Bennelong's Vietnamese refugees still back former PM
REFUGEES who made new lives for themselves in the Sydney seat of Bennelong after fleeing Vietnam have voiced support for John Howard, despite claims he argued they should not be allowed into the country.
In an interview timed to coincide with the release of the 1977 cabinet papers yesterday, former prime minister Malcolm Fraser accused Mr Howard - then a junior minister in his government - of saying to him that "we don't want too many of these people".
The claim, which Mr Howard has denied, was brushed aside yesterday by members of the Vietnamese community in Bennelong, the seat Mr Howard represented for 33 years until his defeat in November's election.
Liem Tran said he disagreed with his local member's ideologies and his perceived lukewarm support for minority groups when he arrived in Australia in 1978, yet he voted for him in last year's poll.
"At first we hated John Howard," he said. "We knew what he believed in and stood for, but when he became PM, he did a very good job and that's why we liked him.
"It really doesn't surprise me at all that he (allegedly) disapproved of Australia's intake of war refugees."
Another refugee who fled Vietnam in 1978, Vinh Tranh, also believes the former prime minister was a "great leader" and "good man".
At 21 years old, alone and speaking little English, Mr Tran arrived in Australia by boat. He was one of 48,000 Vietnamese refugees who by 1979 had found sanctuary here.
Life in Australia has afforded him opportunities he could not have foreseen in Vietnam, he said. "It's hard to compare life here with Vietnam, but it's been much better, it's been very good." And for that he gives much of the credit to Mr Howard.
"I voted for him this time, I met him in Bennelong and had the opportunity to shake his hand," said Mr Tran, who also supports a "careful" approach toimmigration.
While he believes refugees like himself deserve a chance to make a life for themselves, "it is better to have useful people who work hard than to take them in randomly".
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