ABC Says the Quiet Part Out Loud: Labor Wants Indians To Vote Labor
"Albanese wants to make all of those Indian Australians his voters," ABC host claims.
The ABC has unwittingly lent credibility to what the media has long dismissed as a “right-wing conspiracy theory,” with the host and panellists on Insiders openly discussing the Albanese Government’s electoral incentives for courting Australia’s growing Indian diaspora.
The discussion was held in the wake of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Australia, which attracted a crowd of more than 25,000 Indians at Melbourne’s Docklands Stadium.
During the program, host Patricia Karvelas remarked:
“On that multicultural question, I just found that so fascinating. Here we have, in Australia, about a million Indian Australians. In the midst of a debate about multiculturalism versus monoculturalism, the PM just leant right into it, didn’t he? He was like, ‘We’re a multicultural nation, you belong here.’ He wants to make all of those Indian Australians his voters, right?”
A guest panellist responded:
“Yeah, well, we are, and I mean it’s a sort of statement of the obvious to a certain extent—but also there is an electoral advantage for the Prime Minister to bring that diaspora on side. As you say, a million Indians in Australia—obviously not all of them have voting rights—but still, it’s a hugely important demographic.”
Whenever this issue has been raised in the past, it has often been promptly dismissed as a xenophobic, right-wing conspiracy theory. Yet political analysts have generally regarded Indian-Australian voters as a demographic that has consistently leaned towards Labor in recent elections.
Despite this, in September 2025, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price argued in an ABC interview with Patricia Karvelas that Labor’s migration policies were being used to reshape the electorate for partisan gain. Price claimed the government was favouring migrants “from particular countries over others”—specifically citing the Indian community—because they were more likely to support Labor.
The Northern Territory senator said:
“I think Labor like to be able to ensure that they’re going to allow those in that would ultimately support their policies, their views, and vote for them as well.”
She added:
“This is Labor. Basically, it’s power at any cost. And we see that occur all over the place in terms of the way they conduct themselves.”
Price copped a barrage of criticism for her comments, not only from Labor and sections of the media, but even from some of Price’s Coalition colleagues. The remarks ultimately resulted in her removal from the shadow ministry under then Opposition Leader Sussan Ley.
And yet, less than a year later, we have the ABC and their panellists openly acknowledging that governments may have an electoral incentive to cultivate large migrant communities because of their political significance.
So, here we are—a proposition once dismissed as fringe is now being discussed matter-of-factly on the national broadcaster—not as a conspiracy theory, but as an obvious political tactic.
The Indian-born population in Australia reached 710,000 by 2021, up by more than 55.3% since 2016. That figure is now at one million.
In Melbourne alone, where the general population is projected to hit 9 million by 2050, “Singh” has become the most common surname for newborns in the state, overtaking traditional Anglo names such as “Smith” and “Williams.” Other South Asian surnames—such as Patel, Sharma, Ali, Gill, and Sandhu—have also broken into the top 20, with Kaur ranking third.
The influx is so significant that Hinduism is now recognised as the country’s fastest-growing religion, not due to conversion, but through immigration of Hindus from India.
What’s more, several suburbs are now recognised as “Little India” due to their significant Indian communities and concentration of Indian businesses, such as Harris Park. In May 2023, during a visit from Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the area was officially designated as “Little India” by Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.
As is often the case, it’s all just “right-wing conspiracy,” until it isn’t.