Adele Farina (born 31 March 1964) is an Australian politician. She was a Labor Party member of the

Western Australian Legislative Council The Western Australian Legislative Council is the upper house of the Parliament of Western Australia, a state of Australia. It is regarded as a house of review for legislation passed by the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, Legislative A ...

from 2001 to 2021, representing South West Region. She served as parliamentary secretary to three different state ministers: the Minister for Planning and Infrastructure, Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Tourism, Culture and the Arts, and Minister for Disability Services, Citizenship, Multicultural Interests and Women's Interests.

Early career

Farina was born in

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 ...

, and studied arts and law at the

University of Western Australia University of Western Australia (UWA) is a public research university in the Australian state of Western Australia. The university's main campus is in Crawley, Western Australia, Crawley, a suburb in the City of Perth local government area. UW ...

. She was subsequently employed as the private secretary to Bob Pearce, Environment Minister in the Lawrence government, but this ended abruptly in 1992, when she was charged by police with stealing $3,280 worth of postage stamps from the state. The trial lasted four days, but was terminated when the jury could not reach a verdict.Mallabone, Mark. "Theft Charge Woman Wins Labor Spot." ''

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 ...

'', 6 November 1999. The charges were subsequently dropped when the Director of Public Prosecutions decided that there was no reasonable prospect of securing a conviction, but the case made headlines when Pearce was charged – and subsequently convicted – on contempt of court charges for comments made in support of Farina during the trial. Farina returned to the law after the trial, and was subsequently admitted to the bar.

Political career

Local politics

Farina became involved in local politics in the late 1990s, and was serving as the deputy mayor of Bayswater when she began to be raised as a possible candidate to replace retiring MLA Diana Warnock in the seat of

for the 2001 state election. She won the support of the dominant unions in her centre faction, and was tipped to win preselection. However, she lost out to rival John Hyde when factional bosses became concerned that selecting Farina could heighten tensions already evident after a failed preselection challenge to

John D'Orazio 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 from 10 February 2001 to 6 September 2008. He was a minister in the go ...

in Ballajura and potentially split the faction in two.

Legislative Council

After losing the Perth contest, Farina was instead nominated as a candidate for South West Province in the Legislative Council. This caused significant anger in local branches, as Farina had no ties to the regional electorate, and David Smith, a minister in the Dowding and Lawrence governments, quit the party in disgust. She nevertheless took the second position on the Labor ticket in the province, and had little difficulty being elected to the Legislative Council. In her first term as a member of the Legislative Council, Farina often acted as a spokesperson for government policy in the region, but rarely spoke in parliament. In her first fifteen months in the Legislative Council, Farina only made one speech – her maiden speech – and apart from five Dorothy Dixers and nine estimates committee questions, did not speak at all, which earned her some criticism from the media as one of the quietest MPs in the parliament. In September 2004, during a debate on a proposed

domestic violence Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes r ...

law, Farina revealed that she had been stalked for ten years during the 1990s. She stated that it had escalated severely when she nominated for preselection, which forced her to complain to the police, ultimately leading to the arrest of the culprit. Farina had requested that he only be charged with a summary offence to avoid the publicity of a full trial, and he was subsequently found guilty of stalking. Farina contested the 2005 state election atop the Labor ticket, and after the election was promoted to the position of parliamentary secretary. She lost one of her portfolios to Peter Watson in November 2005, but picked up another in a reshuffle in March 2006. She has repeatedly been touted as a potential Cabinet minister, although she was overlooked in the reshuffle that followed the resignation of

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 ...

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 ...

in March 2006 and again when

was forced to resign from Cabinet in May 2006. Most recently, as of May 2006, Farina has been heavily involved with a project aimed at reducing negative effects associated with leavers' week in her region. She was re-elected in the 2008, 2013 and 2017 state elections but held no position in the ALP ministry or shadow ministry.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farina, Adele 1964 births Living people Members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia University of Western Australia alumni Politicians from Perth, Western Australia 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians Women members of the Western Australian Legislative Council Western Australian local councillors Deputy mayors of places in Australia