Phillip John Costa (born 24 July 1949) is an Australian politician. He was a Labor Party 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 ...

from 2007 until 2011, representing the electorate of

Wollondilly Wollondilly Shire is a periurban local government area adjacent to the south-western fringe of Sydney, parts of which fall into the Macarthur, Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands regions in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wollondil ...

. He served as Minister for Water and Minister for Corrective Services.

Early life

Costa was born on 24 July 1949 at

Guildford, New South Wales Guildford is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Guildford is located 20 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Cumberland City Council. Guildford is part of the Weste ...

. Prior to his election he was a primary school teacher and principal of public schools in the Oaks and

Buxton Buxton is a spa town in the Borough of High Peak, Derbyshire, England. It is England's highest market town, sited at some above sea level.

. He was named the Citizen of the Year in

Wollondilly Shire Wollondilly Shire is a periurban local government area adjacent to the south-western fringe of 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 Aus ...

in 1984.

Politics

Costa was first elected to

Council in 1985; he continued serving on the Council until 2008. He served as Deputy Mayor from 1999 to 2005 before being elected as Mayor from 2006 to 2007, immediately prior to the 2007 state election. Costa initially planned to stand as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate in the 2007 state election but was persuaded by

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 ...

Morris Iemma Morris Iemma (; born 21 July 1961) is a former Australian politician who was the 40th Premier of New South Wales. He served from 3 August 2005 to 5 September 2008. From Sydney, Iemma attended the University of Sydney and the University of Techno ...

to stand instead for the Labor Party. He was elected to the Legislative Assembly on 24 March 2007 with 53% of the vote. From June 2007 to September 2008, he was a member of the State Parliament's Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics and Chair of the Standing Committee on Broadband in Rural and Regional Communities. From 8 September 2008 to 4 December 2009, he was appointed Minister for Water, Minister for Rural Affairs and Minister for Regional Development in the

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 ...

of incoming Premier

Nathan Rees Nathan Rees () (born 12 February 1968) is a former Australian politician who served as the 41st Premier of New South Wales and parliamentary leader of the New South Wales division of the Labor Party from September 2008 to December 2009. Rees wa ...

. In 2011 he lost Wollondilly to Liberal

Jai Rowell Jai Travers Rowell (born 2 January 1977), an Australian former politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing Wollondilly for the Liberal Party from 2011 to 2018. In April 2014 Rowell was appointed as Minister ...

as part of an anti-Labor landslide in that year. Later moving to the NSW North Coast, Costa was the unsuccessful Labor candidate for the Federal seat of Lyne in the 2019 election.

Relationship with Wollondilly Council

Costa was elected Mayor of Wollondilly in 2007, standing as an independent candidate. His decision to join the Labor Party was opposed by other councillors who called on him to resign the mayoralty. Council subsequently passed a motion limiting the mayor's powers. Numerous Wollondilly councillors also expressed opposition to Costa's 2008 support for a new commuter car park at Macarthur Railway Station, and for a 2009 proposal for an AGL power station near

Appin Appin ( gd, An Apainn) is a coastal district of the Scottish West Highlands bounded to the west by Loch Linnhe, to the south by Loch Creran, to the east by the districts of Benderloch and Lorne, and to the north by Loch Leven. It lies northe ...

Personal life

Costa is married with two adult children. He is not related to Parliamentary colleague and former Treasurer Michael Costa.

References

External links

Inaugural speech in NSW Parliament
, - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Costa, Phil 1949 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Australian headmasters Deputy mayors of places in Australia Mayors of places in New South Wales Wollondilly Shire 21st-century Australian politicians