2 Fil-Aussies win elective posts

Two Filipino-Australians have been elected into public office at the local level Down Under last month, the Department of Foreign Affairs said. The Philippine consulate general in Sydney identified the two as lawyer Jess Diaz and Irene Ensomo Broad. Philippine Consul General Maria Theresa Lazaro said that while Australian mainstream society acknowledges Filipino-Australians as active participants in nation-building, “this is the first time that Filipino-Australians in New South Wales have exhibited interest and
involvement in Australian mainstream politics.” Diaz won a seat in the council of Blacktown City, one of the largest suburbs of New South Wales with the largest concentration of Filipinos in Australia — 21,000 registered in the 2006 Australian census. Diaz is a former schoolteacher and was senior legal counsel for Citibank Australia before going into private legal practice. He has been an active community leader, a member of the Jaycees, Lions, and the Knights of Rizal. On the other hand, Broad is the first Filipino female councilor reelected in the shire of Temora, and the first Filipino-Australian to
be elected into public office in the state of New South Wales.