WEBVTT
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(moody electronic music)
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My family left Vietnam in 1981,
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my mother took my sister and I out on a little boat
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into the South China Sea and when we left,
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we didn't know, at least she didn't know,
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where we were going to end up.
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But what she did know was
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that she wanted to give us a chance for a better future.
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We were very lucky because after five days and nights at sea
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we were rescued by a British oil tanker
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in the middle of the ocean and it was amazing,
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because I remember that moment
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when we approached this oil tanker, it was in the middle
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of the night, pitch black and you don't see anything.
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All of a sudden I said to my mum,
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"Mum, there are so many stars",
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because the stars were right in front of our faces
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in the middle of this pitch black ocean,
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see all of these incredible lights
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and they were the lights of the oil tanker.
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We were taken on to the oil tanker
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and then finally transported to Malaysia
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where we spent three months in a refugee camp.
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We were given the opportunity to come to Australia.
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I remember flying above Australia.
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I looked out of the window and I saw the expanse of space
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and there is so much space and so much land in Australia
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that you can't help but be blown away
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after being cramped in this refugee camp.
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Even when we were on the boat, even along the journey,
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we were cramped underneath most of the time,
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so everything felt very small.
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And here was this amazing place where we were going to land
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and I think it was amazing that we did that
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because now I'm here (laughs),
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as a very proud Australian.
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Oh yeah, my mother and my grandmother
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are just both incredible women
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and I come from a strong lineage of women
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and, not surprisingly, I'm also a bit of a hard nut myself.
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(laughs)
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My mum is probably the biggest influence in my life,
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not only did she take her responsibilities
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as a parent very seriously, but also in terms of,
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how do you role model for two children in the context
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of a migrant family resettling in a new country.
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And for her, education was so fundamental.
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You know, you can get an education,
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you can have active participation in citizenship
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in Australia, you can contribute to your broader community
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in ways that,
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not only elevate yourself and your own lot in life,
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but also to also give in a meaningful way in creating impact
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on the people around you and I think my mum's own sense
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of responsibility in how she took her civic duties,
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trickled through in terms of my own perspective
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on what my responsibilities are, not just as an Australian,
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but also as a global citizen
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and I think that's been a really wonderful lesson
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to carry in my life.
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I have always sought to find a way to contribute
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at the highest contribution value
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for my own set of experiences and perspectives.
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As a teenager, I contributed by participating
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in my own local community organisation
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and helped people from a non-English speaking background
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participate meaningfully in work so they could participate
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in society and resettle in a way that allowed them
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to feel a sense of dignity and purpose.
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That led to the Young Australian of the Year Awards.
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Then when I embarked on my career as a lawyer,
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I tried very hard to find a way to contribute more broadly
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to societal structures based on a legal framework.
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And for a new migrant community,
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that was a good way that I could help them understand
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how to negotiate that.
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But then, what became very clear to me very early on
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in my career was that technological advancements
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are driving the future forward and our world forward
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in a transformational way and so for me,
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it was very obvious that the trajectory that I was on
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wouldn't allow me to contribute in a way
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that I felt was the highest way that I could make an impact,
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at least in my lifetime so I made a very sharp pivot
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towards an entrepreneurial path.
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What we do is neurotechnology and neuroinformatics.
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Our mission is to accelerate brain research
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through electroencephalography or EEG for short.
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It's essentially a process where we measure and interpret
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and translate, essentially, electrical fluctuations
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that result from neurons firing
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and interacting inside the brain.
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And then once we understand how the brain works,
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and its connectivity patterns,
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we can apply it to a myriad of different diverse fields.
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My hope is that if we can democratise
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the technology around this and we make it affordable enough,
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then we will be able to find early enough markers
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for many of these conditions
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that are developmental in nature.
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I think that would be a major win.
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I live in Los Angeles and so I made a trip
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to San Francisco to meet with Tan.
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Over the three hours of us chatting and having a good laugh
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we realised that both of us actually grew up
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in adjoining suburbs in Melbourne's Western Suburbs.
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She's from Footscray, I'm from Sunshine
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and also, we realised that we're the same age,
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and then we realised that we went to the same high school.
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She was actually fast tracked through high school
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whereas we would've been in the same class.
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We both experienced racism at high school
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and so, having that conversation with Tan
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and then having watched her TED talk about being a refugee
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and the experiences of her family,
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I guess, it had a huge impact on me,
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having come from a migrant family myself.
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I really connected with Tan's family story.
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So as much as I wanted it to be a portrait of Tan,
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and I really didn't want to detract from that,
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I still wanted it to, kind of, touch on issues
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of like, what it would have been,
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what would Australia be like,
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if we turn away people like Tan?
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You know, how many other people that can contribute
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to our communities and our society?
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And also, not only at a communal level,
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at, like, a global level.
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If we're looking at what she is doing when it comes to
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brain technology, she's effectively changed the way we live
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on a daily basis.
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So it was really important to bring that in to the piece.
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In our conversations,
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Tan and I had discussed suddenly bringing in the idea
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of technology and that's why
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I brought in other collaborators.
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I worked with Professor Colin Hall
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from the University of Adelaide,
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I worked with a company who created a privacy film
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which forces the viewer to have to stand
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in front of it, the portrait,
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otherwise it's out of focus, anywhere else in the gallery.
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And then I'm working with Christopher Boots
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who has helped me with the fabrication of the piece.
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There's actually a cross section
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of about four or five different substrates
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in technologies into that photo.
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Initially when Tan and I were discussing the concept,
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we started talking about the way women are depicted
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and also Asian women are depicted in imagery,
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in portraiture, in that they tend to be a lot more demure.
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We wanted it to be, you know, really badass.
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She's all these amazing things, she's an entrepreneur,
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she's been a community leader,
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she's leading the research in brain technology.
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So why would this person be depicted anything other
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than strong, powerful.
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I realised that the initial portrait that I'd taken of Tan
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wasn't gonna be as impactful,
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so therefore, I had to go back and shoot Tan.
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It was quite embarrassing I felt initially.
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She was fantastic about it.
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It was kind of a blessing in that,
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having that personal rapport with Tan
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really gave us the opportunity to take it to another level.
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We also had a couple good bottles of Champagne
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and hung out and had a really nice time,
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got pizzas delivered.
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So you know, there's a lightness that happens
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when you're then able to meet someone a few more times.
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I thought that it was really important
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to create a piece that was interactive.
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That forced the viewer to come into the gallery
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and, not just walk past it but to interact
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and then to have to ask a question.
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And that's why I integrated the mirror into the portrait.
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You know it forces, through all these various technologies,
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it forces people to a, stand in front of it
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and b then, I hope they then have to look into it
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and work out, I guess, ask themselves who Tan is,
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what did she do and also look at what's she's contributed
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to Australia.
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Honestly, it was such an amazing collaboration to work
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with John because of that shared background.
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I think the first time that we sat down together for lunch
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and discovered we had so much in common
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and so much common ground.
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I think when you're a Western Suburbs kid,
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there's a lack of entitlement that is associated with that
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because you are a new migrant family,
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you're just starting out, you really don't have an,
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you expect that you're going to be shaping your life.
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And often you're the one responsible
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for also improving the lot of your parents who sacrificed
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to bring you across and so I think,
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in many ways, it was really great to work with John
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because we share that common history
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and I was shocked that we went
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to Westbourne together for one year.
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It's such a significant moment,
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especially for a migrant family,
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like we're first generation Australians
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so we're not a , I'm not a second generation immigrant
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and so to being able to do this in one generation
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is a major accomplishment, but it also symbolises a lot
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for what's possible with people who've come
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from another place and the grit
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and dedication that they forge and that they give back
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to society so I think that's really wonderful.
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It's amazing (laughs).
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(moody electronic music)