Henry Shiu-Lung Tsang (born 6 November 1943; ) is an Australian architect, politician and formerly a Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1999 until his resignation effective 3 December 2009.

Early years

Tsang was born to parents Tik Fai Tsang and Woon-Wah Young in a

Hakka The Hakka (), sometimes also referred to as Hakka Han, or Hakka Chinese, or Hakkas are a Han Chinese subgroup whose ancestral homes are chiefly in the Hakka-speaking provincial areas of Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Sichuan, Hunan, Zhej ...

village in

Jiangxi Jiangxi (; ; formerly romanized as Kiangsi or Chianghsi) is a landlocked province in the east of the People's Republic of China. Its major cities include Nanchang and Jiujiang. Spanning from the banks of the Yangtze river in the north int ...

Province, China on 6 November 1943.Who's Who Australia In 1949 Tsang and his family fled to

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delta i ...

as refugees. He grew up in Hong Kong but emigrated to Australia in 1961. After arriving in Australia, he attended Vaucluse Boys' High School and went on to study at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

, obtaining a

Bachelor of Architecture The Bachelor of Architecture (B.Arch.) is a bachelor's degree designed to satisfy the academic requirement of practising architecture around the world. Australia Architectural education in Australia varies depending on the university offering th ...

in 1961. He undertook further studies at the University of Technology, Sydney and was awarded a Graduate Diploma in Building Science. He was Senior Vice Chairman of the Ethnic Communities Council of New South Wales from 1987 to 1990. In 1991 he was awarded the Medal of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gov ...

(OAM) for his services to ethnic communities and received the 2001 Centenary Medal for his "service to the celebration of the Centenary of Federation".

Political career

He was elected to Council of the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

in September 1991, the first Asian Australian to be elected to that council, and was also elected unopposed as the Deputy

Lord Mayor of Sydney The Right Honourable the Lord Mayor of Sydney is the head of the Council of the City of Sydney, which is the local government area covering the central business district of Sydney in the State of New South Wales, Australia. The Lord Mayor has be ...

. He faced re-election and was re-elected in September 1995 and continued as Deputy Lord Mayor until 1999. He was a Member of Australia's national delegation to the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit. He was also a national delegate to the United Nations World Urban Forum in Curitiba, and he had the honour of chairing the opening session. He was a member of the Board of Australia-China Council. He was a member of the Multicultural Advisory Committee to the Sydney Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG), a Member of the New South Wales Tourism Task Force, and a Member of the Board of Architects of New South Wales, a Member of the Inner Sydney Waste Board and a Member of the Casino Community Benefit Fund Trustees. He was number eight on the Australian Labor Party ticket for 1999 state election, and despite having a low position on the ticket, was subsequently elected to the Council. He was re-elected in 2007. Tsang served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier and to the Treasurer on Trade and Investment until November 2009, when he was replaced by Premier

Nathan Rees Nathan Rees () (born 12 February 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales division of the Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees wa ...

after he failed to declare gifts and accommodation from Chinese-backed construction group Hightrade. He was a member of the General Purpose Standing Committee and was the Legislative Council Representative on the Senate of the University of Sydney in 2003 and 2004. He married Donna Pow, a concert pianist, on 10 June 1972.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsang, Henry 1942 births Living people Architects from Sydney Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council University of Technology Sydney alumni University of Sydney alumni People from Wuhua Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Politicians from Meizhou 21st-century Australian politicians Deputy Lord Mayors of Sydney Hong Kong emigrants to Australia Recipients of the Centenary Medal Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia Australian politicians of Chinese descent