Hieu Van Le

Hieu Van Le, (; born 1 January 1954) is an Australian politician who served as the 35th governor of South Australia, in office from 1 September 2014 to 31 August 2021. He served as the state's lieutenant-governor from 2007 to 2014. He also served as chair of the South Australian Multicultural and Ethnic Affairs Commission (SAMEAC) from 2006 to 2009. Le is the first person of East Asian heritage to be appointed a state governor in Australia, and first person of Vietnamese background to be appointed to a vice-regal position anywhere in the world.

Early life Le was born in Quảng Trị, Southern Vietnam, on 1 January 1954. His father was a Viet Minh soldier who fought for Vietnamese independence from French colonists and was killed in action whilst his mother Hanh was still pregnant with him. He had 2 older brothers and was educated in Đà Nẵng, and later attended Dalat University where he was a student representative leader, studying economics. In early 1977, whilst just finished studying his degree, both his brothers who were ARVN soldiers were sent to reeducation camps by the new communist regime. Job prospects were also low due to stigma in hiring relatives of 'traitors' and he felt there was no longer a future for him to remain.

Le later recalled "I said 'Look if we go on like this we will all die soon. Our last action is to abandon the boat and swim because it will soon be a trap for all of us'. With the last fuel we steered the boat and got into shallow water 50-60 meters from the shore and the coastguard came out again and I gave the order to jump." The Malaysian coast guard preparing to fire warning shots, and the refugees swam to shallow water, with the coastguard surrounding them with barbed wire where they stood. They were eventually allowed settlement at an island refugee camp two weeks later. His two sons were born in Australia and are named after Australian cricketers Sir Donald Bradman and Kim Hughes.

Career After arriving in Australia, Le intending to start over attended the University of Adelaide, receiving a Master of Business Administration and an Economics degree. He was a senior investigator and manager with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission from the early 1990s until his retirement in 2009. He is also a member of the Australian Society of Certified Practising Accountants (CPA) and a Fellow Member of the Financial Services Institute of Australasia (Finsia). As of 2024, Le is the Chairperson of the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute and the Adelaide Festival Centre Trust Board. He is also patron, life member, honorary member, director, trustee or ambassador for 25 other organizations.

Governor Le's appointment as Governor of South Australia to replace Kevin Scarce was announced on 26 June 2014; he took office on 1 September, with Scarce's term expiring on 7 August. Le is a Catholic and credits his experiences as a refugee for strengthening his religious convictions. In June 2019, Premier Steven Marshall announced that Le's original term as governor had been extended by two years, to 31 August 2021. During this time, Le has served as patron for over 230 organizations.

Honours

Orders 2009: Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) 2014: Knight of Grace of the Order of St John 2016: Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)

Medals 2001: Centenary Medal "for service to the advancement of multiculturalism in Australia",