Indian Australian voters continue to play an increasingly significant role in shaping political party dynamics ahead of the 2028 federal election, according to analysts and community leaders. Recent polling data highlights a marked preference among Indian Australians for the Australian Labor Party, which reportedly leads the conservative One Nation party by a substantial margin of 70-30 on a two-party preferred basis.

Political analyst Sam Samaras attributes this trend partly to national debates surrounding migration. He points to controversial remarks made by federal Coalition senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, who accused the Labor Party of encouraging immigration from specific ethnic groups, including Indians, as a strategy to bolster electoral support. Samaras argues such statements send a message to the Indian Australian community that they are unwelcome, a perception echoed by voters who describe themselves as socially conservative and aspirational. Despite these tendencies, many say they avoid voting Liberal due to a sense of exclusion within the party.

In Victoria, the state Liberal Party has experienced internal challenges related to its engagement with the Indian Australian electorate. Earlier this year, Dinesh Gourisetty was initially preselected to replace Liberal MP Moira Deeming on the party’s upper house ticket for the Western Metropolitan region but was later removed after revelations that he had written a court character reference for a friend subsequently convicted of grooming a minor. Gourisetty maintained that he believed the friend was contesting the charges at the time and that his reference was based solely on personal experiences.

Despite these issues, experts note efforts by the Victorian Coalition to appeal to the Indian Australian community through targeted policy initiatives. One such move included plans to expand select-entry high schools in outer suburbs, which Samaras describes as aimed directly at Indian Australians who are significant consumers of private healthcare and value educational opportunities for their children. He suggests the state Liberal Party has identified aspirational levers within this constituency more effectively than the federal counterpart and could serve as a model for broader engagement.

Support for One Nation among Indian Australians remains limited, according to Samaras. However, Pawan Luthra, chief executive of the India Link newspaper, points to a small segment of more recent Indian migrants who express concerns about migration levels, often linking this issue to housing affordability. Luthra notes that political parties exploiting housing and migration debates seem to resonate with these voters, although the community tends to reject the more extreme policies associated with One Nation.

Since the 2022 federal election, political parties have made high-profile efforts to court Indian Australian voters. Former Victorian premier Jacinta Allan chose India for her first official overseas trip as state leader in 2024, while Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Melbourne—home to the largest Indian diaspora in Australia—in July, attracting about 25,000 attendees to a stadium rally. Leaders including Anthony Albanese and Allan shared the stage with Modi during the event, underscoring the community’s electoral significance. More recently, Victorian Premier Ben Carroll and opposition leader Jess Wilson addressed the community at the state’s annual Diwali celebration.

Luthra acknowledges that political parties regularly attend Indian Australian events and offer supportive remarks but contends that there is a lack of substantive messaging about the broader contributions of Indian migrants to Australia. He says the community is calling for politicians to more loudly and clearly affirm the value of migration and its role in the nation’s future.