Sang Nguyen
{{Short description|Australian politician}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}
{{Western name order}}
Sang Minh Nguyen ({{langx|vi|Nguyễn Minh Sang}}, {{IPA|vi|ŋwiəŋ˨˩˦ mɨn˧˧ ʂaːŋ˧˧|pron}}; born 1 January 1960{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/re-member/bioregfull.cfm?mid=137|title=Nguyen, Sang Minh|work=re-member|publisher=Parliament of Victoria|accessdate=19 December 2009}}) is a Vietnamese-Australian politician. He was a Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council from May 1996 until November 2006, representing Melbourne West Province.
Biography
Nguyen was born in the Vietnamese town of Long Xuyên. He studied at Lasan Duc-Minh High School in Saigon (now Ho Chi Minh City) from 1970–1974, 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 Laem Sing refugee camp in Chanthaburi, Thailand. After securing refugee status in 1978,{{cite web|url=http://www.gevans.org/speeches/old/1995/100395_multiculturalism_australian_foreignpolicy.pdf|title=Sang Nguyen and Australian Multiculturalism|last=Evans|first=Gareth|date=10 March 1995|work=Speech at Sang Nguyen Support Dinner|accessdate=19 December 2009}} he briefly studied at Greythorn High School then completed his secondary studies at Swinburne TAFE in 1980.
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, and as a coordinator at the Indochinese Communities Council. 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.{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ta9EAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fZYDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1895,5348851|title=Richmond elects City Council for first time in six years|last=Bellamy|first=Louise|date=8 August 1988|work=The Age|accessdate=19 December 2009}} He later went on to serve as the city's mayor for a year in August 1991, the first Vietnamese mayor in Australia,{{cite news|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-11167182.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121102184031/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-11167182.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 November 2012|title=Asia Calling: Australia|date=24 August 1991|work=The Economist|accessdate=19 December 2009}} 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.
In 1993, Nguyen took up a position as a staffer working for then federal Minister for Foreign Affairs Gareth Evans. 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. 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%,{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/elections/vic/2008/kororoit/|title=2008 Kororoit By-election|date=10 July 2008|work=ABC Elections|publisher=ABC.net.au|accessdate=19 December 2009}} 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. He was often a spokesperson for the Vietnamese community in the chamber and elsewhere.{{Citation needed|date=December 2009}}
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.{{cite news|url=http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/11705|title=Deal dumps MP|date=21 March 2006|work=Star News Group|accessdate=19 December 2009|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20070719044449/http://www.starnewsgroup.com.au/story/11705|archivedate=19 July 2007|df=dmy-all}}{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/crean-rival-backed-for-state-seat/2006/03/14/1142098463284.html|title=Crean rival backed for state seat|last=Murphy|first=Matthew|author2=Farrah Tomazin |date=15 March 2006|work=The Age|accessdate=19 December 2009}} In 2008 he considered running to be Labor's candidate in the Kororoit by-election.{{cite news|url=http://www.theage.com.au/national/baillieu-persuades-libs-to-field-kororoit-candidate-20080603-2lcm.html|title=Baillieu persuades Libs to field Kororoit candidate|last=Austin|first=Paul|author2=David Rood |date=4 June 2008|work=The Age|accessdate=19 December 2009}}
References
External links
- [http://tex.parliament.vic.gov.au/bin/texhtmlt?form=VicHansard.sum&debate=&logic=and&members=%28All%29&members=NGUYEN&activities=%28All%29&parliament=%28All+Parliaments%29+&month=%28All+Months%29&day=All Sang Nguyen in the Victorian Hansard]
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Category:Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria
Category:Members of the Victorian Legislative Council
Category:Mayors of places in Victoria (state)
Category:Australian politicians of Vietnamese descent
Category:Vietnamese emigrants to Australia
Category:Victoria (state) local councillors
Category:21st-century Australian politicians