John Aquilina
Encyclopedia
John Joseph Aquilina an Australian politician, is a former member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
representing the electorate of Blacktown between 1981 and 1991 and the electorate of Riverstone
between 1991 and 2011 for the Australian Labor Party
.
Between 1986 and 1988 and again between 1995 and 2003, he served in a range of ministerial portfolios including Minister for Natural Resources and Minister for Youth and Community Services in the Wran
and Unsworth
Labor governments and Minister for Education and Training
, Minister for Fair Trading, and Minister for Land and Water Conservation in the Carr
Labor government.
From 2003 to 2007, he was Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly
, and was Leader of the House
from 2007 until his retirement in 2011
.
, Aquilina compelted a Bachelor of Arts
and a Diploma of Education
in 1971 and was a member of the University of Sydney Regiment between 1968 and 1970, although did not see active duty. He commenced teaching as a high school teacher, initially in a country location before returning to Sydney. Whilst at university in 1970, Aquilina joined the Blacktown Branch of the Australian Labor Party. In 1974, he became an Australian citizen.
In 1977, he was elected as an alderman
to Blacktown City Council representing the Labor Party up until 1983; and went on to become Mayor
of the Council between 1977 and 1981. In 1979, he was appointed a member of the Ethnic Affairs Commission of New South Wales (now the Community Relations Commission of New South Wales) and at various times has held positions with the State Records Authority (2003–2006); Sydney Grammar School
Board of Trustees; appointed a Fellow of the Senate
of the University of Sydney; an Honorary Associate of the University of Sydney Graduate School of Government; a member of the Advisory Board of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
; a Life Member of the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children
and a member of Blacktown City Lions Club.
Aquilina married Anne Michelle Sutcliffe in 1977, and together they had two sons. Following the death of Anne Sutcliffe in 2003, he remarried Ann Elizabeth Moran in 2006.
, Aquilina held a number of junior portfolios including Chair of various committees before being appointed Minister for Natural Resources in the Wran government in 1986. In that same year, following the retirement of Wran and Unsworth becoming Premier, Aquilina was appointed Minister for Youth and Community Services and Assistant Minister for Ethnic Affairs. He held these portfolios up until the 1988 state election
when Labor lost government to the Greiner
-Murray Liberal
-National
coalition.
In opposition, Aquilina held the shadow portfolios of Education and Training, Youth and Ethnic Affairs.
In 1990, following an electoral redistribution
, a new electorate of Mount Druitt
was created. Richard Amery
moved to contest this new safe Labor seat. Aquilina decided to contest Amery's old seat of Riverstone; and Pam Allan
contest Aquilina's old seat of Blacktown. Aquilina was successful at the 1991 state election
and has subsequently defended the seat at the 1995
, 1999
, 2003
and 2007 elections.
Following the election of the Carr Labor government in 1995, Aquilina was appointed Minister for Education and Training (a position he held for over six years) and also Minister Assisting the Premier on Youth Affairs (over four years). In 2001, he was appointed Minister for Land and Water Conservation and Minister for Fair Trading. Aquilina held both these position until the retirement of John Murray
, when he assumed the position of Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
in 2003.
After the 2007 state election, there was considerable political pressure for the appointment of an independent Speaker. Aquilina stood aside in favour of independent Member for Northern Tablelands
Richard Torbay
.
In 2007, he became Leader of the House
. On 25 October 2010, Aquilina announced that he would not be contesting the next state election
.
that it was his electorate's and his personal view that homosexuality should not be decriminalised in New South Wales and he would vote against it in any case. Gay rights activists Garry Wotherspoon and fabian Lo Schiavo confronted him with a petition with 132 against his stance which was shown on ABC's Four Corners program. He has voted against any legislation in favour of homosexual rights since.
In March 2010, it was reported that Aquilina's 25–year old son, Jeremy, was charged with five counts of sexual assault and one count of indecency on a 22–year old woman in a park in St Clair
in western Sydney.
On 10 April 2001 John Aquilina raised the issue in parliament of a foiled plot by a high school student to replicate the Columbine High School Massacre
. He alleged that the student's diary contained plans to kill fellow students and teachers. His staff embellished the story, telling reporters the student had access to a gun. On this, the Police Commissioner contradicted Aquilina's version of events, and the boy's family subsequently threatened the sue the Government.
Aquilina was later the subject of an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation that explored possible false statements to the media and political interference in police procedures. The investigation concluded in August 2001 and found no evidence of corrupt conduct. However, Aquilina relinquished the Education and Training portfolio in late 2001 and was shifted to the Ministries of Land and Water Conservation, and Fair Trading.
. There has been much scepticism whether the bridge will be built, particularly from the conservative side of politics, as Aqulina concludes in his speech "... by stating emphatically once again that the Government will go ahead with the elimination of the level crossing and the construction of the overpass despite the claims by the Member for Hawkesbury" As at , the railway overpass is yet to be constructed with planning still underway.
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...
representing the electorate of Blacktown between 1981 and 1991 and the electorate of Riverstone
Electoral district of Riverstone
Riverstone is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales.It is a 94.30 km² urban and semi-rural electorate in Sydney's north west, taking in the suburbs of Stanhope Gardens, Rouse Hill, Quakers Hill and Riverstone...
between 1991 and 2011 for the Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...
.
Between 1986 and 1988 and again between 1995 and 2003, he served in a range of ministerial portfolios including Minister for Natural Resources and Minister for Youth and Community Services in the Wran
Neville Wran
Neville Kenneth Wran, AC, CNZM, QC was the Premier of New South Wales from 1976 until 1986. He was National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1980 to 1986 and Chairman of both the Lionel Murphy Foundation and the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation from 1986...
and Unsworth
Barrie Unsworth
Barrie John Unsworth was an Australian politician, representing the Australian Labor Party in the Parliament of New South Wales from 1978 to 1991. He served as the 36th Premier from July 1986 to March 1988.-Early years:...
Labor governments and Minister for Education and Training
New South Wales Department of Education and Training
The New South Wales Department of Education and Communities, a department of the Government of New South Wales, is responsibile for primary schools, secondary schools and Technical and Further Education colleges...
, Minister for Fair Trading, and Minister for Land and Water Conservation in the Carr
Bob Carr
Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...
Labor government.
From 2003 to 2007, he was Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly
Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly, New South Wales's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is Shelley Hancock, who was elected on 3 May 2011...
, and was Leader of the House
Leader of the House
There are several offices titled Leader of the House:* Leader of the House in the Australian Parliament* Leader of the House in the Parliament of Singapore* Leader of the House in the Parliament of Sri Lanka...
from 2007 until his retirement in 2011
New South Wales state election, 2011
Elections to the 55th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal-National coalition opposition led by Barry O'Farrell.New South Wales has...
.
Early years and background
In 1956, aged 12 years, Aquilina migrated from Malta to Australia with his parents and younger brother. Studying at the University of SydneyUniversity of Sydney
The University of Sydney is a public university located in Sydney, New South Wales. The main campus spreads across the suburbs of Camperdown and Darlington on the southwestern outskirts of the Sydney CBD. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and Oceania...
, Aquilina compelted a Bachelor of Arts
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
and a Diploma of Education
Diploma of Education
The Diploma of Education, often abbreviated to DipEd or GradDipEd, is a postgraduate qualification offered in many Commonwealth countries including Australia, Sri Lanka and the United Kingdom...
in 1971 and was a member of the University of Sydney Regiment between 1968 and 1970, although did not see active duty. He commenced teaching as a high school teacher, initially in a country location before returning to Sydney. Whilst at university in 1970, Aquilina joined the Blacktown Branch of the Australian Labor Party. In 1974, he became an Australian citizen.
In 1977, he was elected as an alderman
Councillor
A councillor or councilor is a member of a local government council, such as a city council.Often in the United States, the title is councilman or councilwoman.-United Kingdom:...
to Blacktown City Council representing the Labor Party up until 1983; and went on to become Mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of the Council between 1977 and 1981. In 1979, he was appointed a member of the Ethnic Affairs Commission of New South Wales (now the Community Relations Commission of New South Wales) and at various times has held positions with the State Records Authority (2003–2006); Sydney Grammar School
Sydney Grammar School
Sydney Grammar School is an independent, non-denominational, selective, day school for boys, located in Darlinghurst, Edgecliff and St Ives, all suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
Board of Trustees; appointed a Fellow of the Senate
Senate
A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a legislature or parliament. There have been many such bodies in history, since senate means the assembly of the eldest and wiser members of the society and ruling class...
of the University of Sydney; an Honorary Associate of the University of Sydney Graduate School of Government; a member of the Advisory Board of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music
Sydney Conservatorium of Music
The Sydney Conservatorium of Music is one of the oldest and most prestigious music schools in Australia...
; a Life Member of the Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children
Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children
The Royal Institute for Deaf and Blind Children in Sydney provides a range of educational services for students with vision and/or hearing impairment, including specialist schools for signing deaf students, oral deaf students, and students with sensory and intellectual disabilities.RIDBC offers...
and a member of Blacktown City Lions Club.
Aquilina married Anne Michelle Sutcliffe in 1977, and together they had two sons. Following the death of Anne Sutcliffe in 2003, he remarried Ann Elizabeth Moran in 2006.
New South Wales political career
Elected as Member for Blacktown in 1981New South Wales state election, 1981
Elections were held in the state of New South Wales, Australia, on Saturday 19 September 1981. The result was a second "Wranslide": a landslide victory for the Australian Labor Party under Neville Wran, in which the government increased its already sizeable majority.The Liberals suffered the double...
, Aquilina held a number of junior portfolios including Chair of various committees before being appointed Minister for Natural Resources in the Wran government in 1986. In that same year, following the retirement of Wran and Unsworth becoming Premier, Aquilina was appointed Minister for Youth and Community Services and Assistant Minister for Ethnic Affairs. He held these portfolios up until the 1988 state election
New South Wales state election, 1988
Elections to the 49th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 19 March 1988. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
when Labor lost government to the Greiner
Nick Greiner
Nicholas "Nick" Frank Hugo Greiner AC, is an Australian businessman and former politician. He was the 37th Premier New South Wales from 1988 to 1992. He was Leader of the New South Wales Division of the Liberal Party from 1983 to 1992 and Leader of the Opposition from 1983 to 1988. He is married...
-Murray Liberal
Liberal Party of Australia
The Liberal Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Founded a year after the 1943 federal election to replace the United Australia Party, the centre-right Liberal Party typically competes with the centre-left Australian Labor Party for political office...
-National
National Party of Australia
The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...
coalition.
In opposition, Aquilina held the shadow portfolios of Education and Training, Youth and Ethnic Affairs.
In 1990, following an electoral redistribution
Redistribution (election)
Redistribution , called redistricting in the United States, is the process of changing of political borders. This is a form of boundary delimitation that changes electoral district boundaries, usually in response to periodic census results that cause malportionment of representation...
, a new electorate of Mount Druitt
Electoral district of Mount Druitt
Mount Druitt is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is a 89.01 km² urban electorate in Sydney's outer west, taking in the suburbs of Mount Druitt, Marsden Park, and Arndell Park. There were 45,408 voters enrolled in time for the 2003...
was created. Richard Amery
Richard Amery
Richard Sanderson Amery MP , an Australian politician, is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Mount Druitt for the Australian Labor Party since 1991...
moved to contest this new safe Labor seat. Aquilina decided to contest Amery's old seat of Riverstone; and Pam Allan
Pam Allan
Pamela Diane Allan is an Australian politician. She was a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 2007....
contest Aquilina's old seat of Blacktown. Aquilina was successful at the 1991 state election
New South Wales state election, 1991
Elections to the 50th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 25 May 1991. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
and has subsequently defended the seat at the 1995
New South Wales state election, 1995
Elections to the 51st Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 25 March 1995. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election. The minority Liberal Party of Australia-led Coalition government of Premier John Fahey was defeated by...
, 1999
New South Wales state election, 1999
Elections to the 52nd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 27 March 1999. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
, 2003
New South Wales state election, 2003
Elections to the 53rd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 22 March 2003. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...
and 2007 elections.
Following the election of the Carr Labor government in 1995, Aquilina was appointed Minister for Education and Training (a position he held for over six years) and also Minister Assisting the Premier on Youth Affairs (over four years). In 2001, he was appointed Minister for Land and Water Conservation and Minister for Fair Trading. Aquilina held both these position until the retirement of John Murray
John Murray (New South Wales politician)
John Henry Murray is an Australian politician. He was an Australian Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1982 to 2003, representing the electorate of Drummoyne...
, when he assumed the position of Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer of the Legislative Assembly, New South Wales's lower chamber of Parliament. The current Speaker is Shelley Hancock, who was elected on 3 May 2011...
in 2003.
After the 2007 state election, there was considerable political pressure for the appointment of an independent Speaker. Aquilina stood aside in favour of independent Member for Northern Tablelands
Electoral district of Northern Tablelands
Northern Tablelands is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is currently represented by independent member Richard Torbay....
Richard Torbay
Richard Torbay
George Richard Torbay MP , an Australian politician, is an independent member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Northern Tablelands since 1999. Torbay was the 30th Speaker of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, serving from 2007 until 2011, and was the first independent...
.
In 2007, he became Leader of the House
Leader of the House
There are several offices titled Leader of the House:* Leader of the House in the Australian Parliament* Leader of the House in the Parliament of Singapore* Leader of the House in the Parliament of Sri Lanka...
. On 25 October 2010, Aquilina announced that he would not be contesting the next state election
New South Wales state election, 2011
Elections to the 55th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal-National coalition opposition led by Barry O'Farrell.New South Wales has...
.
Controversy
In the 1982 John Aquilina wrote in the Daily MirrorThe Daily Mirror (Australia)
The Daily Mirror was an afternoon paper established by Ezra Norton in Sydney, Australia in 1941, gaining a licence from the Minister for Trade and Customs, Eric Harrison, despite wartime paper rationing. In October 1958, Norton and his partners sold his newspapers to the Fairfax group, which...
that it was his electorate's and his personal view that homosexuality should not be decriminalised in New South Wales and he would vote against it in any case. Gay rights activists Garry Wotherspoon and fabian Lo Schiavo confronted him with a petition with 132 against his stance which was shown on ABC's Four Corners program. He has voted against any legislation in favour of homosexual rights since.
In March 2010, it was reported that Aquilina's 25–year old son, Jeremy, was charged with five counts of sexual assault and one count of indecency on a 22–year old woman in a park in St Clair
St Clair, New South Wales
St Clair is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. St Clair is located 49 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Penrith and is part of the Greater Western Sydney region...
in western Sydney.
On 10 April 2001 John Aquilina raised the issue in parliament of a foiled plot by a high school student to replicate the Columbine High School Massacre
Columbine High School massacre
The Columbine High School massacre occurred on Tuesday, April 20, 1999, at Columbine High School in Columbine, an unincorporated area of Jefferson County, Colorado, United States, near Denver and Littleton. Two senior students, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, embarked on a massacre, killing 12...
. He alleged that the student's diary contained plans to kill fellow students and teachers. His staff embellished the story, telling reporters the student had access to a gun. On this, the Police Commissioner contradicted Aquilina's version of events, and the boy's family subsequently threatened the sue the Government.
Aquilina was later the subject of an Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) investigation that explored possible false statements to the media and political interference in police procedures. The investigation concluded in August 2001 and found no evidence of corrupt conduct. However, Aquilina relinquished the Education and Training portfolio in late 2001 and was shifted to the Ministries of Land and Water Conservation, and Fair Trading.
Railway overpass
Riverstone is one of the few suburbs left in the Sydney region with a level crossing with old-fashioned boom gates. On the 28 February 2008, Aquilina made a private members statement, reaffirming the Labor Party's commitment to build a railbridge overpass at the current level crossing at Garfield Road East, RiverstoneRiverstone, New South Wales
Riverstone is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Riverstone is located 48 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Blacktown. Riverstone is part of the Greater Western Sydney region...
. There has been much scepticism whether the bridge will be built, particularly from the conservative side of politics, as Aqulina concludes in his speech "... by stating emphatically once again that the Government will go ahead with the elimination of the level crossing and the construction of the overpass despite the claims by the Member for Hawkesbury" As at , the railway overpass is yet to be constructed with planning still underway.