Legacies of autocracy: the pre-migration backgrounds of Australian party activists

Recent studies of Australian political behaviour have found that immigrants to Australia are disproportionately likely to donate time and money to election campaigns. This study uses data the 2013 Australian Election Study, which oversampled migrants in Australia, to examine why, in contrast to the international literature, Australian immigrants are disproportionately active in Australian political parties. Disaggregating immigrants by region of origin reveals substantial differences between ethnic groups, with Asian-born Australians significantly more likely to participate in a campaign than Australian-born citizens, and other immigrants. However, Asian-born and European-born immigrants are far less likely to participate in non-campaign forms of participation, such as petition-signing and similar behaviours that may question the policies or actions of the state. Closer examination of the data, through descriptive statistics and logit regressions, reveals the effects of political socialisation on their behaviour in Australia. Specifically, Australian migrants’ experience with, and orientation toward, autocracy informs their engagement with political parties, and the likelihood that they will be recruited as party activists. These findings contribute to the literature on new and diverse forms of party activism in an era of declining traditional party membership.