goodwill. It needs structure.”
The message resonated with journalists in the room, many of whom raised issues ranging from lack of local-language curriculum options to public safety. Battin promised broader multicultural engagement ahead of the 2026 election—including preselecting diverse candidates in winnable seats and expanding community liaison roles within public agencies.
“We’re not here to run a top-down campaign,” he said. “We want people in the room from day one. And that includes the media who’ve been in the room from day one already—you just haven’t been heard.”
As Battin positions his party as a challenger to Labor’s long-held dominance in diverse suburbs, how far that message travels may well depend on the very reporters he addressed last night.
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