Raff Ciccone

Raffaele "Raff" Ciccone (born 1 November 1983) is an Australian politician who is a Senator for Victoria, representing the Australian Labor Party. He was appointed to the Senate on 6 March 2019 following the resignation of Jacinta Collins, becoming the 100th Senator to represent the state of Victoria.

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]
Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
CitizenshipAustralian
Political partyLabor
SpouseNone
Alma materDeakin University
University of Melbourne
Websitesenatorciccone.com.au

Personal life

Ciccone lived with his parents and brother in the Melbourne suburb of Oakleigh. His parents immigrated to Australia from Italy in the 1960s.[2][3][4]

He received his education at a local Catholic primary school, then at Salesian College in Chadstone.[5] Ciccone went on to study for degrees, first in arts, then commerce, from Deakin University and the University of Melbourne.[6]

Following graduation, Ciccone initially worked in financial planning.[5] Then, he moved to industrial relations and employment law, becoming a senior official in the Shop, Distributive and Allied Employees Association (SDA).[7] The role allowed him to advocate for workers in the retail sector, including fast food, convenience store and warehouse workers.[5] Notably, this included marginalised workers who had been underpaid by 7-Eleven.[8]

Ciccone was elected to the board of Link Health and Community in 2009, and from December 2017 served as the organisation's chair.[6]

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. [9]

Politics

Ciccone joined the Australian Labor Party in 2000 and, whilst studying, worked as a research officer to Senator Jacinta Collins.[5] As a party volunteer, he eventually became the vice-president of the Australian Labor Party in Victoria.[7] He was defeated in his first three attempts in elections, at the Monash City Council elections of 2008 and 2016, and on Labor's Senate ticket in Victoria prior to the 2013 federal election.[10][11][12] When Senator Collins announced she would not be contesting the seat at the 2019 federal election, it created a casual vacancy and Ciccone put his name forward for the position.[7]

Ciccone was appointed to the Senate on 6 March 2019, taking Collins' place, making him the 100th Senator to represent Victoria.[5][13] In the 46th Parliament of Australia, he served as Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate and on the Parliament's Joint Standing Committees on Migration and on Treaties and became Chair of the Senate Select Committee on Temporary Migration.

From 2020 Ciccone has also served on the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment and Growth. Ciccone was the Vice-Chair of the Australia-Italy Parliamentary Network Group and continues to be the Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Landcare.[14] Since 2021, Ciccone has been a member of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee [15] and the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee. [16] On 7 August 2020, Ciccone was appointed to the ALP's national executive.[17][18]

Following the 2022 federal election, Ciccone became Government Deputy Whip in the Senate and was elected Chair of the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee. He was also appointed to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security and the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee.

On 9 April 2022 Ciccone was awarded honorary membership of the Hawthorn branch of the Returned and Services League for advocacy of veterans’ welfare and the establishment of a Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

Political views

Foreign policy

In October 2020 it was reported that Ciccone had joined an informal cross-party grouping of parliamentarians, known as the "Wolverines", who are considered to be anti-China.[19] By 2022, he was known to be a member of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.[20] Ciccone has argued for Australia’s agriculture industry to be considered with national security.[21]

Environment and energy

Ciccone has strongly supported Australia's timber industry, arguing the industry can help to reduce the country's carbon emissions. He has criticised the Labor government in Victoria for their decision to phase out native forest harvesting by 2030.[22] He is connected to a pro-resources grouping of his party, known as the Otis Group, and has argued against the ALP's opposition to nuclear power in Australia.[23][24] He has argued that carbon emissions from agriculture should be reduced, requiring collaboration between government and the agricultural industry. Ciccone has criticised climate change activists for arguing that environmental interests and industry interests are opposed.[25]

Industrial relations

Ciccone has advocated stronger penalties against employers committing wage theft, a rise in unemployment benefits and for greater protection of rights for gig workers.[8]

References
  1. "Senator Raff Ciccone". Senators and Members. Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
  2. Calligeros, Marissa (8 May 2015). "The faces of Melbourne: which migrants went to which suburbs". The Age. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  3. "New Liberal senator uses maiden speech to back Indigenous voice". SBS News. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  4. "Senator Raff Ciccone". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 24 March 2021.
  5. Admin (4 September 2020). "Senator Raff Ciccone". The Glenferrie Times. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  6. "Raff Ciccone picks up Jacinta Collins' Senate spot in Victoria". The Australian. 29 January 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  7. Coughlan, Matt (24 July 2019). "Regularly assess welfare: Labor senator". The Canberra Times. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  8. "Minister stood down over allegations of misconduct made by chief of staff". The Age. 23 May 2015. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  9. "Results for Monash City Council Elections 2008: Oakleigh Ward". Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  10. "Monash City Council election results 2016: Mount Waverley Ward". Victorian Electoral Commission. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  11. "Vic Labor at war over Senate, Hotham". Crikey. 19 July 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
  12. "Hansard: Legislative Assembly of Victoria" (PDF). Parliament of Victoria. 6 March 2019. Refer to pp. 131
  13. corporateName=Commonwealth Parliament; address=Parliament House, Canberra. "Senator Raff Ciccone". www.aph.gov.au. Retrieved 22 November 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  14. "Senate Standing Committees on Legal and Constitutional Affairs".
  15. "Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport".
  16. Greg Brown, New Blood for Labor executive, The Australian, Weekend Edition, 8 Aug 2020 p.2 (print only)
  17. "National Executive".
  18. Galloway, Anthony (23 October 2020). "Seeing Red: Labor's China problem". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 22 November 2020.
  19. "Members". Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China.
  20. "After Covid-19, Vol. 3, Voices from federal parliament". Australian Strategic Policy Institute.
  21. Harris, Rob (23 November 2021). "Labor senator warns party about reacting to climate 'extremists'". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 20 January 2023.
  22. Workman, Alice (10 December 2020). "Follow the leader? Not all Labor MPs get it Right". The Australian. Retrieved 10 December 2020.
  23. Brown, Greg (18 February 2021). "Labor senators back anti-nuclear energy rethink=The Australian".
  24. Sen. Raff Ciccone, Agriculture and forestry have big role to play in climate-friendly future, Ararat Advocate, Ararat, 2 December 2022 p.11 (print only)
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