For a second consecutive year, there will not be a representative of a Vietnamese
background on the Police Commissioner’s 12 member, Police & Ethnic Communities
Advisory Council (PECAC).
Yet more Vietnamese live in Cabramatta, a problem area for police, than any other
suburb in NSW. In fact, over 40% of the state’s Vietnamese-born population live in
the Fairfield Council area, which takes in Cabramatta.
Fairfield’s only Vietnamese-speaking Councillor, Thang Ngo was told this week that
he was not good enough for appointment to PECAC.
Cr Ngo is an experience multicultural marketer who also sits on the Australian Consumer
and Competition Commission (ACCC) GST advisory board as their expert on ethnic issues. Cr
Ngo’s application was supported by peak Vietnamese and Chinese community groups, the
Ethnic Communities Council (ECC) of NSW, both Cabramatta business associations and even
Fairfield Council’s own Crime Prevention Officer.
Apart from the personal snub, he sees this as a slap in the face for the Vietnamese
community. "The Police service says it wants to work with the Vietnamese community,
but when we accept, it’s thrown back in our face," said Cr Ngo.
"The Vietnamese community has been gagged from contributing to ethnic policing
policies".
According to Cr Ngo, out of approximately 140 officers in Cabramatta, not one speaks
Vietnamese, Chinese or any other south-east Asian language, making language and cultural
blockages key factors that deter residents from reporting crime.
"That’s why the official police crime statistics says the leafy north shore
has a worse index than Cabramatta" he said.
Cr Ngo fears the rejection is payback for his successful lobbying for a Parliamentary
Upper House Inquiry into policing in Cabramatta, announced this earlier month.
"Ironically one of the terms of reference is the effectiveness of police in
dealing with people from a non-English speaking background" Cr Ngo concluded.