National

Immigration

Opinion

Jacinta Price is wrong to think all Indian voters like me back Labor – but they probably will now

Surendra Verma Writer and author September 8, 2025 — 7.00pm

As my name indicates, I am of Indian heritage. Now 83 years old, I arrived in Australia more than five decades ago. Whenever I meet newly arrived Indians, they often ask me about racism in Australia when I arrived.

My answer has always been, “I never experienced any racism 55 or so years ago, but in recent years I have had my share of unfortunate encounters at a personal level”.

When I arrived here, institutional racism was in full force: the White Australia policy did not end until 1975. In those happy days, you could walk into the Australian embassy in New Delhi and enquire about your applic

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