Labor MP says Australian politics is an ‘Anglo boys club’

When federal Labor MP Peter Khalil first decided he wanted a career in politics, he says he was repeatedly told that his Egyptian heritage, including his name and appearance, would prevent him from winning a federal seat.

“People in the [Labor] Party, senior people, told me to shave my goatee because they said I looked like a terrorist. They said my name was too ethnic,” he told The Age.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/labor-mp-says-australian-politics-is-an-anglo-boys-club-20211115-p5990q.html

Peter Khalil at a factory in Brunswick earlier this year with federal leader Anthony Albanese,Credit:Sarah Matray

Mr Khalil has been the member for the federal seat of Wills in Melbourne’s north since 2016 and is now challenging the claim, made by countless politicians, that Australia is the most successful multicultural country in the world.

“There is an Anglo boys club that dominates politics, let’s be honest about that,” Mr Khalil told The Age.

Concerned that political parties – including his own – often take advantage of ethnic communities while ensuring they are kept from the halls of power, Mr Khalil has written an essay for the UNSW Law Society’s social justice journal, detailing the systemic racism he believes is holding Australia back.

“Ethnic communities tend to be utilised in one way, either through branch stacking or they are put up as candidates in unwinnable seats,” he said.

Labor’s decision to parachute Kristina Keneally into the seat of Fowler in NSW ahead of a local candidate of Vietnamese heritage is just one recent example of the party sidelining non-white candidates.

“I had success and I punched through, but if it was all about merit, some of us would be far ahead of where we are now,” Mr Khalil said.

As part of his research, Mr Khalil discovered Australians with Asian, Pacific Islander, Middle Eastern, South American, North African and African background made up 21 per cent of the Australian population, but just 4 per cent of Federal Parliament.

In contrast, there is an over-representation of Anglo-Celtic parliamentarians at 78.1 per cent, despite that ethnic grouping making up about 58 per cent of Australia’s population.

Mr Khalil delivering his maiden speech in 2016.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

“This under-representation [of minorities] is even worse in the federal ministry and among the leadership ranks of the state and federal public service,” Mr Khalil said.

Mr Khalil believes there is “a growing acknowledgment” that the demographics of political parties, are out of step with the broader population.

Moving to Canberra in the early 2000s to pursue a career in the public service, Mr Khalil hoped his position in the national security community would insulate him from the racism he had come to expect. Instead, in the post-September 11 environment, his new colleagues mocked up a photo of a terrorist and left it on his desk.

"It hurt, but I never said anything," he said.

A stint as Kevin Rudd’s national security adviser sparked an interest in running for Parliament, but he was repeatedly told that his ethnicity would prevent him from landing a safe seat.