Left, right, climate, Israel: the Jewish vote in Australian politics is anything but homogenous

PHILIP DALIDAKIS casts an eye over the swirling issues that matter to Jewish voters, and the candidates and seats that will hold spotlight in the 2022 campaign

WITH PRIME MINISTER Scott Morrison finally announcing the election for May 21, the campaign can now officially begin, although of course the parties have been unofficially campaigning for many months. So it’s time for Jewish voters, along with the rest of the country, to decide whether they want another three years of Scott Morrison, or whether they want a switch to Anthony Albanese.

The first point to make is that Jews are a very small minority in Australia, and that overall their votes don’t count for very much. On the most optimistic assessment, there are perhaps 100,000 voters who identify as Jewish, in a national electorate of 17 million. By contrast (and the contrast is relevant in terms of party politics), there are more than 500,000 voters who identify as Muslim, not to mention about 300,000 Indian-Australians and 250,000 Chinese-Australians.

Historically Australian Jews, like Jews everywhere, have tended to live in geographically concentrated areas, so that they are close to Jewish places of worship, Jewish schools and shops which supply Jewish dietary requirements.

But as Australian Jews, like other Australians, have become increasingly secular, as well as more prosperous, our community has become more dispersed. This means that there are very few electorates with a sufficient concentration of Jewish voters to make a difference at election time.

In Victoria, according to the most recent census, those electorates are Macnamara (formerly Melbourne Ports), with 11.8% Jewish voters, Goldstein (7.8%) and Higgins (4.7%). Macnamara covers Caulfield and East St Kilda, Melbourne’s most heavily Jewish suburbs. Goldstein takes in Brighton, Higgins covers Malvern and Toorak. I would add Kooyong to that list, in terms of Jewish interest if not numbers, as it has Australia’s most senior Jewish MP, Liberal party Deputy Leader and Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg.