Ngo rose rapidly in local politics. On 8 October 1987, he was elected to the city council of Fairfield, New South Wales, 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 Australian 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, Ngo served as a Commissioner of the NSW Ethnic Affairs Commission (). In 1990, he was elected deputy mayor of Fairfield. The following year, Ngo stood as an independent for the seat of Cabramatta, which he lost to Labor's John Newman.