John D'Orazio
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John Biase D'Orazio (5 September 1955 – 11 April 2011) was an Australian politician who served as the member for Ballajura in the
Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...
from 10 February 2001 to 6 September 2008. He was a minister in the governments of
Geoff Gallop Geoffrey Ian Gallop (born 27 September 1951) is an Australian academic and former politician who served as the 27th premier of Western Australia from 2001 to 2006. He is currently a professor and director of the Graduate School of Government at ...
and
Alan Carpenter Alan John Carpenter (born 4 January 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th Premier of Western Australia, from 2006 to 2008. From Albany, Carpenter graduated from the University of Western Australia, and worked as a journ ...
, and a member of the Labor Party until 29 August 2006, when he resigned following several controversies. Born to Italian immigrants, D'Orazio grew up on a market garden in the
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
suburb of
Bayswater Bayswater is an area in the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...
. He studied pharmacy at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, later opening his own pharmacy business. In 1981, he was elected to the
City of Bayswater The City of Bayswater is a local government area in the Western Australian capital city of Perth, about northeast of Perth's central business district. The city covers an area of and had a population of 69,283 as at the 2021 Census. The Cit ...
council, and in 1984, he became the mayor of Bayswater, in which position he served until 2001. At the
2001 Western Australian state election Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 10 February 2001 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council. The two-term Liberal– National coalition government, led by Premier ...
, D'Orazio was elected to the seat of Ballajura, beating the Liberal incumbent Rhonda Parker. Following the 2005 state election, he was promoted to cabinet by Premier Geoff Gallop, becoming the
minister for justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
and minister for small business. In February 2006, after Alan Carpenter became premier, D'Orazio was appointed as the minister for police and emergency services, minister for justice, and minister for community safety. In February 2006, it was revealed that in 2003, D'Orazio had organised a meeting between Adam Spagnolo, a City of Bayswater employee, and Tony Drago, the owner of a carpet business, where they allegedly reached a deal where Spagnolo would use his position at the City of Bayswater to give carpet contracts to the business. The Crime and Corruption Commission cleared D'Orazio of wrongdoing the following month, and all charges against Spagnolo were dropped in 2007. In March 2006, it was revealed that up to 15 staff at his pharmacy were not paid
superannuation A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "Defined benefit pension pla ...
. In April, he crashed his ministerial car. His licence was suspended at the time after failing to pay for speeding fines. This caused him to be stripped of his existing ministries on 8 May 2006 and be made the minister for disability services, minister for citizenship and multicultural interests, and minister for seniors and volunteering. A day later, he resigned from cabinet. His licence was later reinstated as the speeding fines were sent to the wrong address. In August, it was revealed he had talked to corrupt panel beater Pasquale Minniti who said he could help D'Orazio get his licence back by using his connections at
Western Australia Police The Western Australia Police Force, colloquially WAPOL, provides police services throughout the state of Western Australia to a population of 2.66 million people, of which 2.11 million reside in the Perth Metropolitan Region. Western Australia h ...
. This forced him to resign from the Labor Party and sit 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
. As an independent MP, D'Orazio worked with Liberal
backbencher In Westminster system, Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no Minister (government), governmental office and is not a Frontbencher, frontbench spokesperson ...
Matt Birney to create a
private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...
for a referendum on whether to introduce
daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (Daylight saving time in the United States, United States and Daylight saving time in Canada, Canada), or summer time (British Summer Time, United Kingdom, ...
. The bill passed, and so a three-year trial of daylight saving time commenced, with a daylight saving referendum occurring at the end of that. After the CCC found in December 2007 that D'Orazio had not engaged in misconduct when meeting with Minniti, the Labor Party was forced to let D'Orazio join again. He failed in his bid for
preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...
for the seat of Morley, so he resigned from the party on 26 June 2008 to stand as an independent. His decision to direct his preferences to Liberal candidate Ian Britza was credited as the reason for Britza winning Morley. D'Orazio went back to running a pharmacy after leaving parliament. He died on 11 April 2011 during an operation on his heart following a diagnosis of
amyloidosis Amyloidosis is a group of diseases in which abnormal proteins, known as amyloid fibrils, build up in tissue. There are several non-specific and vague signs and symptoms associated with amyloidosis. These include fatigue, peripheral edema, weigh ...
.


Early life and career

D'Orazio was born on 5 September 1955 in
Mount Lawley Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, Co ...
, a suburb of
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, Western Australia. His parents were Iterno Giuseppe D’Orazio and Larentina Carione, who had immigrated from the Italian region of
Abruzzo Abruzzo (, ; ; , ''Abbrìzze'' or ''Abbrèzze'' ; ), historically also known as Abruzzi, is a Regions of Italy, region of Southern Italy with an area of 10,763 square km (4,156 sq mi) and a population of 1.3 million. It is divided into four ...
in 1949 and 1951 respectively. D'Orazio grew up at the family's
market garden A market garden is the relatively small-scale production of fruits, vegetables and flowers as cash crops, frequently sold directly to consumers and restaurants. The diversity of crops grown on a small area of land, typically from under to s ...
in
Bayswater Bayswater is an area in the City of Westminster in West London. It is a built-up district with a population density of 17,500 per square kilometre, and is located between Kensington Gardens to the south, Paddington to the north-east, and ...
, another suburb of Perth, and attended Christian Brothers College in
Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...
and
Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...
, where he was a classmate of Stephen Smith. From 1973 to 1976, he studied at the Western Australian Institute of Technology (now known as
Curtin University Curtin University (previously Curtin University of Technology and Western Australian Institute of Technology) is an Australian public university, public research university based in Bentley, Western Australia, Bentley, Perth, Western Australia. ...
) and obtained a bachelor of science degree, majoring in pharmacy. Whilst studying there, he played cricket and captained the university's
Gaelic football Gaelic football (; short name '')'', commonly known as simply Gaelic, GAA, or football, is an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score ...
team. He was awarded Sportsman of the Year there in 1978. From 1976 to his election to parliament in 2001, he operated a pharmacy.


Local government

D'Orazio became interested in
local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of governance or public administration within a particular sovereign state. Local governments typically constitute a subdivision of a higher-level political or administrative unit, such a ...
whilst trying to challenge planning precedents that applied to his pharmacy. In May 1981, he was elected to the west ward of the Shire of Bayswater council. In May 1983, he became the deputy shire president, and in May 1984 he became the mayor of the City of Bayswater, succeeding C.C. Cardaci. Under D'Orazio as mayor, the City of Bayswater restructured its administration; the Morley Galleria Shopping Centre was constructed; it became the first local government in the state to become debt free; it introduced co-mingled recycling and a green waste bin, regarded as one of the best waste systems in Australia at the time; it introduced security patrols; and the first
wave pool A wave pool is a swimming pool in which there are artificially generated, large waves, similar to those of the ocean. Wave pools are often a major feature of water parks, both indoors and outdoors, as well as some leisure centres. History Th ...
in the state, Bayswater Waves, was constructed. In September 2000, the Bayswater Community Bank, Perth's first Bendigo Bank community branch, was launched following the closure of all other banks in the Bayswater town centre. D'Orazio was chair of the bank's steering committee. D'Orazio originated the phrase "the Garden City" used as the city's tagline. On 9 March 1988, D'Orazio was honoured with the naming of the John D'Orazio Park on the corner of Garratt Road and
Guildford Road Guildford Road is a major road in Perth, Western Australia, linking the inner-city suburb of Mount Lawley with Guildford in the north-east. The road runs mostly parallel to the Swan River, on its northern side, and is part of State Route 5 ...
. In December 1995, D'Orazio was made an Honorary Freeman of the City in recognition of his service for 17 consecutive years as councillor. The award is the highest honour that a local government can give in Western Australia. D'Orazio was the second person to receive that award from the City of Bayswater and the sixth to date. During his time in local government, D'Orazio was also a planning commissioner for eight years, including as deputy chairman and chairman of the
Western Australian Planning Commission The Western Australian Planning Commission (WAPC) is an independent statutory authority of the Government of Western Australia that exists to coordinate strategic and statutory planning for future urban, rural, and regional land use. The WAPC f ...
. D'Orazio resigned as mayor in 2001 when he won his seat in the
Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House, Perth, Parliament House in the Western Australian capi ...
. He was succeeded by Lou Magro.


Parliament

D'Orazio joined the Labor Party in 1995. At the
1996 Western Australian state election Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 14 December 1996 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council. The Liberal–National coalition government, led by Premier Richard Cou ...
, he contested the newly created seat of Ballajura for the Labor Party, but he was defeated by 44 votes by the Liberal Party's Rhonda Parker, making Ballajura the closest seat for that election. He attempted to gain
preselection Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...
for Ballajura again for the 2001 state election, but found himself at the centre of a controversial preselection process. D'Orazio, who had gained the backing of Labor leader
Geoff Gallop Geoffrey Ian Gallop (born 27 September 1951) is an Australian academic and former politician who served as the 27th premier of Western Australia from 2001 to 2006. He is currently a professor and director of the Graduate School of Government at ...
and the federal member for
Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...
, Stephen Smith, went up against lawyer Darryl Wookey, who was backed by controversial former premier Brian Burke. The
Labor Left The Labor Left (LL), also known as the Progressive Left, Socialist Left or simply the Left, is one of the two major political factions within the Australian Labor Party (ALP). It is nationally characterised by social progressivism and democra ...
faction supported D'Orazio, whereas the Centre and
Right Rights are law, legal, social, or ethics, ethical principles of freedom or Entitlement (fair division), entitlement; that is, rights are the fundamental normative rules about what is allowed of people or owed to people according to some legal sy ...
factions were split between the two candidates. Wookey eventually withdrew, leaving D'Orazio as the sole candidate for preselection. The 2001 state election resulted in D'Orazio's election to the seat of Ballajura. D'Orazio was one of a few first-term MPs considered for a cabinet position, but he was overlooked. From May 2001 to January 2005, D'Orazio was the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee. In 2004, D'Orazio was accused of
branch stacking Branch stacking is a term used in Australian politics to describe the act of recruiting or signing up members for a local branch of a political party for the principal purpose of influencing the outcome of internal preselection of candidates for ...
, with six people signed up as members of his branches saying they are not members of the Labor Party and do not want to be members. Labor Party State Secretary Bill Johnston investigated the accusations and D'Orazio proclaimed his innocence, saying that those accusing him were aligned with Brian Burke. Preselections were put on hold during the investigation. At the 2005 state election, D'Orazio achieved a swing of 8.7 percent towards him, the largest swing in the state for that election. Following that election, on 10 March 2005, Gallop changed his mind on an earlier decision to disallow D'Orazio from joining cabinet until a Crime and Corruption Commission (CCC) investigation into the Bayswater council had been completed. D'Orazio was appointed
minister for justice A justice ministry, ministry of justice, or department of justice, is a ministry or other government agency in charge of the administration of justice. The ministry or department is often headed by a minister of justice (minister for justice in a ...
and minister for small business by Premier Geoff Gallop. He also acted as
attorney-general In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general (: attorneys general) or attorney-general (AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have executive responsibility for law enf ...
whilst
Jim McGinty James Andrew McGinty (born 22 September 1949) is an Australian former politician. He was a Labor member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 1990 to 2009, representing the district of Fremantle. He was Labor Party leader and Lea ...
was unable to be in the role. On 24 March 2005, D'Orazio announced an enquiry into the state's prison system. He also appointed a new head of the state's prison service. In April, former
New South Wales Supreme Court The Supreme Court of New South Wales is the highest state court of the Australian State of New South Wales. It has unlimited jurisdiction within the state in civil matters, and hears the most serious criminal matters. Whilst the Supreme Court ...
Justice Dennis Mahoney was chosen to head the enquiry. The report from the enquiry was handed down on 23 November 2005. It recommended significant reform of the management of Indigenous prisoners to reduce the over-representation of Indigenous people in prison. D'Orazio announced a A$7 million upgrade to security at Karnet Prison Farm and Wooroloo Prison Farm following several escapes. This was later revised to $10 million, and involved the construction of fences around the prison farms. He later announced a $9.6 million expansion for Bunbury Regional Prison, adding a new 70-bed unit. Following the resignation of Gallop,
Alan Carpenter Alan John Carpenter (born 4 January 1957) is a former Australian politician who served as the 28th Premier of Western Australia, from 2006 to 2008. From Albany, Carpenter graduated from the University of Western Australia, and worked as a journ ...
became Premier. D'Orazio was appointed minister for police and emergency services and minister for community safety. He resigned as minister for small business, and continued as minister for justice. Carpenter declared D'Orazio a "rising star", a statement which soon became a faux pas.


Controversies

On 25 August 2003, Adam Spagnolo, a
City of Stirling The City of Stirling is a local government area in the northern suburbs of the Western Australian capital city of Perth about north of Perth's central business district. The City covers an area of and has a population of over 223,000, making ...
councillor and former mayor, City of Bayswater building maintenance officer, and D'Orazio's campaign manager for the 2001 election, and Tony Drago, the owner of a carpet company, held a meeting. They allegedly reached a deal where Spagnolo's son had a 50 percent stake in Drago's carpet business and Spagnolo would use his position at the City of Bayswater to give carpet contracts to the business. This came out during an investigation into the City of Bayswater in 2005 by the CCC. On 22 February 2006, ''
The West Australian ''The West Australian'' is the only locally edited daily newspaper published in Perth, Western Australia. It is owned by Seven West Media (SWM), as is the state's other major newspaper, ''The Sunday Times''. It is the second-oldest continuousl ...
'' ran a story on its front page alleging that the meeting took place in D'Orazio's electorate office and that he was the person who brokered the deal. The story referred to D'Orazio as "the Godfather", which he criticised as an ethnic slur. D'Orazio confirmed that he organised the meeting but said he knew nothing of the business relationship between the two and that he was only acting as a mediator. The CCC began an investigation into D'Orazio's involvement in the meeting. D'Orazio threatened legal action against ''The West Australian'' if it failed to print a front-page apology, but neither the apology nor the legal action occurred. The CCC cleared D'Orazio of any wrongdoing on 3 March 2006. All charges against Spagnolo were dropped in October 2007 because "there was no reasonable prospect of a conviction because an innocent explanation could not be ruled out." In March 2006, it was revealed that up to 15 staff at D'Orazio's pharmacy had not been paid
superannuation A pension (; ) is a fund into which amounts are paid regularly during an individual's working career, and from which periodic payments are made to support the person's retirement from work. A pension may be either a "Defined benefit pension pla ...
over two to three years. Staff at the pharmacy said D'Orazio became aware of the problem before May 2005 when an employee complained to the
Australian Taxation Office The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is an Australian statutory agency and the principal revenue collection body for the Australian Government. The ATO has responsibility for administering the Taxation in Australia, Australian federal taxation ...
(ATO), but D'Orazio said he became aware of the problem in November 2005 when selling the pharmacy. Unions WA secretary Dave Robinson said that it was unthinkable for D'Orazio to be unaware of the situation. The ATO gave him a directive to pay all outstanding superannuation plus interest and penalties. Pressure was put on Premier Alan Carpenter by unions to sack D'Orazio, but Carpenter continued to stand behind D'Orazio. The Police Union also backed D'Orazio. In August and October 2005, D'Orazio was fined for speeding. On 21 April 2006, D'Orazio crashed his ministerial car. He then found out that his licence had been suspended since 22 February after failing to pay the speeding fines. He was given on-the-spot fines, but reminder notices were sent to his previous address despite him having updated his licence details several years before. Days before this became known to the public, he increased penalties for speeding, using a mobile phone whilst driving, and not wearing a seatbelt. He refused to resign from cabinet, so on 8 May 2006, Carpenter reassigned his ministries. D'Orazio was dropped as minister for police and emergency services, minister for community safety, and minister for justice, and he was instead appointed minister for disability services, minister for citizenship and multicultural interests, and minister for seniors and volunteering. The following day, after criticism from the public, D'Orazio was forced to resign from all his ministries and he became a
backbencher In Westminster system, Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no Minister (government), governmental office and is not a Frontbencher, frontbench spokesperson ...
. Police declined to charge D'Orazio for driving without a licence. Eventually, the suspension was cancelled. During 2006, the CCC began an investigation into Bayswater panel beater Pasquale Minniti, who was alleged to have used his connections with
Western Australia Police The Western Australia Police Force, colloquially WAPOL, provides police services throughout the state of Western Australia to a population of 2.66 million people, of which 2.11 million reside in the Perth Metropolitan Region. Western Australia h ...
to get speeding tickets withdrawn for those associated with him. During a CCC hearing in August 2006, six phone calls between D'Orazio and Minniti were played. In the first one, the day that D'Orazio left the position of police minister, Minniti offered D'Orazio help to avoid having his licence suspended. Later that day, Minniti called a friend at the police infringement management operations section, saying "we need to fix things up for John D'Orazio". The friend refused to help with D'Orazio, saying he was "unfixable". D'Orazio was seen on CCTV footage meeting at Minniti's workplace two days later. D'Orazio later told Minniti not to get involved. On 25 August, the day after the CCC hearing played those phone calls, D'Orazio resigned from the Labor Party at the request of Alan Carpenter. Days later, D'Orazio said that the request for his resignation was unfair. In November 2008, Minniti was sentenced to 18 months in jail.


Daylight saving bill

In October 2006, D'Orazio indicated his intention to introduce a
private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in wh ...
for Western Australia to hold a referendum on whether the state should introduce
daylight saving time Daylight saving time (DST), also referred to as daylight savings time, daylight time (Daylight saving time in the United States, United States and Daylight saving time in Canada, Canada), or summer time (British Summer Time, United Kingdom, ...
. Daylight saving time has had three previous referendums, in
1992 1992 was designated as International Space Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 – Boutros Boutros-Ghali of Egypt replaces Javier Pérez de Cuéllar of Peru as United Nations Secretary-General. * January 6 ** The Republ ...
,
1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...
and
1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...
, each time ending resulting in a majority against daylight saving time. D'Orazio said in an interview: D'Orazio introduced his bill on 24 October 2006. A new bill, designed by D'Orazio alongside
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 ...
backbencher Matt Birney was introduced to parliament by Birney on 25 October. Both major parties allowed a
conscience vote A conscience vote or free vote is a type of vote in a legislative body where legislators are allowed to vote according to their own personal conscience rather than according to an official line set down by their political party. In a parliamenta ...
, and the bill passed the Legislative Assembly on 31 October. The bill passed the
Legislative Council A legislative council is the legislature, or one of the legislative chambers, of a nation, colony, or subnational division such as a province or state. It was commonly used to label unicameral or upper house legislative bodies in the Brit ...
on 21 November, and received
royal assent Royal assent is the method by which a monarch formally approves an act of the legislature, either directly or through an official acting on the monarch's behalf. In some jurisdictions, royal assent is equivalent to promulgation, while in othe ...
on 24 November. The final act passed resulted in a three-year trial of daylight savings, after which, a referendum was held to determine whether to have daylight saving time for every summer. D'Orazio received harassment and death threats from daylight saving opponents.


Rejoining the Labor Party and the 2008 election

In December 2007, the CCC found that D'Orazio acted inappropriately but did not engage in misconduct when meeting with Minniti. The report criticised D'Orazio's failure to discourage Minniti's assistance, but said that none of it constituted an offence. D'Orazio rejoined the Labor Party in April 2008 after the party decided it was better to let him join than have a costly legal battle. This was against the wishes of Premier Carpenter, who days later said that he did not trust D'Orazio not to leak information from caucus. During his fight to re-enter the Labor Party, branch stacking allegations resurfaced, with Education and Training Minister
Mark McGowan Mark McGowan (born 13 July 1967) is an Australian former politician and naval officer who served as the 30th premier of Western Australia from 2017 until his retirement in 2023. He was the leader of the Western Australian branch of the Austr ...
controversially calling D'Orazio "the worst ethnic branch stacker in the history of Labor in Western Australia". Ahead of the
2008 Western Australian state election The 2008 Western Australian state election was held on Saturday 6 September 2008 to elect 59 members to the Legislative Assembly and 36 members to the Legislative Council. The incumbent centre-left Labor Party government, in power since the ...
, the electoral district of Ballajura was abolished and the electoral district of Morley was created, covering much of the same area. Premier Alan Carpenter disallowed D'Orazio from contesting the seat as a Labor candidate, hand-picking Reece Whitby instead, so on 26 June 2008, D'Orazio left the party and chose 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 Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...
candidate. D'Orazio decided to direct the preferences on his how-to-vote cards towards the Liberal candidate, Ian Britza, instead of Whitby. At the election on 6 September 2008, D'Orazio received 16.0 percent of the
first-preference votes A first-preference is a voter's most-preferred candidate. In certain ranked systems such as first preference plurality, ranked-choice voting (RCV), and the single transferable vote, first preferences for a candidate are considered most important ...
, Whitby received 35.7 percent, and Britza received 34.7 percent. The
two-candidate-preferred vote In Australian politics, the two-party-preferred vote (TPP or 2PP), is the result of an opinion poll or a projection of an election result where preferences are distributed to one of the two major parties, the Labor Party and the Liberal/Natio ...
was 50.9 percent for Britza, giving the Liberal Party the seat of Morley in what was one of their most surprising seat victories. Two-thirds of voters for D'Orazio followed his how-to-vote cards, despite most of them having typically voted for Labor in the past. Morley had the largest swing against Labor of any Labor-held electorate. The Labor Party won 28 seats at that election and the Liberal Party won 24, both falling short of the 30 seats needed for a majority, resulting in a
hung parliament A hung parliament is a term used in legislatures primarily under the Westminster system (typically employing Majoritarian representation, majoritarian electoral systems) to describe a situation in which no single political party or pre-existing ...
. The Liberal Party were able to gain the support of the four National Party MPs and three independent MPs, allowing the party to form government. Britza said that it would have been unlikely for him to win the seat without D'Orazio's preferences.


Personal life and death

D'Orazio was Catholic. He married twice. From his first marriage he had one son and one daughter, and from his second marriage, to Ailsa McCulloch on 19 January 2003, he had one son and one daughter. Following his exit from parliament, D'Orazio opened a pharmacy in Alexander Heights. In 2011, D'Orazio was diagnosed with
amyloidosis Amyloidosis is a group of diseases in which abnormal proteins, known as amyloid fibrils, build up in tissue. There are several non-specific and vague signs and symptoms associated with amyloidosis. These include fatigue, peripheral edema, weigh ...
, a rare blood disease in which excessive proteins attack organs; a condition for which he had chemotherapy. During an operation to install a mini defibrillator in his heart at
St John of God Murdoch Hospital St John of God Murdoch Hospital is a 511-bed private non-profit hospital located in the southern suburbs of Perth in Western Australia, immediately adjacent to the public Fiona Stanley Hospital campus. The distance between the entrances to the ...
on 11 April 2011, his heart failed, resulting in his unexpected death.


See also

* Electoral results for the district of Ballajura * Electoral results for the district of Morley * Gallop ministry * Carpenter ministry


Notes


References


External links


Inaugural speechJohn D'Orazio Media Statements
{{DEFAULTSORT:D'Orazio, John 1955 births 2011 deaths Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Australian politicians of Italian descent Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia Independent members of the Parliament of Western Australia Politicians from Perth, Western Australia 21st-century Australian politicians Mayors of places in Western Australia Deputy mayors of places in Australia Burials at Karrakatta Cemetery Western Australian local councillors Australian pharmacists Curtin University alumni