Community member letter from VMA’s Chairperson
Melbourne 30th December 2022
Dear community member
Happy new year to everyone from the VMA!
As you know we are continuing to work hard on the Vietnamese Museum Australia project which will tell the story of the Vietnamese Community’s flight to freedom and successful settlement in Australia. The funding we have received from the Federal and State Governments, plus fundraising activities, will mean we can appoint a builder to start construction in the coming months. We are also proactively working with the Maribyrnong City Council to satisfy the numerous conditions to settlement of the Contract of Sale of land where the museum will be built. We expect to be in a position to satisfy the outstanding conditions and proceed to settlement of the purchase of the land from Maribyrnong City Council in early 2023.
However, unfortunately the VCA-Vic Executive Committee, through their lawyer Mr Nguyen Tan Hai, has placed a caveat on this land. This is a legal move intentionally designed to obstruct and delay the Council completing the sale of land to the VMA, and to obstruct and delay the progress of the Museum project. Our legal advice is there is no justification for the caveat and we have advised the Council to seek to have it removed.
Also, without consulting the VMA, the VCA-Vic Executive Committee has informed us it is conducting a ‘review’ of the VMA. The VMA does not believe there is any justification for a review of the Museum project, and the VCA-Vic Executive Committee has not provided a justification for such a review. As there has not been any reason provided, nor discussion regarding the process, the VMA has decided not to become involved in this process.
Our sole intention and mission is to continue to build a Museum that will inform future generations of the Vietnamese Australian community, and the broader community, the inspirational story of the Vietnamese people’s journey to Australia and its ongoing contributions to Australia. The distractions listed above will not take our focus away from the task of completing this vital project.
Please contact me or the Project Management team if you have any questions or would like any additional information.
Yours faithfully,
Bruce Mildenhall
Chair of the Board of Directors Vietnamese Museum Australia Ltd.
