John Joseph Della Bosca (born 18 July 1956) is an Australian former politician, representing the Labor Party in 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 ...

. From 1999 to 2009, Della Bosca served a range of ministerial portfolios, including Minister for Health and Minister for the Central Coast in the

NSW State Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the States and territories of Australia, Australian state democratic administrative authority of New South Wales. It is currently held by a coalition of the Liberal Party o ...

Early life and career

Della Bosca attended school at

De La Salle College, Cronulla , motto_translation = With God As Leader , established = , type = Independent comprehensive co-educational secondary day school , denomination = Roman Catholic , oversight = Catholic Education Office, Archdiocese of Sydney , rel ...

. Influenced by a visit to his school by

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the NSW Branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He later en ...

, Della Bosca joined the ALP in January 1973. He rose through his branch and electorate council to take a place on the party's National Executive. Between 1976 and his election to parliament in 1999, Della Bosca worked for the labour movement full-time in various capacities, first as a researcher for Senator Kerry Sibraa. In 1979, he took on the role of National Research Officer for the

Australian Transport Officers' Federation The Australian Transport Officers' Federation (ATOF) was an Australian trade union representing salaried officers in the transport sector, particularly in the rail and airline industries. It existed from 1924 until 1991, and was previously known a ...

, becoming the union's state organiser in 1981. In 1983, Della Bosca became State Organiser for the ALP. In 1985, he was promoted to Assistant Secretary and in 1990 he attained the position of general secretary, a post he was to hold for nine years.

Parliamentary career

In 1999, Della Bosca made his much-anticipated move into parliamentary politics as a candidate for the Legislative Council. Within a month of his election,

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Bob Carr appointed him Special Minister of State. In 2000, he was set to become the ALP's next national president, but was forced to withdraw after he criticised then ALP leader Kim Beazley's GST rollback policy in an interview in the news magazine, '' The Bulletin''. Della Bosca's ministerial responsibilities were expanded following the 2003 election to include Commerce, Finance, Industrial Relations, Ageing and Disability Services. He was also appointed Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council. Following the 2007 election he was appointed Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for the Central Coast. On 4 September 2007 Della Bosca stated "the NSW government strives to keep (

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE (), is the common name in English-speaking countries in Oceania for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational cours ...

) fees as low as possible". Despite this, he announced that course fees would be increasing by 6.5 per cent to 9 per cent. In May 2008, Della Bosca revealed his probationary driver's licence had been revoked for a period of six months following multiple speeding offences. At the time of the ban Della Bosca was in charge of the Motor Accidents Authority. Later that month, he caused further controversy by swearing at a media photographer who photographed him cycling to work. On 13 June 2008, Della Bosca was stood down from his position as Minister for Education and Training while police investigated an alleged altercation between Della Bosca and his wife

Belinda Neal Belinda Jane Neal (born 10 January 1963) is a former Australian federal politician. She was a Member of the House of Representatives representing the electorate of Robertson between 2007 and 2010; and representing the state of New South Wales in ...

, who was the Labor Member for

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Places ...

, and staff at Iguana Joe's waterfront bar and nightclub at

Gosford Gosford is the city and administrative centre of the Central Coast Council local government area in the heart of the Central Coast region, about north of Sydney and about south of Newcastle. The city centre is situated at the northern extre ...

. The nightclub issued an apology to Della Bosca, at least parts of which were reported to have been written by Della Bosca himself. The NSW

Director of Public Prosecutions The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) is the office or official charged with the prosecution of criminal offences in several criminal jurisdictions around the world. The title is used mainly in jurisdictions that are or have been members o ...

subsequently found that "there is insufficient evidence to support any criminal charge against NSW law". On his return to the ministry, Della Bosca was appointed Minister for Health and Minister for the Central Coast, with his former Education portfolio passing to Verity Firth. On 31 August 2009, Della Bosca resigned from his ministries and as Government leader in the Legislative Council, following the public revelation of a 6-month sexual affair. On 29 July 2010, Della Bosca announced that he was resigning from the

to become a campaign director for the National Disability and Carers Alliance (now National Disability Services), and assist in the establishment of a

national disability insurance scheme The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a scheme of the Australian Government that funds costs associated with disability. The scheme was legislated in 2013 and went into full operation in 2020. The scheme is administered by the Na ...

References

, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Della Bosca, John 1956 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Australian politicians of Italian descent Spouses of Australian politicians Members of the Order of Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians Australian Labor Party officials People educated at De La Salle College, Cronulla