Carlo Camillo Lazzarini (; 24 April 1880 – 26 November 1952), also known as Charlie Lazzarini, was an Australian politician affiliated with the Labor Party. He was elected as a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Assembly The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...

, where he served for 35 years.

Early years

The son of

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

immigrant Piedro (Peter) Lazzarini and his wife Hannah (Annie) Stubbs, Lazzarini was born at

Wombat Wombats are short-legged, muscular quadrupedal marsupials that are native to Australia. They are about in length with small, stubby tails and weigh between . All three of the extant species are members of the family Vombatidae. They are adap ...

, near

Young Young may refer to: * Offspring, the product of reproduction of a new organism produced by one or more parents * Youth, the time of life when one is young, often meaning the time between childhood and adulthood Music * The Young, an American roc ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

. He was educated at the Young convent school and Young Superior Public School, before becoming a tailor's apprentice. Lazzarini became active in the union movement and the Labor Party, joining the Young Labor League in 1899. He became secretary and president of the league and was campaign secretary for

Chris Watson John Christian Watson (born Johan Cristian Tanck; 9 April 186718 November 1941) was an Australian politician who served as the third prime minister of Australia, in office from 27 April to 18 August 1904. He served as the inaugural federal lead ...

in the 1898 New South Wales election and the first federal election in 1901. He was also strongly involved in the predominantly

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

community, acting as district secretary of the

Hibernian Australasian Catholic Benefit Society The Hibernian Australian Catholic Benefit Society (HACBS) was a church-based support network. It was founded in 1868 by a group of Irish immigrants, including Mark Young. In 1857 Young arrived in the colony of Victoria from Ireland. He moved to Ba ...

and attending the founding meeting of the Irish National Association. After moving to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Lazzarini was secretary and president of the Federated Clothing Trades' Union from 1912 to 1917. A member of the moderates faction, he was strongly against

conscription Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to antiquity and it continues in some countries to the present day un ...

in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, and in 1916 became a founding member of the Industrial Vigilance Committee, which was responsible later that year for the expulsion from the Labor Party of conscription advocates such as prime minister

Billy Hughes William Morris Hughes (25 September 1862 – 28 October 1952) was an Australian politician who served as the seventh prime minister of Australia, in office from 1915 to 1923. He is best known for leading the country during World War I, but ...

and premier

William Holman William Arthur Holman (4 August 1871 – 5 June 1934) was an Australian politician who served as Premier of New South Wales from 1913 to 1920. He came to office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (New South Wales Branch), Labor Party, ...

. On this committee until 1919, he was also a member of the party central executive in 1916 and 1917, and was vice-president of the No Imperial Federation League in 1917.

New South Wales Parliament

At the 1917 state election, Lazzarini was elected as member for

Marrickville Marrickville is a suburb in the Inner West of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Marrickville is located south-west of the Sydney central business district and is the largest suburb in the Inner West Council local gove ...

, defeating Thomas Crawford, who had left the Labor Party. He was the first member of the

New South Wales parliament The Parliament of New South Wales is a bicameral legislature in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), consisting of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly (lower house) and the New South Wales Legislative Council (upper house). Each ...

with an Italian name, and two years later his brother

Bert Lazzarini Hubert Peter Lazzarini (8 September 1884 – 1 October 1952) was an Australian politician. He was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and represented the Division of Werriwa in the House of Representatives for over 30 years (1919–1931 ...

became the first member of the

federal parliament The Parliament of Australia (officially the Federal Parliament, also called the Commonwealth Parliament) is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It consists of three elements: the monarch (represented by the governor-gen ...

with an Italian name when he won the seat of

Werriwa The Division of Werriwa is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The name Werriwa derives from a local Aboriginal name for Lake George, which was located in the division when it was established in 1900. The division ...

. In the same year, on 26 April 1919, Carlo married Myra Hurley at St Brigid's church in

. They had one son. In 1920, the Legislative Assembly was elected from multi-member districts, and Lazzarini was elected as one of the members for Western Suburbs. He was Labor Party whip in 1920–21, and minister for state industrial enterprises in 1921–22. From 1922 until 1925 he was a member of the Catholic-reformist group and opposed union extremists in favour of majority parliamentary opinion. In 1923, he also served as vice president of the Australian Industrial Christian Fellowship Council. Appointed to Jack Lang's first

cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

as chief secretary in 1925, Lazzarini was one of the Labor parliamentarians who clashed with Lang over proposed regulations in 1926. He was subsequently dropped from the cabinet in May 1927, after also serving two months as acting secretary for mines. The Lang government lost power at the 1927 election, however Lazzarini was re-elected by the reinstated seat of Marrickville. Labor regained government in 1930, only to lose it after controversies of 1932, culminating in the

governor A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political ...

withdrawing Lang's commission. Lazzarini maintained his opposition to Lang and his dictatorial style, one of the few in the New South Wales

caucus A caucus is a meeting of supporters or members of a specific political party or movement. The exact definition varies between different countries and political cultures. The term originated in the United States, where it can refer to a meeting ...

to openly do so. As a result, he and others were expelled from the party in August 1936, only to be readmitted to the federal unity conference in 1937. Lazzarini joined the

Industrial Labor Party The Industrial Labor Party or Heffron Labor Party was a short-lived but influential political party active in New South Wales between 1936 and 1939. It was a splinter group of the Labor Party (ALP) and was formed by Bob Heffron after he and Car ...

in 1938, and continued to apply pressure to Lang, who was finally ousted in August 1939. Lazzarini served as an assistant minister in the next Labor government from 1941 until 1944. He was still member for Marrickville, in his 13th term as a member of parliament, when he died of heart disease in

Lewisham Lewisham () is an area of southeast London, England, south of Charing Cross. It is the principal area of the London Borough of Lewisham, and was within the Historic counties of England, historic county of Kent until 1889. It is identified i ...

in 1952. Carlo's great-great-grandniece is

Courtney Houssos Courtney Houssos is an Australian politician. She has been a Labor member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since the 2015 state election. She is currently Minister for Finance and Natural Resources in the Minns government. Houssos w ...

who is a member of the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in th ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lazzarini, Carlo Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1880 births 1952 deaths People from Young, New South Wales Australian politicians of Italian descent Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 20th-century Australian politicians Australian trade unionists Burials at Rookwood Cemetery