Antoine "Tony" Issa
OAM (born 14 August 1955
[ in ]Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
), an Australian politician, was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The New South Wales Legislative Assembly is the lower of the two houses of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The upper house is the New South Wales Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament Ho ...
representing Granville for the Liberal Party from 2011
File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...
until the 2015 election when he lost the seat to Labor's Julia Finn.
Early years and background
Issa migrated to Australia with his father in 1973, as one of seven children[ of Lebanese Maronite Catholic background. Issa has extensive community involvement including:
* President, Bkerkacha Charitable Association (1989)
* Treasurer, Granville Multicultural Centre (1984–1987)
* President, Granville Multicultural Centre (1987–1991)
* board member, Australian Lebanese Welfare Group (2004–2008)
* School Representative, Catholic Diocesan Parramatta Regional Council (''ca.'' 1992)
* Member, Bicentenary Committee (1988)
* Member, Western Sydney Assistant Services Ranking Committee
* board member, Western Sydney Regional Organisation of Councils (WSROC)
* Chairman, Sister City Organisation
* Representative, Finance Complaint Services Board
* committee member, Our Lady of Lebanon Church, Sydney
]
Local government career
Elected to Parramatta City Council in 1988, Issa served 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 the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
councillor
A councillor is an elected representative for a local government council in some countries.
Canada
Due to the control that the provinces have over their municipal governments, terms that councillors serve vary from province to province. Unl ...
until 1998 and then as a Liberal Party Councillor from 1998 to the present.
Issa was elected as deputy mayor from 2000 to 2001 and became the first Liberal Party lord mayor in New South Wales, serving between 2008 and 2009.
State political career
In 1994, he contested unsuccessfully as an independent in the Parramatta by-election.
In 2011, Issa contested the normally safe[ Labor seat of Granville in the Sydney's western suburbs. Running against the incumbent and high-profile]David Borger
David Lawrence Borger (born 7 September 1969) is a former Australian politician. He represented the Electoral district of Granville for the Labor Party in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2007 until 2011. Borger was Minister for ...
.
Issa was elected with a swing of 13.1 points and won the seat with 52.7 per cent of the two-party
A two-party system is a political party system in which two major political parties consistently dominate the political landscape. At any point in time, one of the two parties typically holds a majority in the legislature and is usually referr ...
vote.
Honours
Issa was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia in 1995 for service to local government and to the Lebanese community.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Issa, Tony
Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of New South Wales
Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
Lebanese emigrants to Australia
Living people
1955 births
21st-century Australian politicians
Mayors and Lord Mayors of Parramatta
Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia