CLANCY OVERELL | Editor | CONTACT
As of Saturday night, David Frank Crisafulli is the 41st Premier of Queensland.
He joins Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro in cementing Italian-Australian leadership across three governments.
As the son of North Queensland farmers, Crisafulli descends from the early Southern European migrants who first arrived in Queensland to work as indentured servants in the sugarcane industry, following the discontinuation of our nation’s shameful Pacific Islander slave trade which was ironically ended by the introduction of the White Australia Policy.
The Crisafulli family story is one of entrepreneurialism, hard work, and is a testament to the social mobility that can exist within Australia’s multicultural history. His rural hometown of Ingham in Far North Queensland boasts an Italian-Australian population of well over 50%. It is not uncommon to hear Italian still being spoken on the main street to this day.
There are similar stories dotted right across rural Australia, from Griffith to Stanthorpe, Shepparton and Mildura. Let alone the inner-city enclaves of New Farm, Carlton and Leichhardt.
But it seems this story of Australian migrant ambition is far from over – and last weekend’s Queensland election result is far from the ceiling for Italian-Australians.
On top of the successes of Albanese, Finocchiaro and Crisafulli – there are also Italian-Australians leading the Opposition in Victoria and South Australia in the shape of John Pesutto and Vincent Tarzia respectively. The Deputy Premier of Western Australia, Rita Saffioti, is also Italian.
While John Pesutto may have the hardest job in Australian politics, he’s also the only member of the Victorian Liberal Party who is even remotely electable. Australia is one or two light aircraft accidents away from having five governments run by Italian-Australians.
However, the golden era of Italian-Australian political representation has caused mixed feelings for one of elderly post-war arrivals who started this very migration wave.
Tony Lombardo, a 77-year-old semi-retired cobbler from Betoota’s Flight Path district is both very proud of his people’s successes, but also deeply concerned – and downright suspicious.
“Where there families from?” he asks.
“They not all Italian. Some of them just cross the border and say they Italian on the boat”
While Tony cherishes the bragging rights that comes with these recent elections, he also harbours many conspiracy theories about where this is all heading. He believes that some of these political leaders have families that come from the politically incompetent regions of Italy that caused the very economic downturns that forced him to move here in the first place.
“I don’t know” he says.
“Who are they?!” he reiterates, before reverting back to bragging about the Italian-Australians he is more willing to claim.
“You know the Wiggle men? They Italian. Paul-a-Kelly. Italian too”
Tony gets a twinkle in his eye, before revealing his favourite member of the diaspora.
“Tina Arena”
