First Vietnamese Liberal Victorian MP Warns Australia Is Heading Towards ‘Big Government’

Liberal Victorian MP Trung Luu on March 21, 2023. Courtesy of Victorian MP Trung Luu's office

Liberal MP Trung Luu escaped to Australia 44 years ago in search of freedom, but he now says the country he adopted is hurtling towards more big government.

The first Australian-Vietnamese MP in the Victorian Parliament, Luu’s family was among thousands of refugees fleeing communist Vietnam after the fall of Saigon, with nothing but the clothes on their backs.

He recalled his family’s sea journey stretching seven days and nights on an overcrowded and stricken boat, with threats of pirates and a shortage of water.

“On the journey, we encountered sea pirates, they basically board your boats and took advantage of the situation. In some situations, people get killed, some of the females got raped,” he told The Epoch Times, “The pirates just take all your belongings [and] personal jewels.”

Luu and his family later ended up in a refugee camp in Malaysia shielded with barbed wire fence. They spent six months in the shelter with daily food delivered from the Red Cross and no access to television, air conditioning, or couches.

“Refugee camp at that time was different than what you see now on TV,” he said. “Water was an issue … so basically, men dig holes.”

“Nothing like apartments or condos or air-conditioned tents or whatever at the moment.”

Fortunately, Luu’s family was among the refugees chosen to migrate to Australia. Once arriving in the new country, they worked from the bottom up to build a better life.

Progression Towards Big Government

Growing up in the Western suburbs, Luu said his aspiration to help others motivated him to join the Victoria Police Force and later enter politics.

However, the MP said it’s concerning that Australia is leaning towards “a more dictatorship sort of society.”

Such a trend had already started before COVID-19, but it was not until the pandemic broke out that “the average person saw that a lot more,” he said.

Luu noted that during the pandemic in Victoria—with Melbourne considered to have the world’s most prolonged lockdown—when people raise their objections against COVID-19 mandates, they were either “disregarded or cancelled.”

“Whether people recognise it or not, it’s basically a dictatorship sort of style,” he said.

Another example of creeping authoritarianism, the Vietnamese MP said, was in the expansion of the government.

“The government is getting bigger and bigger … and it’s more controlling that way as well.”

Policy-wise, Luu said there’s also a greater emphasis on large government projects and increasing encroachment on small businesses and private enterprises.

Over the past couple of decades, government budgets and tax revenue at the federal level have increased significantly, with spending on health programs like the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), aged care and Medicare the biggest driver.

NDIS cost is expected to blow out by half a billion dollars more this financial year compared to estimates produced four months ago and will exceed $50 billion by 2025-26.

Total government spending has also expanded from 9 percent of the economy in 2000 to 22.3 percent in 2021, higher than the world average of 16.83 percent.

At the state level, the Victorian government announced last year it would give a $12 billion boost to the health system and $21.6 billion to infrastructure investment a year.

“Government is now a much bigger share of the total pie”, said Danielle Wood, budget policy director at the Grattan Institute in 2018.

The Victorian Small Business Commission refused to comment on the issue.

Idealisation of Socialism

As someone escaping from a communist dictatorship, Luu noted there’s a favourable sentiment towards socialism and communism among young Australians, who are often attracted by the ideas of egalitarianism and wealth distribution.

Similar rhetorics could also be found in the political discourse around the climate safeguard mechanisms and the new superannuation increase, where large corporations and wealthy individuals are subject to higher taxes.

“Billionaires and big corporations aren’t paying their fair share of tax,” said the Australian Greens on their website.

“The Greens will tax billionaires, require big corporations making excessive profits to pay a ‘corporate super-profits tax’, axe billions of dollars in handouts to the coal, oil and gas giants that are driving the climate crisis, and make profitable big corporations pay back the JobKeeper they pocketed.”

“If they pay their fair share of tax, everyone can have affordable housing and make dental and mental health care part of Medicare.”

Luu said the concept of an equal society is “fantastic on paper,” but doesn’t work in practice.

“It’s not really beneficial for society to do this sort of thing because no one’s going to want to work, and half the pay goes into tax,” he said.

“That’s what the politicians have been using as a gimmick in a way, but they don’t explain how that will work, so once it’s actually explained to those it concerns, that’s when people realise.”

“But you can’t blame the younger one. They haven’t been through any war. They grew up with a country that’s been provided to them,“ he added, ”It’s not their fault, but we need to emphasise educating them.”