Federal election results 2025 as it happened: Greens leader Adam Bandt concedes Melbourne seat; Ed Husic, Mark Dreyfus axed; Jacinta Price leaves Nationals; Kooyong race tightens

Chinese Australians volunteering in Sally Sitou’s election campaign said they were “scared” to take part after Senator Jane Hume’s “Chinese spies” comments, the Labor MP says.

Sitou, whose parents are of Chinese heritage, said she had some “incredible people of Chinese background volunteer” in her campaign.

“A few of them, when Senator Hume made those comments … actually came up to me and said that they felt scared about volunteering at an election,” Sitou told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing.

“I was so disappointed by, first, her comments but also how it made a lot of Chinese Australians feel – that their loyalty was being questioned, and that they shouldn’t be taking part in our democratic system.

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“I hope that we can change that conversation, that we can again welcome Chinese Australians to take part, and that this is their right and responsibility to be part of it, to vote and volunteer, to put their hand up to stand.”

A Labor video highlighting Hume’s warning of “Chinese spies” spread like wildfire through Australia’s Chinese diaspora on the eve of the election.

Last week, appearing on Channel Seven’s Sunrise, Hume said this to Housing Minister Clare O’Neil, with no evidence for her claim: “There might be Chinese spies that are, you know, handing out for you.

“But for us, there’s dozens, thousands, hundreds of young people that are out there handing out how-to-vote cards for the Liberal Party because they want a better life.”