I grew up in housing commission, my family came here from war-torn Vietnam in the 80s probably around the same time Aborigines were granted suffrage.

I am privileged in the sense that I was born to a good family. My parents worked hard to provide for me and my siblings. We didn’t have much growing up but we had each other. There was strict discipline in our household with an emphasis on getting a university degree and pursuing a good career.

The way I see it is if my parents came here with nothing in their early 20s, after having their home and businesses taken away by a communist government, but still made something out of their lives then it’s possible for all in a country like Australia. And this isn’t an isolated story. Many of my friends that I grew up with of Vietnamese, Cambodian, Lao and even Iraqi Assyrian backgrounds have similar stories. Which goes to my point that I truly believe it’s a culture thing.

I don’t dispute that the historical treatment of our First Nations people is appaling. But reverse racism isn’t the way to go about it. Malaysia for example were adamant on affirmative action that would benefit the native Malays which is why Singapore exists.
The comparison I was trying to draw is that race based policies creates division which is why I don’t agree with the voice.

Look I’ve stated my arguments in a respectful manner. I know it’s controversial as all political matters are. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to see our indigenous people be successful. We need to be honest with ourselves to get down to the root cause of the problem. Historical injustice is a terrible thing, but it’s no excuse to be a bad parent.