Editing Phuong Ngo (section)

==Biography==
Phuong Ngo was born in [[South Vietnam]] to wealthy parents and following university became a schoolteacher. Following the [[fall of Saigon]] and the end of the [[Vietnam War]], his family had their assets confiscated. Ngo made several unsuccessful attempts to flee the country and was jailed several times. In January 1981, he made his thirteenth attempt, which was successful, and he arrived in Australia via Malaysia as a refugee in 1982. {{cn|date=November 2021}}

Ngo rose rapidly in local politics. On 26 September 1987, he was elected to the Cabramatta Ward of [[Fairfield City Council]], New South Wales, making him the first Vietnamese-born Australian to enter local government; on his election, Ngo expressed to ''[[The Sydney Morning Herald]]'': "I think we are welcome here. But we need a mutual understanding. Most people I talked to said we needed a Vietnamese on the council."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Lagan |first1=Bernard |title=Councillor looks to integration |agency=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=9 October 1987 |page=3}}</ref> The following year he partnered [[Rodney Adler]] to set up Asia Press Pty Ltd, which published ''Dan Viet'', a [[Vietnamese language]] newspaper. As a city councillor, Ngo worked to help members of the [[Vietnamese Australian]] community and, after arranging for Adler to invest $1&nbsp;million, led the redevelopment of the local community centre, the Mekong Club. He was subsequently asked to be the club's president. From July 1990 to June 1993, Ngo served as a Commissioner of the NSW Ethnic Affairs Commission.<ref>EAC Annual Report 1991-1992</ref> In 1990, he was elected deputy mayor of Fairfield. The following year, Ngo was re-elected to Fairfield City Council at the September 1991 election<ref>{{cite news |title=Local Council Election Results - Fairfield |agency=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=16 September 1991 |page=8}}</ref> and stood as an independent for the [[Electoral district of Cabramatta|seat of Cabramatta]] in the [[1991 New South Wales state election|May 1991 state election]], which he lost to [[Australian Labor Party|Labor]]'s [[John Newman (Australian politician)|John Newman]].

After his friend and council ally, [[Nick Lalich]], approached Federal [[Member of parliament|MP]] [[Ted Grace]] for Ngo to join Labor, Grace arranged a meeting with [[Australian Senate|Senator]] [[Graham Richardson]] and [[Leo McLeay]], Federal MP for [[Division of Watson|Watson]] and [[Speaker of the Australian House of Representatives|Speaker of the House of Representatives]]. They decided that if Ngo was promoted to the [[New South Wales Legislative Council|Legislative Council]] (MLC), he could be a potential "counter" to the [[Liberal Party of Australia (New South Wales Division)|Liberal Party]]'s Asian MLC [[Helen Sham-Ho]]. Ngo was invited to join Labor and run the party's re-activated [[Canley Vale, New South Wales|Canley Vale]] branch. This put him in direct competition with Newman, who ran the [[Canley Heights, New South Wales|Canley Heights]] branch, despite previously agreeing not to challenge Newman for [[preselection]].