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Le, a former Liberal party candidate and independent deputy mayor of Fairfield, told the parliament of her family’s arrival in Australia as refugees in 1979.
They had fled Vietnam in 1975, when she was just seven years old, boarding wooden boats to the Philippines and then Hong Kong, before being accepted to resettle in Australia.
“I remember running with my mother and two younger sisters, scrambling to make our way on to a boat and pushing through the cries and screams of women,” Le said, at points becoming emotional while recounting her family history.
“I remember the moment when I thought we would die when a huge storm hit our boat.”
“I remember my sister and I hanging on to dear life, while my mother held my other sister tightly in her arms ... I remember how my face almost hit the ocean as our boat rocked so hard from the storm.”
Le, wearing traditional Vietnamese dress, known as an áo dài, emblazoned with a design of the Australian flag, spoke of her “gratitude and freedom” at coming to Australia
“We were filled with hope as we looked out on to the horizon of endless possibilities,” she said.
“This migration story belongs to all of us. It’s our story, and we can all be proud to share it.”
Her speech was greeted by supporters in Parliament House’s public galleries clapping, shouting and chanting her name.