The composition of the 47th Australian parliament has its fair share of new members who have been making their maiden speeches. While the gaggle of “teal” Members of Parliament and their fellow travellers in the Greens have received plenty of attention, there were two maiden speeches given last week that deserve not just attention but praise.
Le pulled off a result many so-called experts deemed impossible at the May 21 federal election; defeating the ostensibly popular former premier of New South Wales, erstwhile Labor Senator, and opposition shadow home affairs minister, Kristina Keneally, in the seat of Fowler. Located in the southwestern suburbs of Sydney, it has always been a safe seat for the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Keneally had been parachuted in by the ALP as its candidate for the seat from her rich Scotland Island enclave 70 kilometres away.
In giving her maiden speech to the House of Representatives, Le wore a traditional Vietnamese outfit, an áo dài, emblazoned with an Australian flag.
She recounted her escape from the Fall of Saigon in April 1975, aged seven, on a rickety boat to Hong Kong with her mother and two younger sisters.
Her father, a lawyer working for the Americans, didn’t make it onto the boat, and she never saw him again.
“I remember running with my mother and two younger sisters, scrambling to make our way onto a boat and pushing through the cries and screams of women and children. I had no idea what was happening,” she said.
“All I can recall are the cries, the panic, the chaos and one moment on the boat when I turned around to look back at my birth country to try to comprehend what was happening and just saw big, black smoke in the distance.
“I remember the moment I thought we would die when a big storm hit our boat.”
Le became emotional as she recalled holding on to the boat for dear life with her sister as the boat rocked and her mother held her other sister tightly in her arms.
“I kept praying in my heart that should the boat tip over, I would still cling to my sister, and I would still find my mother.”
Le also became emotional when she spoke of how Australians welcomed her family.
“I remember the moment when we were accepted to be resettled as refugees in Australia ... the island with the best education system in the world and remembering the feeling of acceptance and gratitude.
“We were filled with hope as we looked out onto the horizon of endless possibilities.
Comparing Australian Lockdowns to Communist Vietnam
But as grateful as Le was for how Australians supported her family, she had harsh words for the COVID lockdowns last year that was particularly severe in her area.She compared the restrictions put on western Sydney, which were controversially stronger and more heavily policed than the rest of the city, to the communist dictatorship her family fled. Indeed, the army was called in to help enforce the lockdown.
Western Sydney is where a significant proportion of migrants live and work. The suburb Le hails from in the area, Cabramatta, has a large Vietnamese population.
“We weren’t allowed to travel more than a five kilometre radius from our homes, we were told to get travel permits, we were forced to get tested every three days, we had helicopters flying around our area as well as police on horseback and men in uniform knocking on people’s doors,” she said.
Following True North
The same day, the new Liberal member for Menzies, Keith Wolahan, delivered a most impressive maiden speech. Wolahan succeeds former Howard and Abbott government minister Kevin Andrews in the seat.Wolahan, too, is a migrant to this country, having come here from Ireland with his family in 1988.
“Dad spoke of a land that was full of adventure, beauty, and opportunity. It was clear to us that he had fallen in love with Australia and was sure we would too,” he said.
He recounted how his mother and father worked hard and made sacrifices for their children, and inspired him to serve.
This ideal of service is what motivated Wolahan to serve in the Australian armed forces following the Sept. 11 attacks. He qualified as a commando and was deployed to Afghanistan three times during what Wolahan called “our longest war.”
He honoured the memory of those who gave their lives in service of their country, adding that the words “Lest we forget” are “a heartfelt plea. A plea to let the lives that were cut short live on. To let their memory be a national blessing.”
Tellingly, Wolahan told the House he had “not come here to make a career, but make a difference” by following what he described as “true north.”
“When you look to a map to guide you, there is a choice to be made. Shall I use magnetic or true north? Magnetic north is easily distracted, including by devices. From time to time, you may find yourself with a crowd, but you will be lost. True north is a fixed point and never shifts, even if you find yourself standing alone.
“My true north will always be family and the values of free enterprise and individual freedom. To put it another way, I believe in democratising prosperity and democratising power,” he said.
“These are not values to be junked in times of emergency, whether it be a war or a pandemic. They are values to double down on when our nation is tested. And I believe they play a key role in keeping us safe.”
