Concetto Antonio Sciacca (13 June 1947 – 21 June 2017) was an Australian politician of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

and member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

from July 1987 to March 1996 and again from October 1998 to October 2004, representing the Division of Bowman,

Queensland Queensland ( , commonly abbreviated as Qld) is a States and territories of Australia, state in northeastern Australia, and is the second-largest and third-most populous state in Australia. It is bordered by the Northern Territory, South Austr ...

Early life

Sciacca was born on 13 June 1947 in the village of

Piedimonte Etneo Piedimonte Etneo ( Sicilian: ''Piemunti'') is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Catania in the Italian region Sicily, located about east of Palermo and about northeast of Catania. Piedimonte Etneo borders the following m ...

Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...

, Italy. He migrated to Australia with his family in 1951 and settled in Queensland, where his father worked as a canecutter. After completion of his law studies, he became a solicitor in 1970 starting his law practice straight out of law school. He founded the group Sciaccas Lawyers which was taken over by the legal group of Shine Lawyers in 2014.

Political career and recognition

Sciacca joined the ALP at the age of 17 and was state president of Young Labor in 1972. He first stood for parliament at the 1969 Queensland state election at the age of 21. He made three unsuccessful bids for the state seat of Redlands beginning in 1977, coming closest at the 1985 Redlands state by-election. Sciacca successfully contested the 1987 Australian federal election and won the Division of Bowman. He consecutively won the next two elections of

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

and

1993 The United Nations General Assembly, General Assembly of the United Nations designated 1993 as: * International Year for the World's Indigenous People The year 1993 in the Kwajalein Atoll in the Marshall Islands had only 364 days, since its ...

. He was Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Social Security from 1990 to 1994, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Arts and Administrative Services 1993–94, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Administrative Services 1994,

Minister for Veterans' Affairs The Minister for Veterans' Affairs is an Australian Government position. In the Government of Australia, the minister oversees income support, compensation, care and commemoration programs for more than 400,000 veterans and their widows, widowe ...

1994–96 and Minister Assisting the Treasurer for Superannuation 1995–96. He thus served in the Fourth Hawke Ministry, the First Keating Ministry, and the Second Keating Ministry. Sciacca was defeated by

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. For example, while the political systems ...

candidate Andrea West in the 1996 election. After his re-election in 1998, Sciacca was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry 1998–2001. After a redistribution made Bowman notionally Liberal, Sciacca contested the new Division of Bonner at the 2004 election, but was narrowly defeated by Liberal candidate Ross Vasta. In 1992, Sciacca's son Sam died of Ewing's sarcoma at the age of 19. Thereafter he started the Sam Sciacca Travelling Fellowship through which health experts would visit Australia and present lectures on the latest developments in research and technology. In 2006, Sciacca was appointed an Officer of the

Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AO) for "service to ex-service personnel, cancer research institutions and service to the Australian parliament". He dedicated the award to his deceased son.

Health and death

Sciacca was suffering from cancer and in February 2015 was reported to have been cleared of it after an operation performed in 2014. In April 2015 he was operated on by ophthalmologist Bill Glasson for

cataract A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens (anatomy), lens of the eye that leads to a visual impairment, decrease in vision of the eye. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colours, blurry or ...

s in both his eyes. Sciacca died on 21 June 2017, aged 70, after prolonged suffering from cancer at St Vincent's Private Hospital in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

. He had frequently been admitted to the hospital in the last six months for his deteriorating health.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sciacca, Con 1947 births 2017 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Labor Right politicians Officers of the Order of Australia Italian emigrants to Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Bowman Deaths from cancer in Queensland People from Redland City Australian MPs 1987–1990 Australian MPs 1990–1993 Australian MPs 1993–1996 Australian MPs 1998–2001 Australian MPs 2001–2004