Melbourne is a city of culture
A place that celebrates being the greatest multicultural city
A place I called home for 17 years
A place that taught me how Vietnamese I am
How Vietnamese I am not
How Australian I am
But having disabilities despite my BA (Hons), MA x 2 qualifications
I was not disabled enough but not abled enough according to my DES providers
17 years in refugee work
Inc.
8 years in disability work
Yet little job security jumping from project to project
Casual to casual work
A few hours here and few days there
Then… Robodebt and cutting of my DSP
Cos I earned too much they said

 

I got tired of the city of culture
Where progressives were too busy policing each other
And saw that refugee/asylum seeker advocacy was going no where
I fled the city
To the Canberra bubble
A tree change I tell myself
To try to make change from the top of the system
As opposed to the bottom of the system
This former war orphan has always been a political animal
Canberra is good for promotion
It is a step up they say
It was a step away I tell myself

 

Canberra
Nice place
Cold Hot Desert
Where at the airport people can play spot the pollie as they disembark
Where Parliament House is as warm as the white marble floors
And as formal as the oil portraits of former PMs that grace the walls
And a statue of the Queen
Is a nice reminder to diners and visitors
That the crown still rules
“For the Queen, the Law and the People"

 

Sydney
Is a city of money
It is loud brash and old skool colonial settlement
A place to escape
Soak in the smog
And the masses
Only to return to Canberra’s quiet
Quercus bi color Swamp white oak tree lined streets
Of the Bush Capital
And the joys of eating posh lunch at the National Press Club

 

My new role here
I’m still a minority
As all the CEOs of the Disability
Most disability policy advocates and National and ACT Public Service workers, reporters and middle managers
Are white
Are white middle class heterosexual family centred
At least in Sydney and Melbourne the PoC diversity makes me invisible

 

Being a political animal in Canberra
Has not made me appreciate “the game” more
From being Green and keen
To jaded and cynical
As the spin and policy roundabout
Goes round and round
As the public service recruit change agents
And operational technocrats
Who have no understanding
Of multiculturalism, diversity, disability, PoC
Beyond the buzz words and CALD definition
And clearly have not lived on the Streets of Foots, Cabra or Dandy
But drive policy for the “vulnerable”

 

But the systemic advocacy world
Is the place to be
As the roundtables, focus groups, committees, zoom conferences meetings with ministers and press rat packs
My words count
And do have currency
Cos my lived experience is not the white middle class heterosexual family centred majority
It is mine
An Australian Vietnamese former war orphan with dual disabilities adoptee, who won’t eat the
Hoffman Robert’s creamy baked IA vanilla slice
Unless it comes with black sesame ice cream and a lychee on top