John Joseph Della Bosca (born 18 July 1956) is an Australian former politician, representing the Labor Party in the

New South Wales Legislative Council The New South Wales Legislative Council, often referred to as the upper house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, parliament of the Australian state of New South Wales. Along with the New South Wales Legislative As ...

. From 1999 to 2009, Della Bosca served a range of ministerial portfolios, including Minister for Health and Minister for the Central Coast in the

NSW State Government The Government of New South Wales, also known as the NSW Government, is the executive state government of New South Wales, Australia. The government comprises 11 portfolios, led by a ministerial department and supported by several agencies. Th ...

Early life and career

Della Bosca attended school at

De La Salle College, Cronulla St Aloysius College is an independent Roman Catholic comprehensive co-educational secondary day school, located in Cronulla a southern suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. History In 1936, the De La Salle Brothers purchased a bushl ...

. Influenced by a visit to his school by

Bob Carr Robert John Carr (born 28 September 1947) is an Australian retired politician and journalist who served as the 39th Premier of New South Wales from 1995 to 2005, as the leader of the New South Wales Labor Party, New South Wales branch of the A ...

, Della Bosca joined the ALP in January 1973. He rose through his branch and electorate council to take a place on the party's National Executive. Between 1976 and his election to parliament in 1999, Della Bosca worked for the labour movement full-time in various capacities, first as a researcher for Senator

Kerry Sibraa Kerry Walter Sibraa (born 12 October 1937) is a former Australian politician. He was a Senator for New South Wales from 1975 to 1994, representing the Australian Labor Party (ALP), and served as President of the Senate from 1987 to 1994. Early ...

. In 1979, he took on the role of National Research Officer for the Australian Transport Officers' Federation, becoming the union's state organiser in 1981. In 1983, Della Bosca became State Organiser for the ALP. In 1985, he was promoted to Assistant Secretary and in 1990 he attained the position of general secretary, a post he was to hold for nine years.

Parliamentary career

In 1999, Della Bosca made his much-anticipated move into parliamentary politics as a candidate for the Legislative Council. Within a month of his election,

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 govern ...

Bob Carr appointed him Special Minister of State. In 2000, he was set to become the ALP's next national president, but was forced to withdraw after he criticised then ALP leader Kim Beazley's GST rollback policy in an interview in the news magazine, '' The Bulletin''. Della Bosca's ministerial responsibilities were expanded following the 2003 election to include Commerce, Finance, Industrial Relations, Ageing and Disability Services. He was also appointed Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council. Following the 2007 election he was appointed Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for the Central Coast. On 4 September 2007 Della Bosca stated "the NSW government strives to keep (

TAFE Technical and further education or simply TAFE () is the common name in Australia for vocational education, as a subset of tertiary education. TAFE institutions provide a wide range of predominantly vocational courses. Colloquially also known ...

) fees as low as possible". Despite this, he announced that course fees would be increasing by 6.5 per cent to 9 per cent. In May 2008, Della Bosca revealed his probationary driver's licence had been revoked for a period of six months following multiple speeding offences. At the time of the ban Della Bosca was in charge of the Motor Accidents Authority. Later that month, he caused further controversy by swearing at a media photographer who photographed him cycling to work. On 13 June 2008, Della Bosca was stood down from his position as Minister for Education and Training while police investigated an alleged altercation between Della Bosca and his wife

Belinda Neal Belinda Jane Neal (born 10 January 1963) is an Australian politician who currently serves as a councillor for Gosford West Ward on Central Coast Council since 2024. She was a member of the Senate from 1994 to 1998, before later serving as the ...

, who was the Labor Member for

Robertson Robertson may refer to: People * Robertson (surname) (includes a list of people with this name) * Robertson (given name) * Clan Robertson, a Scottish clan * Robertson, stage name of Belgian magician Étienne-Gaspard Robert (1763–1837) Plac ...

, and staff at Iguana Joe's waterfront bar and nightclub at

Gosford Gosford is a waterfront city at the northern end of Brisbane Water on the Central Coast in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Gosford Waterfront is known for its boating and scenic views on the shores of Brisbane Water. Gosford is ...

. The nightclub issued an apology to Della Bosca, at least parts of which were reported to have been written by Della Bosca himself. The NSW Director of Public Prosecutions subsequently found that "there is insufficient evidence to support any criminal charge against NSW law". On his return to the ministry, Della Bosca was appointed Minister for Health and Minister for the Central Coast, with his former Education portfolio passing to

Verity Firth Verity Helen Firth (born 28 August 1973) is an Australian university executive and former politician. She is the Pro Vice-Chancellor (Social Justice and Inclusion) at the University of Technology Sydney. She was the chief executive officer of ...

. On 31 August 2009, Della Bosca resigned from his ministries and as Government leader in the Legislative Council, following the public revelation of a 6-month sexual affair. On 29 July 2010, Della Bosca announced that he was resigning from the

to become a campaign director for the National Disability and Carers Alliance (now National Disability Services), and assist in the establishment of a

national disability insurance scheme The National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is a scheme of the Australian Government that funds reasonable and necessary supports associated with significant and permanent disability for people under 65 years old. The scheme was first int ...

References

, - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Della Bosca, John 1956 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Australian politicians of Italian descent Spouses of Australian politicians Members of the Order of Australia Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians Australian Labor Party officials People educated at De La Salle College, Cronulla Ministers for disability inclusion Ministers for education (New South Wales) Ministers for finance (New South Wales) Ministers for health (New South Wales)