Huong Truong

Thi Viet Huong Truong (born 1983 or 1984) is an Australian politician, community organiser, artist whose parents came from Vietnam as boat people following the Vietnam War.

Truong was a Greens member of the Victorian Legislative Council, having represented Western Metropolitan Region from February 2018, when she was appointed to the vacancy resulting from Colleen Hartland's resignation, until her defeat at the 2018 Victorian state election.

Early life and education

Childhood Truong was born and raised in the western suburbs of Melbourne, with their two brothers and four sisters.

Truong's grandparents served in the South Vietnamese Army that fought the Viet Cong in the Vietnam War. In the early 1980s, at the Fall of Saigon, Huong's parents were each chosen by their families to flee Vietnam on fishing boats.

Truong was first a candidate for the Greens to contest the Federal Division of Gorton in 2007 at the age of 24. Truong had joined the Greens only a few months earlier after learning about climate change. The campaign resulted in Truong feeling burnt out, and quitting the Greens before rejoining as a member in 2010. Huong was the first Vietnamese-Australia woman to serve in any Australian Parliament.

Between 22 February 2018 - 19 December 2018, Huong was also the portfolio holder for Multiculturalism, Youth Affairs, Sustainable Cities, Urban Water, Waste, Environmentally Sustainable Design & Planning and the Prevention of Family Violence, and also served on the Victorian Parliamentary Environment and Planning Committee. to unionise individuals, predominately from the Vietnamese community, in the poultry industry.

In August 2020, Truong announced she would run for council in the City of Brimbank, for the Harvester Ward, in the 2020 Victorian local elections.

In October 2023, Truong unsuccessfully ran for preselection to succeed retiring Victorian Greens Senator Janet Rice, on Rice’s retirement.

In July 2024, Truong was preselected by the Greens to contest the Labor-held Division of Fraser in Melbourne’s west.