Kristina Keneally in Fowler on election day. The Labor candidate’s bid to win the previously safe seat ended in failure.Credit:Dean Sewell
The constituents of the VCA – and the identity of the VCA itself – is defined by the wounds of the war.
But over time,the Vietnamese diaspora in Fowler has changed. It now includes family reunion migrants,skilled migrants,business migrants and international students that have no direct memory or connection to the war. Some are even children of Communist cadres who were wartime enemies of VCA war veterans. And even those of us who do have these connections,who grew up in poverty,traumatised by the intergenerational pain of war,don’t always agree with the VCA.
Though it is important,it no longer represents all Vietnamese in Fowler.
The Labor Party and Kristina Keneally publiclyannounced they had the backing of the Vietnamese community as they stood alongside a VCA NSW executive member – but that support did not tell them anything about the attitude of all VCA members – or Vietnamese war refugees outside VCA – towards Keneally’s candidacy nor that of the broader Vietnamese community.
The new independent MP for Fowler,Dai Le.Credit:Peter Rae
Their mistake reminds me of the tokenised diversity approach I see in the corporate world. If you’ve consulted “the Muslim”,“the Aboriginal person”,“the gay”,“the person with a disability”,“the Asian” or any other marginalised individual,you’ve done your homework.
Another error,prolific in corporate Australia,is their biased view of leadership qualities. In endorsing Keneally over local lawyer Tu Le,Paul Keating said she had “executive talent”. This notion evokes a certain archetype of Anglo-centric leadership,a type of leadership that keeps racial diversity at the bottom and white people at the top. And in any case,in our community,leaders can behave differently,without the need for this expression of “talent”.