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SHADOW MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS DAVID COLEMAN VISITS VCA-VIC

March 4, 2025March 4, 2025

MEDIA RELEASE

RE: SHADOW MINISTER FOR FOREIGN AFFAIRS THE HON. DAVID COLEMAN VISITS THE VIETNAMESE COMMUNITY IN AUSTRALIA – VICTORIA CHAPTER

Dear Community Leaders and Members,

A few days before our Tet Festival, the Office of the Honourable David Coleman MP sent an email expressing his wish to visit the Vietnamese Community In Australia – Victoria Chapter (VCA-VIC).

The Honourable David Coleman is a Liberal Party MP representing the Division of Banks in New South Wales. He has a close relationship with our community. On May 10, 2019, while serving as the Minister for Multicultural Affairs under Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s Government, he announced a grant of 5 million Australian dollars to the VCA-VIC to build a Vietnamese Australian Cultural Centre and Museum.

On January 25, 2025, MP David Coleman was appointed by the Liberal Party as the shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs. If the Liberal Party win the next election, he would become Australia’s Minister for Foreign Affairs.

At 10 am on Friday, February 21, 2025, he was welcomed by nine members of the VCA-VIC Executive Committee, Extended Executive Committees, and Advisory Committees at the Community Office, 1/56 Nicholson Street, Footscray.

At the start of the meeting, he immediately raised a concern that he had received an invitation letter regarding the museum, but it was not from the Vietnamese Community in Australia – Victoria Chapter, and requested for an explanation into what had happened?

We briefly thanked him for the funding he had provided to the VCA-VIC but regrettably, we informed him that the former Executive Committees had illegally amended the Constitution, established the Vietnamese Museum Australia (VMA Ltd), and ultimately transferred the entire government-funded budget to this company. This has caused significant division and controversy within our community. Upon hearing this, Mr. David Coleman expressed deep disappointment.

Next, we informed him about the 50th anniversary Vietnamese refugee resettlement program and discussed with him on several topics such as freedom, democracy, human rights, including civil rights and the environmental issues in Vietnam.

We also emphasized that, over the past 50 years, our community has refused to accept the communist regime, the Vietnamese Communist Party and the Chinese Communist Party, viewing them as the foremost threats to Australia.

After nearly an hour of discussion, Shadow Minister David Coleman thanked us and stated that he would return to visit our community when the opportunity arises.

We presented him with a 50th-anniversary badge and a Yellow flag scarf and took photos with him. Please see the attached photos and video clip at: The Honourable David Coleman MP Visit 21 02 25.