Donato Antonio "Don" Nardella (; born 9 November 1958) is an Australian politician. He was a member of the

Parliament of Victoria The Parliament of Victoria is the bicameral legislature of the Australian state of Victoria (state), Victoria that follows a Westminster System, Westminster-derived parliamentary system. It consists of the Monarchy in Australia, King, represent ...

from 1992 until 2018, representing

Melbourne North Province Melbourne North Province was an electorate of the Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly ...

in 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 ...

(1992-1999) and Melton in the Legislative Assembly (1999–2018). He was a member of the Labor Party from 1992 until 2017, when he was forced to resign from the Labor caucus over an expenses scandal; he then sat in parliament 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 ...

. Nardella was born in the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, and received First Class Welder Certificates in the early 1980s. In 1981 he received a licence as a crane driver and chaser. He became a Labor Party state organiser in 1985, and remained prominent in the union movement as a member of the Municipal Executive. In 1992, Nardella was elected to the

Victorian Legislative Council The Victorian Legislative Council is the upper house of the bicameral Parliament of Victoria, Australia, the lower house being the Victorian Legislative Assembly, Legislative Assembly. Both houses sit at Parliament House, Melbourne, Parliament ...

on the Labor ticket for

. He was appointed Shadow Minister for Aged Care and Shadow Minister Assisting on Workcover in 1995, exchanging Aged Care for Consumer Affairs in 1999. In that year he transferred to the lower house, winning the safe seat of Melton. In December 2014, Nardella was elected Deputy Speaker of the Legislative Assembly, under Speaker Telmo Languiller. In February 2017, Languiller was found to have been claiming a second residence allowance for a house in Queenscliff, and later resigned his position. Questioned by the media about the allowance, Nardella conceded he had claimed around $100,000 of the same allowance for a house in Ocean Grove, and announced he would resign as deputy speaker on the same day as Languiller. On 28 February 2017, Nardella announced he would retire from politics at the next state election. Premier

Daniel Andrews Daniel Michael Andrews (born 6 July 1972) is an Australian former politician who served as the 48th premier of Victoria from 2014 to 2023. He held office as the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 2010 and ...

demanded that Nardella repay the $100,000 he had claimed, which he refused to do; accordingly Andrews demanded his resignation from the Labor Party, and Nardella resigned to sit as an independent on 7 March 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nardella, Don 1958 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Victoria Independent members of the Parliament of Victoria Members of the Victorian Legislative Assembly Australian politicians of Italian descent Crane operators 20th-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian politicians People from Footscray, Victoria Politicians from Melbourne