Asians set to wield electoral influence

They're young, articulate and Asian, and they're an increasingly influential voter block.

This election marks the coming of age for many immigrant children, the majority of whom arrived with their families in the last decade.

Manying Ip, associate professor at Auckland University's school of Asian studies, believes the upcoming election heralds the start of a new voter demographic of overseas-born, New Zealand-educated "1.5ers" - one part foreign, but quite a bit Kiwi.

Their emergence meant political parties had to move beyond putting forward "brown faces and yellow faces" that did not serve the community well, she said.

The electoral enrolment centre has no figure on these voters, but believes them to be a "growing number", based on population statistics.

At the 2001 census, 15- to 24-year-olds made up 21 per cent of the country's 240,000-strong Asian population. Numbering just under 51,000, they comprised 14 per cent of New Zealand's total population in 2001.

Nearly a quarter of the Asian population then was under-14, and some will already have become eligible to vote this election.

Dr Ip said the youth component in some migrant communities is even higher. At the 2001 census, 15- to 24-year-olds among the Hong Kong and Taiwanese-born comprised 34 per cent and 39 per cent of their respective total populations.

"They're only coming into the scene now," said Dr Ip.

The group may have birth places ranging from Afghanistan to Indonesia, but they share the common thread of having grown up in New Zealand, often straddling two different cultures.

As Dr Ip put it: "They will think like Pakeha except with an Asian slant".

But they were also more politically savvy than their parents, and would see through the ethnic "poster boy" candidates that political parties now deploy as a strategy to entice the ethnic vote, she said.

This group was perfectly positioned as future leaders because of their unique upbringing and ability to articulate the aspirations of older and new immigrants, said Dr Ip.

For the first time, the electoral enrolment centre has embarked on a special drive for these young voters. Record crowds attended a conference held in Auckland recently targeting the group.

Spokeswoman Winnie Chang said the older migrants tended not to vote as "they want to live silently and not cause any trouble". The conference turnout signified a different attitude among the younger Asians towards participatory politics, she said.