Anthony Sylvester Luchetti, AM (27 May 1904 – 11 July 1984) was a long serving

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n federal member of parliament. Born 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 ...

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 ...

parentage in Lowther, New South Wales, Luchetti was educated in the Catholic school system before working in jobs as varied as miner and journalist. Involved in the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...

(ALP) from an early age, Luchetti was elected to the Lithgow City Council and served on the New South Wales ALP Executive from 1929 to 1931. Luchetti developed a close friendship with the local federal Member of Parliament, the future

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Ben Chifley Joseph Benedict Chifley (; 22 September 1885 – 13 June 1951) was an Australian politician who served as the 16th prime minister of Australia from 1945 to 1949. He held office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1945, follow ...

, and served as Chifley's campaign manager for the electoral

Division of Macquarie The Division of Macquarie is an Australian electoral division in the state of New South Wales. The division was created in 1900 and was one of the original 65 divisions contested at the first federal election. It is named for Lachlan Macqua ...

for two elections. However, following a split in the New South Wales Labor ranks led by New South Wales Premier Jack Lang, Luchetti, a Lang supporter, stood against Chifley. The Labor vote split between the two candidates, enabling the opposition

United Australia Party The United Australia Party (UAP) was an Australian political party that was founded in 1931 and dissolved in 1945. The party won four federal elections in that time, usually governing in coalition with the Country Party. It provided two prim ...

candidate, John Lawson, to win the seat. The two would remain on less than cordial terms for the rest of Chifley's life. Luchetti remained active in the Labor movement, however, and following the death of Chifley in 1951, Luchetti won Labor pre-selection for the Macquarie electorate and the subsequent by-election and served as the member for Macquarie until his retirement in 1975.

References

* Day, D. (2001) ''Chifley'', Harper Collins, .

External links

* A 1959 image of Luchetti can be foun
here
{{DEFAULTSORT:Luchetti, Tony 1904 births 1984 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Lang Labor politicians Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Macquarie Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Order of Australia Australian miners 20th-century Australian politicians Australian people of Italian descent Australian people of Irish descent