Wednesday, 21 February 2024

Manh Nguyen

Moira DEEMING (Western Metropolitan) (09:47): This past week I went to celebrate the Year of the Dragon, and I just want to say a big thankyou to the Vietnamese Community in Australia – Victoria Chapter and the Footscray Asian Business Association for putting on a great Tết festival.

I also had the privilege to stand there with a young boy, who has now become a man, that became like a son to us, Manh Nguyen. He came to live with our family. He was an asylum seeker from Vietnam. When he lived with us, we got him enrolled in the local Catholic school, and then he became ill and got cancer. It is just a really happy story, because Victoria really turned up for him. He was able to get all the treatment that he needed. He recovered to full health. He is now a father, and he is contributing to his community again. It was a really beautiful closing of that circle to have him stand up there on that stage with me and to translate for me at that festival. So I just wanted to give a big shout-out to Manh, who we in our family call Mike. We are so proud of you for everything that you have done. Keep up the good work.