Sang Nguyen

Sang Minh Nguyen (Vietnamese: Nguyễn Minh Sang) (born 1 January 1960)^[1] is an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council from May 1996 until November 2006, representing Melbourne West Province.^[1]

Nguyen was born in the Vietnamese town of Long Xuyen.^[1] He studied at Lasan Duc-Minh High School in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) from 1970-4,^[1] but fled Vietnam in 1977 as a refugee with the fall of the city to the Communists and the end of the Vietnam War, spending 10 months in Leamsing refugee camp in Thailand.^[1] After securing refugee status in 1978,^[2][3][4] he briefly studied at Greythorn High School then completed his secondary studies at Swinburne TAFE in 1980.^[1]

He became involved in a series of positions related to helping the community, working as a mathematics teacher at the Collingwood Education Centre from 1983 to 1984, as a youth worker at the Ecumenical Migration Centre from 1985 to 1987,^[1] and as a coordinator at the Indochinese Communities Council.^[4] In 1988, Nguyen was elected to the City of Richmond council, becoming at 28 the youngest member of the council and Victoria's first Vietnamese councillor.^[4] He later went on to serve as the city's mayor for a year in August 1991, the first Vietnamese mayor in Australia,^[2] and continued to serve as a councillor until 1994. During this period, he also became involved with the trade union movement, serving as a Migrant Liaison Officer for the National Union of Workers from 1989 to 1993.^[1]

In 1993, Nguyen took up a position as a staffer working for then federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Gareth Evans.^[1] He worked with the Minister for three years before winning pre-selection to contest the safe Labor Legislative Council seat of Melbourne West Province at the 1996 election.^[3] Nguyen faced a challenge from left-wing social welfare campaigner Les Twentyman, who ran as an independent, but Twentyman's vote dropped from 22.9% an earlier unsuccessful 1992 bid to just 10.3%,^[5] and Nguyen was elected. As a member of parliament, he served on the Family and Community Development Committee from 1996-99, the Drugs and Crime Prevention Committee from 1999-2006, and the House Committee from 2003-06.^[1] He was often a spokesperson for the Vietnamese community in the chamber and elsewhere.^{[citation needed]}

In March 2006, Martin Pakula, who had unsuccessfully tried to unseat former federal Labor leader Simon Crean in a preselection challenge earlier in the month, was selected instead of Nguyen, despite Nguyen being keen to recontest the seat.^[6][7] In 2008 he considered running to be Labor's candidate in the Kororoit by-election.^[8]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j} "Nguyen, Sang Minh". re-member. Parliament of Victoria. http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/re-member/bioregfull.cfm?mid=137. Retrieved 19 December 2009. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Asia Calling: Australia". The Economist. 24 August 1991. http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-11167182.html. Retrieved 19 December 2009. 
3. ^ ^{a b} Evans, Gareth (10 March 1995). "Sang Nguyen and Australian Multiculturalism". Speech at Sang Nguyen Support Dinner. http://www.gevans.org/speeches/old/1995/100395_multiculturalism_australian_foreignpolicy.pdf. Retrieved 19 December 2009. 
4. ^ ^{a b c} Bellamy, Louise (8 August 1988). "Richmond elects City Council for first time in six years". The Age. http://news.google.co.uk/newspapers?id=ta9EAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fZYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1895,5348851. Retrieved 19 December 2009. 
5. ^ "2008 Kororoit By-election". ABC Elections. ABC.net.au. 10 July 2008. http://www.abc.net.au/elections/vic/2008/kororoit/. Retrieved 19 December 2009. 
6. ^ "Deal dumps MP". Star News Group. 21 March 2006. http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/11705. Retrieved 19 December 2009. 
7. ^ Murphy, Matthew; Farrah Tomazin (15 March 2006). "Crean rival backed for state seat". The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/crean-rival-backed-for-state-seat/2006/03/14/1142098463284.html. Retrieved 19 December 2009. 
8. ^ Austin, Paul; David Rood (4 June 2008). "Baillieu persuades Libs to field Kororoit candidate". The Age. http://www.theage.com.au/national/baillieu-persuades-libs-to-field-kororoit-candidate-20080603-2lcm.html. Retrieved 19 December 2009. 

External links

• Sang Nguyen in the Victorian Hansard

Persondata
Name	Nguyen, Sang
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	1 January 1960
Place of birth
Date of death
Place of death