New Western Metropolitan Liberal MP Trung Luu has vowed not to forget the people who elected him to Parliament.
Mr Luu, a former Brimbank councillor, was elected to Parliament at the November 2022 state election, making him the first Vietnamese-Australian to represent the Liberal Party in Australia.
Mr Trung said getting elected was a “great privilege.”
“I greatly appreciate my opportunity, and it’s something that I will cherish and I will not neglect the people who selected me to be the western metropolitan region member,” he said.
Mr Luu and his family fled Saigon for Australia in the 1970’s, when he was just five years old.
The journey saw the Luu family’s boat being attacked by pirates, and taking on water forcing his family to swim to shore in Malaysia, where they spent time in a refugee camp before being given refugee status in Australia.
Mr Luu’is family settled in east Melbourne, and after school he made a career as a police officer.
He said it was moving to Melbourne’s west in 2003 that began to shape his political identity.
“Living here I see the difference between east and west and access to services out in the west. That’s when I started speaking up,” he said.
“My main agenda always has been, because of what I’ve gone through, and what I’ve experienced, is to advocate and voice for the minority, to advocate for those groups who cannot speak for themselves.”
Mr Luu’s served as a Brimbank councillor from 2020. Now, as a Western Metropolitan MP, and the Liberal party’s parliamentary secretary for multicultural affairs, he said he wants to help maximise opportunity for the multicultural community in the west.
“Our community is advancing and developing, but there are opportunities that we are missing out on relating to our multicultural community. We need to harvest their talents within the community,” he said.
Mr Luu said his appointment to the Liberal party has “historical meaning” as it was the policy of the Fraser government that allowed him to settle in Australia.
“After all these years, one of those refugees that they opened the door for to arrive in Australia actually turned up to be a member of parliament for that party. It’s kind of full circle in a way.”
