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Su-Lin Tan

As an Australian journalist working in Asia, I was recently asked what was Asia’s view of Australia.
Some wanted to know what Asian consumers desired, while others wanted to know what Asians thought about Australia’s global reputation.
But almost all of them want feedback because they wish for better relations with Asia or to do more business with Asia, which is in line with what Canberra wants. However, they are concerned they do not get enough or the right information from the local press.
So here are some snippets from the Asia suggestions box.
First, on tourism, Asian tourists seem to love holidaying in Australia. For some visitors, seasons are wonderful; for others, Australia offers something refreshingly different from what they can get within a seven- to eight-hour flight.
For the many increasingly sophisticated Asian travellers looking for experiences off the beaten track, their expectations of Australia seem to have graduated beyond just kangaroos and koalas.

They say they sometimes go to Australia to enjoy grocery shopping at the two big supermarkets Coles and Woolworths for the good produce and go to the trouble of bringing home chilled supplies of food like cheese and yogurt as “souvenirs”.
One person told me a brand of peanut butter in Australia was to die for, and others craved Tim Tams.
On Asia knowledge, Asian journalists and businesspeople are often puzzled about the scarcity of stories about Asia in Australia, or why China always have to feature in a story about Asia.
Some are also perplexed as to why Australia needs to shout about its problems with China in the public realm when it is not a “major power”.
For example, one local journalist pointed out that when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met Indonesian President Joko Widodo in Jakarta in 2022, there was plenty of news about bicycles as the two leaders had a photo op on bicycles. It was a colourful story but there was little else about Indonesia’s society, people and economy.
Many journalists in Australia on the other hand lament that the reason for the absence of such stories is that nobody reads those stories.


That of course is a familiar vicious cycle. While clicks and traffic are important to a media business, the public is none the wiser if they read or watch what they want but never learn about what they do not know.
Or sometimes, it is the absence of China that stands out, some say. There were many Australian media stories talking up Singapore backing the controversial Aukus nuclear-powered submarines when the city state welcomed the vessels to its naval base.
But they did not mention Singapore was also open to Chinese navy ships and many other countries.
Some Australians noticed it too.
In a submission to a Canberra parliamentary inquiry into supporting democracy in Asia-Pacific in 2022, a group of regional media executives and journalists who make up the Australia Asia-Pacific Media Initiative said Australia’s regional media voice had become “a little more than a whisper” because it was not talking with Asia but to Asia.
Stories in the local press are starting to look like a date between Australia and say Southeast Asia, which Canberra is courting, with China as the annoying third wheel.

The danger of that is the love interest in Southeast Asia will gradually feel a little miffed because all Australia talks about is China.
Others tell me there is still some subtle racism when they visit Australia, although it has to be said, which country is free of it?
One student from Singapore told me he was accused of setting off the smoke alarm in the student accommodation he was staying in Sydney because he might have been cooking rice in his room.
By the same token, many in Asia say they do not know enough about Australia even if they know much about kangaroos, koalas and groceries.
This is not lost on Canberra and its latest project, the Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy, aims to fix that by providing more free Australian news and current affairs to media groups in the region.
The Australia-Asia connection is a work in progress but there is plenty from the suggestion box to heed.


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Quad plans joint patrols in Indo-Pacific to counter illegal fishing where China’s influence growing

Australia faces academic crisis as profit-driven policies erode university standards

Australia

Australian media needs to know – Asia does not just revolve around China

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meets with China’s President Xi Jinping in Beijing, on November 6. Photo: EPA-EFE

A group of Asian tourists in front of the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge. Photo: AFP

Members of the local Filipino community listen to Philippines’ President Ferdinand Marcos Jr during an event held on the sidelines of the Australia-Asean summit in Melbourne on March 4. Photo: AFP

Australia’s ‘monolingual mind’ widens its isolation from Asia

International students walk by Sydney Opera House. Analysts warn Australia risks falling behind if it continues to rely on English alone. Photo: Reuters

US Marine Corps Osprey aircraft flying in formation off the coast of Sydney in 2017. Analysts say many in the region see Australia as a support country for US-led security initiatives. Photo: AFP

Pupils walk to school in Sydney. Despite government pledges for change, Asian language learning and teaching have continued to stagnate in Australia. Photo: Reuters 

Australia’s Islamophobia problem exposed by Muslim senator’s resignation over Palestine

Australian Senator Fatima Payman in Canberra. She quit the ruling Labor Party over her refusal to toe the party line on Gaza. Photo: AP

The Senate chamber at Australian Parliament House in Canberra after Western Australia Senator Fatima Payman’s press conference announcing her resignation on July 4. Photo: Reuters

Payman attends the swearing in ceremony of the Governor-General of Australia in the Senate chamber at Parliament House in Canberra on July 1. Photo: EPA-EFE

Prefab paradise? How China-made homes could solve Australia’s housing crisis

Sydney. Australia’s housing shortage has rocketed to the top of the national agenda. Photo: Xinhua

Blocks of flats in the Meadowbank suburb of Sydney. Australia is grappling with a housing affordability crisis. Photo: Bloomberg

A container ship is unloaded at Port Botany in Sydney. Chinese goods made up roughly 70 per cent of Australia’s prefab imports last year. Photo: EPA-EFE

Pedestrians pass residential buildings under construction in Brisbane. Research has shown that foreign-buyer demand provides a business case for new housing development. Photo: Bloomberg

Bibo Build specialises in affordable modular building solutions, capitalising on Australia’s burgeoning market for prefab housing. Photo: Bibo Build/Handout

The interior of a Bibo Build modular home, built using prefab methods. Photo: Bibo Build/Handout

Australia urged to act as refugee health crisis intensifies in Papua New Guinea

A file picture dated March 2014 shows asylum seekers behind a fence at the Manus Island detention centre in Papua New Guinea. Australia and PNG agreed to close the detention centre following a decision by the PNG Supreme Court declaring it unconstitutional, but many refugees still remain there. Photo: EPA

This Week in Asia

Opinion

Asia Opinion

Australians want to do more business with Asia similar to Canberra’s goal but are perplexed by a lack of genuine coverage of the region


Australians want to do more business with Asia similar to Canberra’s goal but are perplexed by a lack of genuine coverage of the region.


China-Australia relations

Trade

Sydney

Canberra

Melbourne

Expresses the views, ideas and conclusions of the author. (Eg. Enough of Crazy Rich Asians, think of crazy poor Hongkongers.)


Column

My Take

My Take | Australian media needs to know – Asia does not just revolve around China

Australians want to do more business with Asia similar to Canberra’s goal but are perplexed by a lack of genuine coverage of the region