As the world tilts rapidly from one extreme of the political spectrum to another and American companies discard their diversity equity and inclusion teams like the bag of prawns left in the hot sun, Australia’s ability to include independent representatives in its democratic processes is a beacon in the darkness of creeping fascism and extreme capitalism.
Diversity isn’t just limited to gender, race, sexual orientation or age – it also applies to professional background and personal experience.
Across Australia, lawyers make up 40 per cent of our elected representatives. And a vast majority of them come from upper middle class families with the privileges that come with being able to discuss politics in the family home without the burdens of poverty or having one or both of your parents work 2-3 jobs to keep the family going.
The rise of the independents, have in many ways, shattered the mould of what an Australian politician ought to look and sound like but also their pathway into politics.
Stella Yee will not be the first woman of colour to stand as an independent candidate for election; in 2022, Dai Le from Fowler flipped the Labor safe seat when voters were forced to choose between Dai Le and the former premier of New South Wales, Kristina Keneally. But unlike Cassandra Fernando, Zaneta Mascarenhas or Sally Sitou from the Labor party who sit quietly in the back benches; independent MPs are allowed to own their voices and experiences without fear of reprisals.
We all saw what happened to Senator Fatima Payman when she dared to cross the floor over genocide. It wasn’t pretty.
It takes courage to stand up, and the independent candidate for Menzies has that in spades.
Stella was born into poverty in Sabah in the Malaysian part of Borneo. Her father was orphaned as a child – an intergenerational trauma that marked so many of us who grew up in postwar South East Asia. One of the few joys of her childhood was the arrival of the fortnightly mobile library that opened a world beyond her little town and started her journey to becoming a fierce advocate for the poor and the vulnerable,
Graduating top of her class in Form 5, Stella moved to Kota Kinabalu to finish her high school matriculation when the Sabah Foundation was set up. The Sabah Foundation is a government initiative to help Malaysian students access educational opportunities overseas. Despite her stellar grades, her application for the scholarship was rejected on the basis that Stella was of Chinese ethnic descent.
Undaunted by the rejection, Stella waited in the carpark of the foundation’s chairman and would not leave until she had secured a meeting with the chairman himself. Upon meeting Stella, the chairman approved the scholarship application on the spot with the words ‘Go and make us proud’.
At the tender age of 17, Stella flew from rural Malaysia to Michigan USA and passed her English proficiency test with 98 per cent accuracy.
“The freezing winters were tough,” Stella confessed, but after having transferred to Memphis State University, she graduated summa cum laude with a degree in social work and a minor in sociology. She was invited to complete her masters at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, where she completed the two-year program in a year. She declined the opportunity to complete her PhD there – choosing to return to Malaysia instead.
Stella has lived and worked in Hong Kong, the USA and Singapore before she immigrated to Australia. In Melbourne, she founded the Bilingual Education Founda Australia (BEFA) to support second language learners and started the community newspaper Manningham Life as the Murdoch press closed down their suite of local newspapers across Melbourne. For the last 13 years, Stella operated Manningham Life – giving the local community a much needed voice.
Stella’s tilt at Menzies in 2025 will be her second try to swing the traditionally ‘safe’ Liberal seat. Stella ran as a member of the ALP in 2019 and was one of the few candidates to drive a swing towards the ALP in that election.
“The ALP and I had to part ways over effective action on climate change,” Stella confesses. And the final straw was the situation in Palestine. “I saw a boy picking up the pieces of his mother and it broke me.”
It is her human-centred system change approach that distinguishes her from Gabriel Ng, the ALP candidate and Keith Wolahan, the incumbent Liberal member.
At a community forum held by the RSL in Box Hill earlier this month, both Ng and Wolahan approached the issue of amputations in military service from the perspective of Tort Law. The ADF currently classes the loss of limb during active service differently to a limb lost through peace-time service.
“The limb does not care how it was lost,” Stella responded to a RSL member. “We need to look after the whole person and their families. ADF members give up their lives and we need to support them when they come back.”
Indeed convenor of the RSL forum was incredibly impressed with Stella as she was the only person on the panel – including the Greens candidate – who had read the entire Royal Commission Report into Veteran Suicides.
Stella Yee brings a depth of care and attention that is seemingly lacking in the Australian political discourse. Her background in social work, community policy and entrepreneurship will be critical as Australia faces a challenging future that requires both intelligence, humanity and humility.
After having worked with Stella on her campaign trail for several weeks, it is with a degree of confidence that I say that if the good citizens of Menzies were to choose Stella as their representative to parliament, she would make all of us proud.
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