New Labor MP Sally Sitou said her first speech in Parliament marks 40 years since her parents became Australian citizens after fleeing Laos during the Vietnam War.
“This moment here is surreal in the best way possible … for this was an improbable candidacy,” Sitou said in the House of Representatives.
She said the moment was an even bigger deal for her parents,who “fled their home because of who they were and the values they held,and here they are in the public gallery watching their daughter”.
“I am the daughter of migrants,a proud Chinese-Laos Australian,” she said.
The Reid MP,who defeated Liberal Fiona Martin to win the inner-western Sydney seat,urged Australians to celebrate its first people and learn from their custodianship of the land. She also encouraged new Australians to strive for civic life.
“I believe it was important I put my hand up to stand for Reid,a thriving multicultural and multi-faith community,because as audacious as this dream was,it has never been more important for someone like me to dream it,” she said.
“You are not defined by your postcode,what school you went to,or where your parents come from.”
In a wide-ranging speech,Sitou also argued teachers should be paid their worth,saying the administrative burden the exhausted workforce was buckling under following the pandemic needed to be overhauled.