Santo Santoro (born 27 April 1956) is a former Australian politician and a former deputy leader of the Liberal Party in Queensland. He was a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

from 1989 to 2001; and a member of the

Australian Senate The Senate is the upper house of the Bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the lower house being the House of Representatives (Australia), House of Representatives. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Chapter ...

from 2002 to 2007, representing the state of

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. He resigned from

John Howard John Winston Howard (born 26 July 1939) is an Australian former politician who served as the 25th prime minister of Australia from 1996 to 2007, holding office as leader of the Liberal Party. His eleven-year tenure as prime minister is the s ...

's ministry and from the Senate in the wake of a number of breaches of the Ministerial Code of Conduct and of the Register of Senators' Interests. He now works as a lobbyist.

Early life

Born in

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, Italy in 1956, Santoro emigrated to Australia with his family at the age of 5. He was educated at

Marist College Rosalie , motto_translation = Whatever you do, do wholeheartedly and well , established = 1929 , closed = 2008 , type = Independent, Roman Catholic, single-sex, secondary , grades = 8–12 , colors = Cerise and blue , city = Paddington, Brisb ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

before attending 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 ...

, where he was awarded the degrees of Bachelor of Arts and

Bachelor of Economics The Bachelor of Economics (BEc or BEcon), or the "Bachelor of Applied Economics", is a bachelor's degree awarded by many universities and colleges for completion of an undergraduate program in economics, econometrics, or applied economics; the ...

with honours.

Queensland state politics

Santoro was elected to the

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

member for

Merthyr Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

from 13 May 1989 until 19 September 1992. He was then elected as member for

Clayfield Clayfield is a suburb in the City of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. In the , Clayfield had a population of 10,555 people. Geography Clayfield is by road from the Brisbane GPO. Clayfield is bordered to the north by Nundah, to the east by ...

from 19 September 1992 until he was defeated on 17 February 2001 by

Liddy Clark Elizabeth Anne Clark (born 6 November 1953 in Adelaide, South Australia), is an Australian former politician with the Labor Party in the Queensland Legislature who held the seat for Clayfield and also an actress of television and film, director ...

. From 26 February 1996 to 26 June 1998, he was the State Minister for Training and Industrial Relations. He was also the deputy leader of the State Liberal Party from 1992 to 1995.

Australian Senate

On 29 October 2002, Santoro was selected by the

Queensland Parliament The Parliament of Queensland is the legislature of Queensland, Australia. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the Monarch of Australia and the Legislative Assembly. It has been the only unicameral s ...

to replace

Liberal Party of Australia The Liberal Party of Australia is a centre-right political party in Australia, one of the two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-left Australian Labor Party. It was founded in 1944 as the successor to the United Au ...

Senator John Herron, who had resigned from the Senate to become Australia's Ambassador to Ireland. As a senator, Santoro was a strident critic of the

Australian Broadcasting Corporation The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) is the national broadcaster of Australia. It is principally funded by direct grants from the Australian Government and is administered by a government-appointed board. The ABC is a publicly-own ...

, using parliamentary privilege in 2003 to accuse the national broadcaster of "sloppy and shoddy" journalism, and disloyalty to Australian soldiers serving in

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, after an internal memo to ABC news staff instructed them to refrain from referring to soldiers as "our troops". Santoro was sworn in as Federal Minister for Ageing in

's government on 27 January 2006.

Share trading scandal and resignation

On 14 March 2007, Senator Santoro disclosed that he had breached the government's ministerial code of conduct by holding shares in CBio, a biotechnology company related to his portfolio. Santoro claimed he had received the shares in January 2006, had failed to declare or divest them when he became Minister for Ageing, until he sold them in January 2007 after realising three months earlier that there might be a conflict of interest. Initially Prime Minister

and other government ministers defended the breach on the grounds that it was inadvertent. However, further controversy arose over the fate of the profits derived from the sale of the shares in question. Santoro claimed he had donated the proceeds of the sale to a "charity", the Family Council of Queensland. Although this organization is registered as a non-profit entity, it is not registered as a charity. It was subsequently found during an audit of his finances that Santoro had failed to declare 72 other share trades, and he resigned from the ministry on 16 March 2007 and was replaced as Minister for Ageing by

Christopher Pyne Christopher Maurice Pyne (born 13 August 1967) is a retired Australian politician. As a member of the Liberal Party, he held several ministerial positions in the Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments, and served as a member of p ...

. The failures to declare his share trading were in breach of

's requirement that Senators' interests be registered, viz: "Any alteration to a senator’s registrable interests, or those of the senator’s spouse or partner, or dependent children, must be notified to the registrar within 35 days of the change occurring." On 20 March, Santoro announced he would resign from the Senate, and federal politics altogether. This meant that he had served as a Commonwealth Minister without ever facing election. He was replaced in the Senate by Sue Boyce.

Later career

Santo Santoro was federal Liberal Party vice-president until resigning in 2014 when he was forced to choose between that and being a paid lobbyist. He owns Santo Santoro Consulting and is registered as a lobbyist on both the Queensland and federal registers.

References

External links

Senator The Honourable Santo Santoro's Parliamentary Webpage (archived)Senator Santoro's website (archived)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Santoro, Santo 1956 births Living people Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Queensland Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian Senate Members of the Australian Senate for Queensland Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Australian people of Sicilian descent 21st-century Australian politicians