Chinese-Australians ‘under-represented in public service’

Ministers missing out on valuable advice amid tense relationship with Beijing, policy paper warns

The Australian government is missing out on valuable sources of advice on the increasingly complex relationship with China because Chinese-Australians are under-represented in the public service, a new policy paper says.

For decades governments have recognised that Australia's Asia literacy is meagre", according to the Lowy Institute paper. But the paper argues that where China literacy does exist in the Australian public service, it is often underutilised or undervalued".