The Hon. CHARLIE LYNN [6.16 p.m.]: I served in Vietnam with the Royal Australian Engineers in 1967. I was 21 years of age at that time and, whilst I did not really understand the politics of the war, I was aware of the fear that had been embedded in our minds during our school years about the spread of communism. I volunteered for active service because I thought it was the right thing to do. During my time in Vietnam I observed the destruction brought about by decades of war and the poverty of the people. They lived in squalid conditions and always under a veil of fear from both sides of the war. I often wondered how well they would do, with the work ethic they had, in a free, democratic country.
After the fall of Saigon I could never understand why the Whitlam Labor Government would not allow South Vietnamese people refuge in Australia. We had developed strong bonds with the South Vietnamese people and the Army of the Republic of Vietnam. Our Australian Army training team, the most decorated unit in the Vietnam War, fought with the Army of the Republic of Vietnam units, and our civil affairs unit was deployed to deliver essential services to villages in Phuoc Tuy Province. Australian Vietnam veterans felt a great sense of betrayal as the people they had fought for, and others had died for, were denied safe haven because Gough Whitlam wanted to appease the new Communist regime. Liberal Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser reversed this inhumane policy after the defeat of the Whitlam Government. We now know, after the release of Cabinet papers in January 2007, that there would not be a Vietnamese community in Cabramatta if it were not for the Liberal Government.
An 11-year-old refugee girl Dai Le was a beneficiary of Malcolm Fraser’s decision. She had been ushered to the boats by her parents, along with her two sisters, during the chaotic evacuation of Saigon as the tanks of the North Vietnamese Communist army rolled into the city. Dai Le’s father never made it to the boat. They never saw him again. During the next four years they survived treacherous sea voyages on overcrowded boats. They lived in squalid refugee camps in the Philippines and Hong Kong as an uncaring world ignored their plight. Malcolm Fraser gave them hope of a better life with his reversal of Gough Whitlam’s edict to refuse entry to boat people. Dai’s mother and two sisters settled in Wollongong. Here she had to quickly learn English and try her best to fit in with her new friends. Her young mother, Anne, cleaned houses to educate her daughters. They later moved to Cabramatta where Dai Le completed her Higher School Certificate, then studied journalism and political science at Macquarie University. She then worked as a journalist with the local Fairfield Champion and later worked with the ABC radio national program.
Dai Le’s life experiences sparked a desire to tell the story of her people. She achieved this through the production of television documentaries such as Operation Babylift, In Limbo, Starting from Zero and Taking Charge of Cabramatta. Dai’s family roots are now firmly embedded in Cabramatta, even though she later moved to Marrickville with her partner, Markus, and her son, Ethan, to be closer to her work at the ABC. Public transport was not an option for her given the lack of services in the Cabramatta area.
Reba Meagher’s decision to resign from Parliament and formally abandon the seat she had informally abandoned 14 years ago caused Dai Le to take the next step and become a voice for her people. The only effective way to do this was to join the Liberal Party because it was the Liberal Party that gave her a home, safe haven, hope and a future. She was also aware that Labor takes her people for granted and treats Cabramatta with contempt. One does not have to spend much time in the area to see the results of Labor’s neglect of this area. Daily traffic jams, dilapidated and inadequate car parks, overgrown and shabby parklands and a proposal to divide the city with a railway wall are testimony to this neglect.
Dai Le’s campaign to break Labor’s stranglehold on the seat of Cabramatta was simply outstanding when one considers the time and resources that were available. She gave hope to those who were resigned to another decade of Labor neglect. We are proud to have Dai Le as our Liberal candidate and we look forward to welcoming her as the member for Cabramatta in this Parliament in 2011. As a Vietnam veteran, I am proud to work to assist a Vietnam refugee become a member of Parliament. Back in 1967 I drove a bulldozer, and if anyone had suggested back then that one day I would be a member of Parliament helping a young boat person whom the Labor Party had abandoned and tried to prevent from coming here to also become a member of Parliament, I would have said, “You’re dreaming.” I am so proud to be able to assist Dai Le in this way, and I am equally proud that the Liberal Party has given Cabramatta the opportunity to have Dai Le as its representative and a voice in this Parliament.
Tags: Cabramatta, Liberal, Politics, Vietnam
