When recounting how she almost drowned escaping Vietnam, the refugee who beat Kristina Keneally in a battler seat broke down in tears.
On May 21, Dai Le defeated the former NSW premier Labor, who had attempted to parachute in from her wealthy island enclave 70 kilometres away, to win the Folwer seat in southwest Sydney.
In her first speech to parliament on Monday, the former ABC reporter made fun of Ms. Keneally and compared Covid lockdowns to the oppressive regime she fled as a child.
Numerous supporters applauded Ms. Le as she wore traditional Vietnamese attire that was printed with the Australian flag from the House of Representatives gallery.
She described how, along with her mother and two younger sisters, she fled the Fall of Saigon in April 1975 and arrived in Hong Kong.
She never saw his father again; he was a lawyer working for the Americans who missed the ferry.
“I recall rushing through the cries and screams of women and children as I ran with my mother and two younger sisters, squeezing onto a boat. I didn’t know what was going on,” she admitted.
“All I can remember are the cries, the panic, the chaos, and one moment on the boat when I turned to look at my home country to try to understand what was going on and all I saw was a big, black cloud of smoke in the distance.
“I recall the moment a strong storm hit our boat and I thought we were going to perish.”
When Ms. Le recalled how she and her sister held onto the boat for dear life as it rocked and her mother clutched my other sister tightly in her arms, her voice broke.
She recalled being completely drenched while lying beneath the tarp as the waves crashed against us and the rain poured down.
“I recall how the storm made our boat rock so violently that my face almost touched the water. I also recall my mother telling me to hold on to my sister and a plastic canister until we could find one another.
When I tried to look through the tarp, all I could hear was the storm, and since none of us could swim, I was terrified we wouldn’t make it.
My mother continued to pray while holding her prayer beads as the boat rocked. I could only imagine falling into this pitch-black abyss as it was completely dark out over the ocean.
I kept wishing in my heart that if the boat capsized, I would still be able to hold on to my sister and locate my mother.
The next morning, the storm passed, but everyone was worn out. I recall seeing corpse-like bodies laying on the boat.
“I recall the time I spent living in refugee camps and daydreaming of being able to sleep on a real bed. to attend a respectable school and to live in a proper household.
Ms. Le sobbed once again as she described how Australia embraced her family, this time with happiness and appreciation.
She remarked, “I recall the emotion of acceptance and appreciation as we walked out of [Sydney Airport] the moment we were approved to be resettled as refugees in Australia, renowned to many in refugee camps as the island with the greatest education system in the world.”
“As we gazed out towards the vista of limitless possibilities, we were filled with optimism.”
You embraced my mum and my family with open arms, Australia. You provided us with food, a warm bed, and comfort.
Ms. Le praised a friend who introduced her to Anzac cookies and helped her feel like she belonged, as well as Neil and Kylie Williamson, who assisted her family’s integration and were in the audience throughout her speech.
Beginning with an Italian immigrant who established a shoe company, her mother first worked as a house cleaner.
Ms. Le was appreciative of the way Australians had helped her family, but she had strong words for the NSW Covid lockdown last year, which had a disproportionately negative impact on her community.
She contrasted the controvertibly stricter and more intensively policed limitations placed on western Sydney to the communist tyranny her family escaped.
We were had to get travel permits, were tested every three days, and had helicopters hovering over our neighbourhood in addition to police on horseback and uniformed officers knocking on doors, she said. We were also not permitted to go more than 5 kilometres from our houses.
While the goal was noble, our city is made up of refugees from oppressive governments and conflict zones, including my own family and my own place of origin.
The last time I checked, a government that restricts people’s freedom to decide how they wish to live, work, and raise children was referred to be a communist dictatorship, a kind of government that my family and I were able to flee.
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