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The day I flew with Hanson

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With his strong Australian twang, Eddie Liu sounds like a man half his age. He may be known as the 'Father of Chinatown' in Brisbane, but the 76-year-old is no grumpy patriarch. Rather, this Chinese-Australian with Hong Kong roots boasts a boisterous sense of humour.

'I was born on Hollywood Road and my wife used to say I would become a movie star,' Mr Liu chuckles. 'I never did.' Instead, he became an odd-job man for more than 30 years and is now - among other titles printed on his business cards - the honorary ambassador for Brisbane, the honorary secretary of the Chinese Club of Queensland, and a committee member of the Chinese Temple Society.

Then there is his family of six children and 13 grandchildren.

'There is an old Chinese saying that we [Chinese] do not like to waste,' Mr Liu chuckles again.

He is the kind of man who would walk up to Pauline Hanson - known for her anti-Asian, anti-Aborigine stance - and suggest the One Nation party leader marry a Chinese.

And he did.

'Earlier this year, I was on a plane from Brisbane to Canberra and guess who sat next to me? Pauline Hanson,' he said.

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