Some migrants are open to One Nation if it passes an important test

Charanjit Singh believes One Nation deserves a chance to govern Australia.

The Melbourne-based business owner supports its promise to cut net overseas migration, which he believes would relieve pressure on the cost of living, infrastructure and public services.

"With the two major parties, they tried everything. They tried all their cards," he said.

"Now let someone else try their own cards."

Mr Singh, an Australian citizen who migrated from India more than 20 years ago, first became interested in One Nation because he supported its opposition to vaccine mandates during the COVID pandemic.

While he has previously voted Labor, he is now a member of the One Nation party and attends its events.

"I was not their supporter from day one. But then I said, 'OK, let's go watch [a One Nation event],'" he said.

One Nation has surged in national polling and the party this year won its first federal by-election, as well as state seats in South Australia and Western Australia.

Among those expressing support, polling suggests, are some culturally diverse Australians.

Recent polling from research company Roy Morgan indicates pockets of support for One Nation among voters born in India, China and the Philippines, among other countries, while other pollsters have reported the same among people who speak a language other than English at home.

Even within communities, there are diverse views.

Some of those voters open to One Nation have told the ABC they were concerned about migration levels and security, worried about inflation, and had been disappointed with the major parties.

Manju, an Indian Australian voter who asked to be identified only by her first name, said she supported One Nation's immigration policy.

"The criteria should be restricted to skilled migrants according to our actual requirements, and restrictions must be placed on those who pose a national security threat," she said.

One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has said the party would cut Australia's net overseas migration, which was about 300,000 last year, to 130,000.

She said it would do this by reducing the number of international students and temporary graduate visas, and through "a much more targeted skilled migration program".

One Nation also intends to restrict migration from countries on the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's "do not travel" list.

While he did not directly refer to One Nation's policies, former prime minister John Howard, speaking at an ANU event last week, questioned whether there was strong evidence that terrorists had entered Australia through migration.

He acknowledged the public mood was strongly focused on stopping terrorism from entering "under the cover of immigration", but argued this could not be addressed simply by stopping migrants from particular countries.

He said that type of approach to national security was "very hard" and could "be a lot more limiting than … people imagine".

However, like some other Australians the ABC spoke to, Manju said One Nation had not secured her support just yet.

Some are still grappling with the party's positions on migrants and religion, as well as Senator Hanson's recent call for Australia to embrace "monoculturalism".

Before deciding whether to support One Nation, Manju wants to hear Senator Hanson respond to anti-Indian racism on social media, including racist comments about Australians who were missing in the Nepal-Tibet flash floods.

"The extreme hatred directed at any brown-skinned person makes me sick," Manju said.

"How does she handle this group of people with this mindset?"

Migrants have questions for Hanson

Hindu Council of Australia vice president Surinder Jain said some migrants were also concerned about religious extremism following the Bondi attack and believed One Nation would "make Australia safe" by rejecting people known to support terrorism.

But Mr Jain said some of Senator Hanson's recent statements had put migrant voters off, including her call for Australia to be "monocultural".

"We are seeking a meeting with her to understand what is her stand on migrants, not on migration,"he said.

"The freedom of speech, freedom of religion, that is such an important part of Australian values."

He said leaders should not use divisive rhetoric, which he feared could fan anti-Indian hatred on social media, and ensure what they say aligned with "the best interests of Australia".

Edgar Lu, a Sydney-based social media influencer who posts on YouTube as "Sydney Daddy", said he once volunteered for One Nation in 2019.

He also posted a Mandarin-subtitled video of Senator Hanson's National Press Club speech to his 360,000 followers.

Mr Lu said One Nation's Chinese Australian supporters were older migrants who held politically conservative views.

While he also supported cutting net overseas migration levels, he said he had not endorsed One Nation yet and was unsure whether Senator Hanson had a strong team to help run the country.

"I am still observing," he said.

Mr Lu said he would also like Senator Hanson to clarify comments she made at the National Press Club criticising the number of people who spoke Mandarin at home.

Among her controversial statements on race and religion in the past 30 years, Senator Hanson has said Australia was at risk of being "swamped by Asians", described Islam as a "disease" that Australia needed to be "vaccinated against", and more recently suggested there were no "good" Muslims — all remarks that were widely condemned.

The Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils (FECCA), the peak body representing culturally diverse community groups, said multiculturalism and migrants should not be made scapegoats for issues facing the country.

"Blaming one group for complex problems does nothing to help everyday Australians and will only create and deepen divisions," FECCA's chief executive Prerana Mehta said.

"We can have serious debates about migration, housing and infrastructure without questioning whether some Australians belong more than others.

"National unity does not require us to be the same. It requires a shared belief that we all belong and have something to contribute."

The ABC put detailed questions to One Nation but received no response.

Is Hanson courting culturally diverse voters?

Senator Hanson drew attention earlier this month when she posted a photo with the Indian Australian owner of Harold's Seafood, a fish and chip shop in Townsville.

"I'm still a sucker for fish and chips … Battered mackerel and chips. 10/10," the post said.

Australia's Indian Sun magazine, which reported on the post with the headline "One Nation courts multicultural Australia on its own terms", saw it as a move to build support among culturally diverse voters.

Jill Sheppard, an Australian National University (ANU) researcher on political participation among migrants, said the photo served two purposes for One Nation.

"They're trying to cultivate this idea of a good migrant who assimilates to Australian culture, who cooks and eats fish and chips, and who can be accepted into a mainstream 'monocultural' Australia, given that's apparently Pauline Hanson's preference," she said.

One Nation was also trying to broaden its appeal to win seats in parliament, she said.

"Running as a very strongly anti-migration single-issue party will only get One Nation so far," Dr Sheppard said.

"They're going to have to diffuse their messaging a little bit and that means that we're going to see Pauline Hanson turn up in more culturally and linguistic diverse areas talking to voters from all walks of life."

But if polls indicate some support among culturally diverse Australians, they also reflect a massive electoral barrier for the party.

Kos Samaras, a pollster and director at the Redbridge Group, said its polling showed most were shunning One Nation.

"They're choosing not to vote with them purely because of One Nation's position on race or perceived position on race and migration,"he said.

Poll analyst Kevin Bonham also said he would not expect One Nation to win Labor-held outer-suburban seats with large culturally diverse populations at the next federal election.

"Some of the frontline seats that One Nation is looking at are rural seats where they can take a huge amount of support from the National Party and outer suburban seats that are not so historically Labor-friendly and perhaps less diverse," he said.

Ms Mehta, from FECCA, said the diversity of multicultural Australians meant there was no "catch-all migrant vote".

"Like every other Australian, their support has to be earned by understanding what matters to them," she said.

Culturally diverse Australians were dealing with many of the same pressures as the rest of the country, including cost of living, housing, healthcare and secure work, she said.

"There are additional barriers for some communities, including recognition of overseas qualifications, discrimination, being apart from their families, access to services and navigating complex systems," Ms Mehta said.

"Where people feel they are working hard but not getting ahead, or that institutions don't understand their frustrations and the obstacles they face. That weakens the trust and belonging they have in that system.

"That should matter to every political party."