The Troubled World Of Phuong Ngo
Sydney Morning Herald
Thursday October 20, 1994
Monday night, May 6, 1991, was one of triumph for Phuong Canh Ngo. About 350 people gathered in the Kim Do restaurant in Cabramatta to open their hearts and their wallets for the 32-year-old former Vietnamese boat refugee.
"A lot of cash was about that night," said Mrs Shirley Barrett, who was Mr Ngo's campaign secretary in his attempt to win the NSW Legislative Assembly seat of Cabramatta and become Australia's first Vietnamese-born parliamentarian.
Mr Colin Tran, a convicted gambler, paid $5,000 for a cheap plaque which read "Ngo Phuong for Cabramatta 1991". A Cabramatta businessman, Mr Tiu Chan Muu, also gave $5,000. There was a donation of $4,000, several of $2,500, 10 of $1,000 and more.
The then Mayor of Fairfield, Councillor Lawrence White, auctioned gifts donated by well-wishers to raise campaign funds for Mr Ngo, who had served for a year as his deputy mayor and was standing as an Independent.
It was later recorded that $28,200 was donated that night.
The man they were financing Mr Ngo to beat was Labor's incumbent, Mr John Newman. Perhaps not this time, but in 1995.
But no-one in attendance could have believed that Mr Newman would be removed not by their votes but by a murderer's bullets and that there would be a by-election tomorrow, his killing still unsolved.
Nor would they know that an auditor would later report that there had been incomplete accounting of all donations. Six months later, six cheques totalling $5,526 had not been paid by the bank.
A year later, Mr Ngo, was paid $2,811 by the NSW Election Funding Authority on March 20, 1992. Under the law, he had only to present accounts to show that he had incurred the election costs, not receipts to prove he had paid the bills.
Mr Ngo has told the Herald he was aware there had been confusion in his campaign. He said it resulted from the pressures of a short, intense campaign fought with few support staff.
"If I have made mistakes, I will admit to them," he said. "But they were mistakes, that's all."
In fact, the confusion began in the Kim Do restaurant, where Mr Ngo was gratified by the generosity of his backers.
"Someone gave me a wad of notes," Mrs Barrett recalls. "I can't remember who it was, but Phoung told me to bring it to the office in the morning. I put it in my purse and went home. In the morning, when I counted it, I realised I had walked the streets of Cabramatta carrying $5,000.
"I told Phuong: 'Never again.' I remember Phuong saying it wasn't a bad effort, raising $35,000 in one night."
The election was 19 days later. Mr Ngo polled 11.9 per cent of the vote and came in third behind Mr Newman (51.7) and the Liberal candidate (21.8).
Mrs Barrett said Mr Ngo asked her to prepare his election funding statement.
"Everything was in a total mess," she said. "No proper records had been kept. I had to work from chequebook stubs, bank statements. Several cheques had been presented several times and still had not been paid."
The declaration prepared for the NSW Election Funding Authority by an auditor gave total contributions as $32,275.
But the auditor noted: "Other than contributions as recorded in the receipt book, it was not possible to identify contributors as it would appear that irregular bankings together with fundraising monies banked have not enabled accurate substantiation of deposits."
Total expenditure declared was $37,936. But the auditor noted that this included six cheques totalling $5,526 which were recorded as outstanding cheques at September 6, 1991.
The secretary of the NSW Election Funding Authority, Mr John Wasson, said: "We are not a watchdog on a candidate's financial transactions. All we have to be satisfied is that they incurred the expenses in relation to the political campaign. Whether they have paid the bills, whether their cheques have bounced, is not a consideration."
Mr Ngo won enough votes to be paid a maximum of $2,811, which was sent to his personal bank account.
Mr Ngo said yesterday: "I don't recall the cheques, or if we finally paid them or cancelled them. I have never written a cheque knowing that it would not be honoured.
"It was a long time ago. In good faith, I believed that if I had done something wrong, the election authority would have told me. But they did not, so it was not something which I kept on my mind."
The election defeat capped a tough two years for Mr Ngo, who for the first time was experiencing a reversal of the successes he had worked hard to achieve since arriving in Australia as a penniless refugee in 1982.
By 1987, he had become a successful businessman and won election to Fairfield City Council, the first Vietnamese to enter local government.
A business venture, Combined Real Estate, with fellow councillor, Mr Paul Newton, failed, costing each of them $50,000.
Mr Ngo said he was depressed that although he had been cleared of any connection with Mr Newman's death, he was still under scrutiny by the media.
"It's become too much," he said. "I feel so frustrated and disappointed, I might well choose another life."
TOMORROW: A Herald series - In search of Phuong Ngo - begins.
© 1994 Sydney Morning Herald