Helen Sham-Ho

Helen Sham-Ho
何沈慧霞
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
In office
19 March 1988 (1988-03-19) – 28 February 2003 (2003-02-28)
Personal details
Born (1943-09-09) 9 September 1943 (age 81)
NationalityAustralian
Political partyIndependent (1998–present)
Other political
affiliations		Liberal Party (1982–1998)

Helen Wai-Har Sham-Ho OAM (Chinese: 何沈慧霞; pinyin: Hé Shěn Huìxiá) (born 9 September 1943) is a former Hong Kong-born Australian politician.

Early life and education

Of Bao'an Hakka ancestry, Sham-Ho was born in Hong Kong. She migrated to Australia in 1961, married an Australian in 1964, and became a citizen in 1968. [1]

She earned a Bachelor of Arts and a Diploma of Social Work from the University of Sydney, graduating in 1967,[2] and earned an LL.B. at Macquarie University.[3]

Her first marriage produced two daughters; her second marriage was to Robert Ho on 15 December 1987. In 1982, she had joined the Epping Branch of the Liberal Party.[4]

Political career

In 1988, she was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Council for the Liberal Party. She was the first ethnic Chinese person to be elected to an Australian parliament. She continued as a Liberal MLC until 1998, when she resigned from the party to sit as an independent. She retired before the 2003 election.[4]

Community service

Since her retirement she has been involved in various fund-raising activities in her local community.[5] Sham-Ho is a long-time advocate for Chinese unification, has advised the Australian chapter of the China Council for the Promotion of Peaceful National Reunification, and has been involved with various events linked to the Chinese Communist Party's United Front Work Department.[6]

References

  1. ^ "Helen Sham-Ho | NSW Migration Heritage Centre". Archived from the original on 27 March 2024. Retrieved 21 February 2024.
  2. ^ "2012 Australia Day Honours". The University of Sydney. Archived from the original on 4 March 2016. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
  3. ^ "Chris Lilley and His Aussie Heroes - Macquarie University". Archived from the original on 25 April 2012. Retrieved 7 January 2014.
  4. ^ a b "The Hon. Helen Wai-Har Sham-Ho (1943– )". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 13 May 2019.
  5. ^ Belongings: Post World War 2 migration memories & journeys Archived 4 November 2010 at the Wayback Machine Andrea Fernandes, NSW Migration Heritage Centre, 2008.
  6. ^ Joske, Alex (15 December 2017). "Bennelong byelection: The influential network targeting the Turnbull government in Bennelong". The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 27 December 2019. Retrieved 15 June 2019. Australia's first Chinese parliamentarian, Helen Sham-Ho, was once a member of the Liberal Party but has served as an advisor to the reunification council since its founding in 2000 and just last month was pictured in multiple meetings with United Front Work Department officials, according to Chinese media reports.