Wednesday, 9 February 2022

Vietnamese community

Mr FINN (Western Metropolitan) (18:11): (1726) I wish to raise a matter this evening for the attention of the Minister for Multicultural Affairs. On 27 January of this year at AAMI stadium there was a world cup qualifier soccer match between Australia—the Socceroos—and Vietnam. There were a number of Vietnamese Australians who attended that match in support of the Socceroos, and they were wearing apparel—scarves, hats and so forth—that featured the yellow flag of freedom, the flag of the Republic of Vietnam. They were told that they were not going to be permitted to enter the arena until such time as they removed that apparel. A couple who managed to get in were confronted by police, if you do not mind, who demanded that they take their apparel off. This has caused grave anger—I was going to say grave concern, but it is more than grave concern; it is anger—within the Australian Vietnamese community.

The Australian Vietnamese community is one of the best going around. They really are great people. They are proud Australians, they are loyal Australians and one of the many things that I love about the Vietnamese community is that they always show gratitude for what Australia did during the Vietnam War. They never forget and have never forgotten the number of Australians who sacrificed their lives for their freedom, and it is something that often brings a tear to my eye when I am with the Australian Vietnamese community. It is just a remarkable thing. So for them to be treated in this way at a soccer match when they were actually supporting the Socceroos—they were not even supporting Vietnam, they were supporting the Socceroos. The Australian Vietnamese were confronted by security and then by police and told that they were not allowed to display the yellow flag of freedom, which is something that is so close and so dear to the heart of every Australian Vietnamese person, particularly refugees, because to them it symbolises so much. It symbolises freedom, it symbolises love of their homeland and for this to happen I find absolutely disgraceful. What I am asking the minister to do is to conduct an investigation into exactly what happened at AAMI stadium on 27 January and make sure that it never happens again.