John Pasquarelli (born 1937) is an Australian former politician. He served as a member of the

House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea The House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea was the legislature of the territory of Papua and New Guinea from 1964 to 1972. Before 1964, the Legislative Council of Papua and New Guinea sat from 1951 to 1964 under the Papua and New Guinea Act 19 ...

from 1964 to 1968, and as an advisor to One Nation leader

Pauline Hanson Pauline Lee Hanson (''née'' Seccombe, formerly Zagorski; born 27 May 1954) is an Australian politician who is the founder and leader of One Nation, a right-wing populist political party. Hanson has represented Queensland in the Australian ...

Biography

Born in 1937, Pasquarelli was educated at

Ballarat Grammar School , motto_translation = Honour Follows Labour , streetaddress = 201 Forest Street, , city = Wendouree , state = Victoria , postcode = 3355 , country = Au ...

before studying law at the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

.Depressed Sepik too much for him
''Pacific Islands Monthly'', June 1968, p55 He worked in the opal fields at

Coober Pedy Coober Pedy () is a town in northern South Australia, north of Adelaide on the Stuart Highway. The town is sometimes referred to as the "opal capital of the world" because of the quantity of precious opals that are mined there. Coober Pedy is ...

for a year, before becoming a cadet patrol officer in the

Territory of Papua and New Guinea The Territory of Papua and New Guinea, officially the Administrative Union of the Territory of Papua and the Territory of New Guinea, was established by an administrative union between the Australian-administered territories of Papua and New G ...

in 1961. However, in 1962 he resigned in order to work as a crocodile marksman and set up an artefacts business. He subsequently donated numerous items to the Papua New Guinea Museum. A right-wing conservative and supporter of Rhodesian Prime Minister

Ian Smith Ian Douglas Smith (8 April 1919 – 20 November 2007) was a Rhodesian politician, farmer, and fighter pilot who served as Prime Minister of Rhodesia (known as Southern Rhodesia until October 1964 and now known as Zimbabwe) from 1964 to ...

, Pasquarelli successfully contested the 1964 elections to the new House of Assembly, the first elections held in the territory under universal suffrage, becoming MHA for the Angoram constituency. He did not stand for re-election in 1968 after becoming disillusions by the lack of development in

Sepik The Sepik () is the longest river on the island of New Guinea, and the second largest in Oceania by discharge volume after the Fly River. The majority of the river flows through the Papua New Guinea (PNG) provinces of Sandaun (formerly West Se ...

, and returned to Australia later the same year. Back in Australia, Pasquarelli unsuccessfully contested the Jagajaga electorate as the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

candidate in the 1987 federal elections, losing to the incumbent Labor MP

Peter Staples Peter Staples (born 15 October 1947 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian former politician for the Australian Labor Party. He was first elected to Parliament in 1983 as the Member for Diamond Valley. When Diamond Valley was abolished in 19 ...

. He went to

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

in 1996 to assist anti-immigration former Labor MP Graeme Campbell in his re-election campaign as an independent; after

the election ''The Election'' () is a political drama series produced by Hong Kong Television Network (HKTV). With a budget of HK$15 million, filming started in July 2014 and wrapped up on 28 October 2014. Popularly voted to be the inaugural drama of ...

, he became an advisor to the newly elected MP

, in which capacity he reportedly wrote her maiden speech. He was sacked by Hanson in December 1996, which he blamed on David Oldfield. Pasquarelli subsequently became a prominent commentator on Hanson and her One Nation party; though he was vehemently critical of Oldfield and other One Nation figures, he remained supportive of Hanson personally. He published a book about his experience with Hanson, ''The Pauline Hanson Story: By the Man Who Knows'' in 1998. Pasquarelli ran as an independent in

Bendigo Bendigo ( ) is a city in Victoria, Australia, located in the Bendigo Valley near the geographical centre of the state and approximately north-west of Melbourne, the state capital. As of 2019, Bendigo had an urban population of 100,991, makin ...

in the

2001 elections The following elections occurred in the year 2001. Africa * 2001 Beninese presidential election * 2001 Cape Verdean parliamentary election * 2001 Cape Verdean presidential election * 2001 Chadian presidential election * 2001 Gabonese legislat ...

, but finished eighth out of nine candidates with only 1,073 votes. In 2017, he worked for Liberal National Party MP

George Christensen George Robert Christensen (born 30 June 1978) is a former Australian politician and former journalist who was a member of the Australian House of Representatives from 2010 to 2022, as the member of parliament (MP) for the division of Dawson. He ...

as an advisor.

References

1937 births Living people Australian people of Italian descent People educated at Ballarat Grammar School University of Queensland alumni Members of the House of Assembly of Papua and New Guinea Liberal Party of Australia politicians {{PapuaNewGuinea-bio-stub

Biography

See also

References