Concetta Fierravanti-Wells (NSW, Liberal Party, Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to pay tribute to the life of a great Australian. Of course, my name is Concetta, and Concetto is the male of my name. Con was so proud of not just his Italian roots but his Sicilian roots. He would always tell you that, of course, there was a great difference. He was proudly born in Sicily on 30 June 1947 in a little village called Piedimonte Etneo and he migrated to Australia in 1951. Con and I shared many parallels. The Attorney mentioned that his father came to Australia and was a cane cutter. My father came to Australia and was a cane cutter. We always talked and had the opportunity to talk about the parallels in our lives, and so it is probably with some emotion that I stand to pay this tribute.

Con, of course, died yesterday in, I have to say, probably the way he lived his life. All his family was around him. He had taken the last rites, and lots of family and lots of friends were around who had come to pay their respects, which is very, very typical of the tradition and particularly the tradition of Sicily. When he gave his maiden speech when he first came to this place, he talked about his family story and he talked in particular about his proud Sicilian heritage. Of course, he also used the opportunity to talk about the Italian community in Australia and its contribution.

He was the second-ever Italian-born member of parliament. He was the first Italian-born minister. From my perspective, I was the first female of Italian origin to become a minister in Australia, so I share the pride that he had when he did become a minister. I know that it was not just for him and for his family; it was for the whole Italian community.

His story was very much one of the migrant success story. So many people came from Sicily and left their country so that their children and grandchildren could be very successful. The Sciacca family was the embodiment of that. When he gave his maiden speech, he ended by saying, 'Despite the hard road behind me, I have never lost that tenacity and determination characteristic of the Sicilian race.' Of course that tenacity and determination was very, very evident, particularly as he fought his battle with cancer. As has been said, tragically his son died aged 19 of a rare and virulent bone cancer which usually strikes young people during their teenage years—Ewing's sarcoma. He later went on to do a lot of work in the cancer space but also, as Senator Wong has said, commissioning a book, Body and soul: children, teenagers and cancer, in 1994 to help other families facing similar challenges.

One of the things that I want to put on the record and acknowledge was that Con always stood up for the Italo-Australian community at times when the community was criticised. I just went through some of the old clippings and came across this one in June 1993. The heading is: 'Australian Italians tired of the Mafia tag.' Con Sciacca was making some comments and talked about some of the things that he had been called. When you look at what happened then, and having been through this myself, and particularly when you look at what we see today and some of the issues that have been seen recently, particularly in Muslim communities, often communities and people in communities do get labelled negatively. What Con was talking about and talked about at that time is a very good example of what we too are seeing—often whole communities get tagged just because of the deeds of some rotten apples in those communities. Con was never backward in coming forward and standing up for the community that had helped him so much to get there.

He did break new ground when he became the first Italian-born government minister in Australia. He jokes about having become Minister for Veterans' Affairs. Rather than getting upset over Italian war jokes, as one article said, he decided to get ahead. We know that he was so successful as Minister for Veterans' Affairs and he was so proud to have become Minister for Veterans' Affairs. I will come back and make some comments on that in a moment.

I was present when Con became commendatore. He had previously been honoured by the Italian government. Both of us proudly held the title of Knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. Con, having become a minister before me, became a commendatore before me. I was there the day that he got his commendatore at Circular Quay. It was a great day, when we all celebrated with him.

The legacy that Con has left is very much from the time when he was Minister for Veterans' Affairs. There was a piece written in The Age in August 1995. It talked about the work that Con had done as Minister for Veterans' Affairs. He became the first Australian politician and one of the few non-veterans to be awarded honorary life membership of the RSL. He was quoted in an article in September 1995:

Mr Sciacca said the award was particularly significant for him because he had been born in a wartime enemy country, Italy, and had arrived in Australia as a four-year-old immigrant. "In my culture we revere old people and when I got the opportunity to do something to recognise the contribution of this generation I jumped at it. This was a great generation of Australians and we had to tell them how much we appreciate them. I was fair dinkum about that and I think they can tell when someone is fair dinkum," he said.

He was very fair dinkum about this. When he addressed the New South Wales RSL, after he had given his address, apparently he thought that people were booing him. He was a bit perturbed by this. This is in an article in August 1995:

"They're not booing you, Minister," the president whispered.

"That's the ninth division's battle cry. They reserve it for their generals."

The article goes on to say how emotional Con felt, because of his history and because of the work that he did. He was very committed to his work as Minister for Veterans' Affairs. I remember one time we were in Sicily attending a conference when he was minister, and we all stopped for Anzac Day. It was a very emotional time.

I cannot help but quote this article from The Courier Mail of 23 October 2004. Con was defeated, as the Attorney said, for the seat of Bonner:

… but, in usual style, offered some "friendly advice" to his former leader.

Mr Sciacca warned Mark Latham not to become a victim of factions and not to allow the party to move towards the left.

"Do not let the Labor Party lurch or have a perception of it lurching to the left," Mr Sciacca said. "A left-leaning Labor Party, in my view, in modern-day politics in Australia is not electable. You should always try to keep that middle of the road."

I thought I would quote that today. But, as has been said, he then, post politics, went on to have another very successful career. My mother-in-law lived on the Gold Coast, and Sciacca and Sciacca was one of those law firms that were everywhere in Queensland, even on the Gold Coast, so there was a local branch even where my mother-in-law lived.

I conclude by offering my condolences to his wife, Karen, to his daughter, Zina, and to all the Sciacca family and friends. I know that I speak on behalf of the entire Italo-Australian community in paying tribute to a man who did our community proud. Vale, Concetto Sciacca.