Amanda Ruth Fazio (born 23 August 1954) is an Australian politician; she was a member of 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 ...

representing the Labor Party from 2000 to 2015. Fazio was President of the Legislative Council from 24 November 2009 to 3 May 2011, and was opposition whip in the council from 3 May 2011 to 6 March 2015.

Early years and background

Fazio was born to Vince and Ruth Fazio, and grew up in

Cabramatta Cabramatta, also abbreviated as Cabra, is a suburb in South Western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Cabramatta is located south-west of the Sydney central business district, in the Local government in Australia, local gove ...

Nowra Nowra () is a city in the South Coast, New South Wales, South Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. It is located south-southwest of the state capital of Sydney (about as the crow flies). As of the 2021 census, Nowra has an estimated po ...

and

Taree Taree () is a city on the Mid North Coast, New South Wales, Australia. It and nearby Cundletown were settled in 1831 by William Wynter. Since then it has grown to a population of 26,381, and commands a significant agricultural district. Situ ...

. Educated at Taree Primary School and Cabramatta West Primary School, she later attended Cabramatta High School and then attended the MLC School at Burwood before becoming a Commonwealth public servant. Fazio joined the Australian Labor Party in February 1977 at the Enfield branch and worked for Australian federal politicians

Leo McLeay Leo Boyce McLeay (born 4 October 1945) is a former Australian politician who served as a Labor Party member of the House of Representatives from June 1979 to October 2004. He was Speaker of the House of Representatives 1989–93. During 1992 h ...

and Stephen Martin.

Political career

Fazio was preselected to fill the vacancy in the Legislative Council in July 2000 caused by the resignation of

Jeff Shaw Jeffrey Lee Shaw (born July 7, 1966) is an American former professional baseball relief pitcher, who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Cleveland Indians and Chicago White Sox of the American League (AL), and the Montreal Expos, Cinc ...

, and was appointed a Member of the council on 30 August 2000. She was re-elected at the 2007 state election from the seventh place on the Labor Party ticket. Between 2003 and 2009, Fazio served as Deputy President and Chair of Committees and on a number of Council committees before being elected as President of the Legislative Council on 24 November 2009. On 20 October 2010, Fazio was suspended from the Labor Party when she

crossed the floor In some parliamentary systems (e.g., in Canada and the United Kingdom), politicians are said to cross the floor if they formally change their political affiliation to a political party different from the one they were initially elected under. I ...

to vote with the

NSW Greens The Greens NSW, also known as the NSW Greens, is a green political party in New South Wales and a member of the Australian Greens. First formed in 1991, the Greens NSW began as a state-level party before joining with other green parties in Austr ...

on a bill dealing with the distribution of X-rated pornography. Her suspension was lifted in late March 2011. Fazio retired from the Legislative Council at the 2015 election.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fazio, Amanda 1954 births Living people Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council Presidents of the New South Wales Legislative Council Chairman of Committees of the New South Wales Legislative Council Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales 21st-century Australian politicians Women members of the New South Wales Legislative Council 21st-century Australian women politicians