Highlights
- Dai Le arrived in Australia as a refugee in 1975
- She defeated the ALP's Kristine Keneally in the south-west Sydney seat
- Previous roles in the area include Deputy Mayor of the Fairfield City Council
At close of counting for the western Sydney seat, Ms Le had received just over 52 per cent of the vote on a two-party preferred basis with her competitor, former New South Wales' Premier, the Australian Labor Party’s Kristina Keneally, receiving around 48 per cent of the vote.
Ms Le's achievement is all the more remarkable given the fact that the division of Fowler was previously regarded as a "safe seat" for the ALP and, since its creation in 1984, had never been held by anyone from any other party.
She told SBS Vietnamese that the result was a "wake-up call" for major parties, in this case the ALP.
"In the future if you want to put a candidate to run, you have to think about the quality of that candidate, and his or her connection to the constituency," she said.
Ms Le, who arrived in Australia as a refugee with her mother and two younger sisters, said the result was a victory for “grass roots campaigning”.
With a career as a journalist with local newspaper, the Liverpool and Fairfield Champion, and later, the ABC, Ms Le said she had an in-depth understanding of her electorate.
“Time after time, elected representatives have failed to bring the necessary funding from Canberra to help fix the many problems we experienced - from our hospitals, our public transport, our roads, our manufacturing sector, job creation, you name it,” Ms Le, who served as Deputy Mayor of the Fairfield City Council, said.
The lack of federal funding, and the lack of power in Canberra, meant that we were left behind.
Speaking on Monday morning, Ms Le thanked her supporters, singling out Fairfield City Council Mayor Frank Carbone for special praise saying he had supported her “200 per cent”.
Despite receiving support from other candidates in Fowler, Ms Le affirmed her independence and the clear policies and promises she made at the start of her campaign.
“First of all, it's been an incredible election campaign beyond imagination over the past six weeks,” she said.
“I will work so that people, their voices, their needs get to the government, no one is ignored.
“We’re not going to be second-class citizens anymore, we're proud Fowler, Fairfield people.”
Ms Le said she was going to spend some time with her family before throwing herself into her federal parliamentarian duties and delivering on election promises including securing funding for local hospitals, roads and other infrastructure.
Dai Le (front) with her mother and siblings after arriving in Australia in 1975. Source: Supplied
"We have lost, been blockaded and had difficulties during the pandemic, we have been discriminated against, but no, that will not happen again,” she said.
Speaking to ABC television on Monday morning, Ms Le conveyed the anger her new constituents had expressed to her over Ms Keneally’s candidacy in the division of Fowler.
“A lot of voters were so angry with the fact that the Labor Party was arrogant enough to think that they could ‘parachute’ somebody from the northern beaches to come and represent the south-west, one of the most socially disadvantaged communities,” Ms Le said.
Believed to have been the brainchild of ALP power-brokers, the selection of Shadow Minister for Home Affairs, Ms Keneally, to run in Fowler had upturned the plans of Vietnamese Australian lawyer, Tu Le, who had the backing of retiring MP Chris Hayes.
