Congratulations to Vietnamese Australian lawyer and community advocate Nguyen-Tu Le for becoming the Overall Winner for the 2022 “40 under 40 Most Influential Asian Australian”. Le is a community worker, legal-aid and solicitor, and has assisted victims of sexual, domestic and family violence. She also works closely with the Vietnamese Australian community, the local Buddhist community and the local communities in South Western Sydney.
Prior to the 2022 Federal Election, Le was poised to be pre-selected as the Labor candidate for Fowler, but as usual the Labor Party didn’t respect the local decisions and candidates and took advantage of the electorate by parachuting Kristina Keneally to be the candidate. Labor ended up losing the seat to Independent Dai Le.
It was a big event in Sydney as the list was announced and the 2021 Overall Winner- comedian Diana Nguyen presented Le with her award and passed on the title. Jieh-Yung Lo from the Centre for Asian-Australian Leadership, spoke with the Sydney Morning Herald and questioned why Asian Australians still very much under-represented:
“There’s an absolute perception that Asian Australians are not ready, we’re not suitable … we have to wait our turn,”
“We are sick and tired of hearing that. These awards prove that Asian Australians are ready to take on these leadership positions.”
Le also commented on the political going ons in Fowler and how Labor and all political parties need to learn from their mistakes:
“I think it’s a huge lesson for all political parties in terms of not taking community for granted, particularly multicultural community,”
“Oftentimes, communities are treated as just an easy vote, particularly where there has been a strong voting pattern for Labor. There’s no such thing now as a safe seat.”
Awesome-ness! If you are interested here are the other winners of various categories for 2022.
Images via Diana Nguyen, Level Asian Podcast and the Centre for Asian Australian Leadership.