Raff Ciccone

Raffaele "Raff" Ciccone (born 1 November 1983) is an Australian politician who is a Senator for Victoria, representing the Labor Party. He was appointed to the Senate on 6 March 2019 following the resignation of Jacinta Collins.

Senator

Raff Ciccone
Senator for Victoria
Assumed office
6 March 2019
Preceded byJacinta Collins
Personal details
Born
Raffaele Ciccone

(1983-11-01) 1 November 1983[1]
East Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
CitizenshipAustralian
Political partyLabor
Spouse(s)None
Alma materDeakin University
University of Melbourne

Early life

Ciccone is the son of Italian parents who immigrated to Australia in the 1960s.[2] One of two boys, he grew up in Huntingdale, a suburb in the southeast of Melbourne.[3] He holds degrees in arts and commerce from Deakin University and the University of Melbourne.[4] Ciccone became a senior official in the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA).[5] In this role he represented workers that had been underpaid by 7-Eleven.[6] He was elected to the board of Link Health and Community in 2009, and from December 2017 served as the organisation's chair.[4]

Politics

Ciccone joined the Australian Labor Party in 2000. Before entering the Senate, Ciccone worked as a staffer to Senator Jacinta Collins and was a vice-president of the Australian Labor Party (Victorian Branch).[5] He was an unsuccessful candidate for Labor's Senate ticket in Victoria prior to the 2013 federal election.[7] He also stood for election to the Monash City Council in 2008 and 2016, but was unsuccessful.[8][9]

Ciccone was appointed to the Senate on 6 March 2019 to fill a casual vacancy caused by the resignation of Jacinta Collins.[10][11] As a Senator, Ciccone has advocated for stronger penalties against employers found to commit wage theft.[12] Since 2019 he has served in the Parliament's Joint Standing Committees on Migration and on Treaties while serving as Chair on the Senate Select Committee on Temporary Migration. Since 2020 Ciccone has also served on the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment and Growth.[13] In October 2020 it was reported that Ciccone had joined an informal cross-party grouping of parliamentarians known as the Wolverines who take a hawkish position on China.[14] [15] He is connected to the pro-resources grouping of his party, known as the Otis Group, along with Joel Fitzgibbon, Don Farrell, Kimberley Kitching and Deborah O'Neill.[16]

On 7 August 2020, Ciccone was appointed to the ALP's national executive. [17][18]

Personal life

Ciccone was married to Dimity Paul, who was chief of staff to Victorian government minister Adem Somyurek and stood as a Labor candidate at the 2014 state election.[19]

References
  1. "Senator Raff Ciccone". Senators and Members. Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  2. Raff Ciccone [@SenRaffCiccone] (6 March 2019). "Statement: Appointment as 100th Senator for Victoria" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  3. "New Liberal senator uses maiden speech to back Indigenous voice". SBS News. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  4. "Raff Ciccone picks up Jacinta Collins' Senate spot in Victoria". The Australian. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  5. Coughlan, Matt (24 July 2019). "Regularly assess welfare: Labor senator". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  6. "Vic Labor at war over Senate, Hotham". Crikey. 19 July 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  7. "Results for Monash City Council Elections 2008: Oakleigh Ward". Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  8. "Monash City Council election results 2016: Mount Waverley Ward". Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  9. Scott Ryan [@SenatorRyan] (6 March 2019). "A joint sitting of the @VicParliament has, pursuant to section 15 of the Constitution, nominated Rafael Ciccone to fill the casual vacancy in the Senate for the state of Victoria. 1/2" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
    Scott Ryan [@SenatorRyan] (6 March 2019). "The appointment takes effect immediately. Senator Ciccone will take the oath or affirmation of office when the senate next meets on 2 April. 2/2" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  10. "Hansard: Legislative Assembly of Victoria" (PDF). Parliament of Victoria. 6 March 2019. Refer to pp. 131
  11. Coughlan, Matt (24 July 2019). "Regularly assess welfare: Labor senator". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  12. corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Senator Raff Ciccone". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 22 November 2020.CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. Galloway, Anthony (23 October 2020). "Seeing Red: Labor's China problem". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  14. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/may/23/morrison-could-muzzle-his-china-hawks-but-he-wants-to-be-all-things-to-all-people
  15. Workman, Alice (10 December 2020). "Follow the leader? Not all Labor MPs get it Right". The Australian. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  16. Greg Brown, New Blood for Labor executive, The Australian, Weekend Edition, 8 Aug 2020 p.2 (print only)
  17. {{cite web|url=https://www.alp.org.au/about/national-executive/
  18. "Minister stood down over allegations of misconduct made by chief of staff". The Age. 23 May 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
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