Monday Sep 09, 2024
Monday Sep 09, 2024
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Amid the chaos and as thousands of Vietnamese tried to flee the communists, a 22-year-old man left on an asylum boat voyage to Australia. That was 37 years ago. He made Australia his home. Recently he was sworn in as Governor of South Australia.
Hieu Van Le arrived by boat to Darwin in November 1977as a refugee with his wife and about 40 other people. He joined the University of Adelaide and obtained an MBA and an Economics degree.
He was a senior investigator and manager with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission from the early 1990s until retirement in 2009. He is also a member of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants (CPA) and a Fellow Member of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (FINASIA).
He gained recognition for his service to society when two universities – Adelaide and Finders – awarded him honorary doctorates in 2008 and in 2011 respectively. He was awarded an Australian Centenary Medal in 2001 “for service to the advancement of multiculturalism in Austral
ia” and appointed as an Officer of the Order of Australia, in 2010.
The Government felt that he was qualified to become the Queen’s representative (Elizabeth II is also Queen of Australia) in the state of South Australia. He will perform the same constitutional and ceremonial functions at the state level just as the Governor-General does at national level.
The first Asian migrant to rise to the position of governor in any state in Australia, Le described it as “an acknowledgement of all migrants and refugees and their families and descendants who have built South Australia into this place, one of the best in the world.”
He said he was honoured by the appointment and given his troubling childhood in a war-torn country, would be an advocate of peace.
“I feel I have been given so much and most of all I have been given the opportunity to give something back,” he said. “Because I have been a victim of war and conflict I would be an advocate for peace, friendship and cooperation.”
Welcoming the new Governor, State Premier Jay Weatherill hailed the occasion as a historic one with South Australia appointing the first person of Asian descent to such a role in Australia.
“Mr Le is a remarkable man who had made an impressive contribution to the nation since his arrival by boat from war-torn Vietnam. This appointment is not just about breaking down barriers, important though that may be, it is about the life of an extraordinary man,” he said. “It is about his past, his present and his future as Governor of our state.”
“Symbols are fine as long as they’re backed out with substance and Hieu Van Le is very definitely a person of substance,” the Premier added.
Before being appointed as Governor, Le was Lieutenant Governor and chairman of the South Australian Multi-cultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission.
