Liberal Party swats the Wasp type with 'more inclusive' approach Isabelle White, new federal Liberal candidate in Woodcroft / Pic: Craig Greenhill Source: The Daily Telegraph More inclusive Liberals ... Tony Abbott, with daughters Louise and Bridget. TONY Abbott has declared the rebirth of a "more inclusive" Liberal Party which has ditched its WASP traditions as the Coalition fields a record number of ethnic candidates. With the opposition heavily favoured to win September's election, the next federal parliament is shaping as the most multicultural ever, with the Liberal Party fielding at least 21 candidates from diverse ethnic backgrounds - including candidates of Pakistani, Vietnamese, Filipino, Mauritian, Thai, Sri Lankan, Lebanese, Taiwanese, Korean, Greek and Italian heritage. Four months from polling day, Labor MPs fear the ALP is losing rusted-on migrant voters, with the opposition to spend a record sum of money targeting ethnic media and specific migrant communities. The Opposition Leader was mobbed by nearly 870 people at a "multicultural" dinner hosted by the Liberal Party in Melbourne last month. Labor and the coalition are at loggerheads over their workplace policies. Mr Abbott said such an event would have been unimaginable just a few years ago. "The Liberal Party would have been reluctant to have explicitly reached out to recently arrived immigrants," Mr Abbott said. Because of our reputation for being a WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant) party, a lot of newly arrived migrants would probably think the Liberal Party was not for them. Liberal Party federal director Brian Loughnane said the party was "significantly enhancing our engagement with ethnic communities across Australia." Mr Abbott is spending a great deal of time campaigning with candidates such as Isabelle White, a 22-year-old NSW university student whose mother migrated from Thailand. Ms White is contesting the western Sydney seat of Chifley against one of Labor's better performers, Ed Husic. She agreed the Liberal Party appeared to be resonating with many people from migrant backgrounds: "People are pretty smart and a lot of people who migrated to Australia came from countries where there was a bad government." Labor MP Anthony Byrne feared "Labor-supporting migrant communities no longer believed the Labor Party shared their values." Mr Abbott said the Prime Minister's decision to crack down on 457 skilled migration visas was a key reason Labor was losing its traditional migrant support base. Nick Varvaris, whose parents migrated from Greece, is standing for the southwest Sydney seat of Barton. He said candidates from migrant backgrounds were better able to relate to problems faced by new Australians.