Phuong Ngo

Phuong Canh Ngo
Born	1958 (age 58–59) South Vietnam
Occupation	Businessman, politician
Criminal penalty	Life imprisonment "never to be released"
Criminal status	Incarcerated
Motive	Political gain
Conviction(s)	Murder

Phuong Canh Ngo (Vietnamese: Ngô Cảnh Phương) (born 1958) was a Vietnamese former businessman and politician who was convicted of ordering the killing of Australian MP John Newman on 5 September 1994, a crime which has been described as Australia's first political assassination (though not its first murder of a parliamentarian: in 1921 another Labor MP in the NSW Legislative Assembly, Percy Brookfield, had been slain in Riverton, north of Adelaide, by a psychotic emigre).

Ngo was born in South Vietnam to wealthy parents and following university became a school teacher. Following the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War, his family had their assets confiscated. Ngo made several unsuccessful attempts to flee the country and was jailed several times. In January 1981 he made his 13th attempt, which was successful, and he arrived in Australia via Malaysia as a refugee in 1982.

He rose rapidly in local politics. On 8 October 1987, he was elected to the Fairfield Council making him the first Vietnamese born Australian to enter local government. The following year he partnered Rodney Adler to set up Asia Press Pty Ltd which published Dan Viet, a Vietnamese language newspaper. As a City Councillor, Ngo worked to help members of the Vietnamese community and after arranging for Adler to invest $1 million, led the redevelopment of the local community centre, the Mekong Club. He was subsequently asked to be the club's president. From July 1990 to June 1993 he served as a Commissioner of the NSW Ethnic Affairs Commission (). In 1990 Ngo was elected deputy Mayor of Fairfield. In 1991, Ngo stood as an independent for the seat of Cabramatta which he lost to Labor's John Newman.

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