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移民澳洲的华人的后裔大多有着较好的条件，他们很多人有着大学文凭，从事于专业行业，不少人还开着奔驰。然而在维州工党议员Hong Lim的眼里，这些澳籍华裔人群中，缺失了一样东西，也就是在国家大事上的发言权。
作为维州议会中唯一一名亚洲议员，Lim认为在国家事务中，没有一个能够代表华人的团体。华人在澳的数量，财富，以及头脑，都说明了这种情况是不合理的。从某种意义上来说，华人这一澳洲最古老的外族人群在澳洲政治体系中很大程度上处于寂静，国家领导层里缺乏代表，国家事务的辩论当中也听不到华人的声音。
Lim先生祖籍在柬埔寨。他和其他几名华人正在同澳洲华人协会一道，试图让在澳华人“说得上话”。比如改变华人圈里传统的在政治上被动的状态；坚持澳洲社会直面反华的种族歧视历史，包括对澳洲本地人后裔的教育；协会质问为何澳洲电视节目上缺少亚洲面孔的出镜；甚至挑战政党，包括华人社会本身，来解决缺少华裔议员的现状。
根据澳大利亚2006年人口统计数据，当时在澳华人已逾70万，接近总人口的4%。其中38万左右的人出生地为中国，仅次于出生于英国和新西兰的第三大海外出生人群。中文是在澳洲继英文之外第二大语种。然而这些数字等未能在澳洲政治生活中得到体现。
澳洲华人协会会员Chek Ling说，除了现任的联邦金融部长Penny Wong，澳洲政治圈内几乎没有你认识的华人。在电视娱乐圈，公众人物，人权和社会平等活动家，以及司法界都找不到华人的影子。正在编写关于澳籍华人参政议政博士论文的Jen Tsen Kwok注意到，手术医生，会计师，医生等职业领域内，华人的身影频频出现，但是在文化领域中缺少华人的参与，以至于影响到政治上的话语权。
澳洲华人来源广阔，其中包括19世纪“白澳”政策当中幸存者，上世纪50-60年代来自于马来西亚和新加坡的，70年代末印尼华人难民，以及近30年来来自香港，台湾和大陆的新移民。Kwok认为，多源性这一特点导致了很难在华人圈内树立一个统一的政治语境。澳洲华人协会也同意，华人来自于不同地区这一事实，增加了单独个体代表全体的难度。
历史原因是另外一个阻碍华人参政的因素。过去一百年间的战争和革命，形成了地毯式阻碍参政积极性的效应。来自于东南亚地区的华人，更是因为经历过当地的歧视，而不愿参与政治。澳洲本地的歧视，和曾经的“白澳”政策把华人挡在政治之外。
除了自身的原因，澳洲工党和自由党对华人的态度也左右着华人参政热情。Kwok认为，华人常常在政治圈内被这两大党派视为外人，在新州华人仅仅被看作是政党资金来源。这一观点同时得到了澳洲华人协会全国主席Anthony Pun的认可。Pun博士表示，当这些大政党需要用钱时，他们想到了向华人伸手，但是事后却把我们抛之脑后。新州的Francis Lee对此有切肤之痛，他对失去参选新州议会和悉尼地区议会的机会大感失望。在他参选之前，新州工党头头们曾暗示性地问他能够提供多少资金援助。结果自由党人士因为强大的经济支援击败了他。Lee坦言，相对于候选人的才能，政党更在意金钱。
即便如此，Lee看到了华人群体中重新兴起的参政情绪，尤其是在地区政府中。如今，墨尔本和悉尼两地分别有起码十名华人在积极参与政府事务。Lee坦言，华人候选人较其他人面临更多的阻碍，他们必须在种族层面上克服阻力。如果其他条件相同，华人更难获得议会当中下院席位。
维州自由党前议员Tsebin Tchen从参与地区政府事务的亚洲人数上看到了希望，维州现任州长Ted Baillieu和反对党领导人Daniel Andrews都不约而同地任命专门负责华人社会的特别智囊团。在种族偏见问题上，尽管Tchen认为自己没有经历过特别的歧视，他承认一些澳洲人不会考虑给华人，或者穆斯林人投票。但是与此同时，有些人也会因为他是华人而给他投上一票。
相比Tchen的乐观，文章一开始提到的Lim议员说，在联邦和州级议会中，总共只有五名华人，这一数字相对希腊，土耳其和意大利等其他外族群体来说，想到渺小。
华人在政治圈内的弱势，意味着华人圈在不断扩大的同时，没有享受政府服务，比如定居扶助和养老。Lim表示，在各级政府以及两个政党的各个层面上，对华人团体有着轻视的关系，这一现象应该引起担忧。与此同时，越来越多的年轻华人在校园政治，政党和社区事务上活跃着。在Lim看来，这些人渴望参与政治，也相信参政比开奔驰车更重要。
Wesa Chau, a former Young Victorian of the Year, says ethnic Chinese are under-represented in public life.
MP Hong Lim, outside Parliament, worries Chinese Australians are invisible in the country's politics.
Exploring the China syndrome: prosperity without profile
http://www.theage.com.au/national/exploring-the-china-syndrome-prosperity-without-profile-20120114-1q0o8.html
THE kids, says Hong Lim, are doing fine. They have degrees, professions, and lots are driving a Mercedes. Life's good.
But the state Labor MP says there is something missing in this success story for a growing middle class of Chinese Australians: they don't have a say in the national conversation.
''There is no voice, no effective body at the national level, for Chinese Australians,'' says Mr Lim, the sole Asian in State Parliament. ''This is not right. Because of the sheer numbers, the sheer wealth, the sheer brain power they have, they should have something more.''
Instead, he says, Australia's oldest ethnic minority is largely invisible in Australian politics, under-represented in leadership positions, and mute in national debates.
Mr Lim, originally from Cambodia, is among a group of Chinese Australians, clustered around the Chinese Community Council of Australia, trying to give a voice to a growing part of the Australian population.
Ideas emerging from the council challenge the stereotype of a politically passive community. They insist Australia confronts its history of anti-Chinese racism and educate its children about it. They question why Asian faces are absent from our TV screens. They challenge political parties - and the Chinese community itself - to deal with the lack of ethnic Chinese MPs. And while they say it's time the Chinese had a voice, they admit the diversity of the community prevents any one group from claiming to represent it.
In the 2006 census, more than 700,000 Australians - almost 4 per cent of the population - traced a Chinese ancestor. Some 380,000 residents were born in China, making them the third-largest overseas-born group after Britons and New Zealanders.
Chinese language speakers are the second-largest language group after English. Yet these numbers are not reflected in public life, says Chek Ling, a convenor of the Chinese Community Council of Australia.
''Apart from Penny Wong, the Finance Minister, there's hardly anyone you can recognise,'' he says. ''They are not on TV, not public intellectuals, or human rights or social justice activists. There are none in the judiciary.
''We are seen as very good as surgeons, accountants, doctors, but there seems to be a sort of gatekeeping at a cultural level, so the Chinese are not able to have a voice.'' Jen Tsen Kwok, who is writing a PhD on Chinese Australian engagement in politics, cautions against any assumption of a homogenous Chinese community.
Instead, there are diverse communities made of different strands: descendants of 19th century migrants who survived the White Australia policy; students from Malaysia and Singapore who came in the late 1950s and 1960s; refugees from Indochina in the late 1970s; and the surge of migrants from Hong Kong, Taiwan and China from the late 1980s.
''There are not many ethnic groups like the Chinese who come from so many diverse source nations and have such diverse experiences, so to try to construct a single narrative around political engagement is very difficult,'' Mr Kwok says.
There are also historical factors inhibiting their political engagement. War and revolution in China over the past century had a ''blanketing effect on the desire to engage politically''. Many Chinese from south-east Asia had also experienced discrimination, which made them reluctant to engage in politics.
There is also Australia's history of racism and the White Australia Policy, introduced largely to keep Chinese out.
Ethnic Chinese aspiring to elected office also face resistance from political parties. In some cases their ethnicity works against them, Mr Kwok says. They are seen as outsiders, while in New South Wales they are regarded primarily as sources of funds.
Anthony Pun, national president of the community council, says Labor and the Liberals in NSW have seen Chinese candidates as ''Asian cash cows''.
''Sometimes we think we are just the money bags, and whenever they want we'll open the coffers and after that they forget who we are,'' Dr Pun says. ''Both major parties have shown this tendency.''
Francis Lee has experience of the NSW ALP's expectations. He was left disillusioned after failing to win preselection for Parliament and Sydney Council. In his last attempt, he says party bosses quizzed him on how much money he could bring to the party. He lost out to a Liberal defector with greater financial clout.
''The parties were interested in money, rather than the quality or the talent of the candidates,'' he says. Even so, he sees a renewed interest in Chinese involvement in politics, with the focus on local government. At least 10 ethnic Chinese are active in local government in Melbourne, with a similar number in Sydney.
Mr Lee says any ethnic Chinese candidate faces obstacles beyond the slog of day-to-day politics. ''They have to overcome resistance from voters on a racial basis,'' he says. ''It's a lot harder for an Asian candidate, all other things being equal, to win a lower house seat.''
A former Victorian Liberal senator, Tsebin Tchen, sees positive signs in the number of Asians in local government and the fact Premier Ted Baillieu and Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews have appointed special advisers on the Chinese community.
Mr Tchen questions whether Chinese are under-represented in elected positions, as many are new arrivals with more immediate priorities than politics.
As for racial prejudice, he says some Australians will never vote for a Chinese, or a Muslim, for that matter, although he never experienced overt racism when he was in politics.
''I'm sure there were people who I'd spoken to who would not have voted for me in a fit. But I'm also sure there have been people who voted for me because I'm Chinese.''
Others are less sanguine. Mr Lim says the number of Chinese in Federal and State Parliaments - five - is minute compared with MPs from other, smaller ethnic groups, including Greeks, Turks and Italians.
A lack of representation meant a growing part of the community was denied services, such as settlement support and aged care. This was not a healthy situation.
''There's almost a disdainful relationship towards the Chinese community, from governments in general, at all levels on both sides of politics, and that should be a concern.''
At the same time, he sees signs of younger Chinese becoming active in campus politics, political parties and community affairs.
There are people, he says, with a ''longing to belong'' and believe playing a role in civic life is more important than owning a Mercedes.
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