Concetta Fierravanti-Wells

Her father arrived in Australia in 1953 to work at the Port Kembla steelworks, and was joined by his future wife six years later.

Concetta Anna Fierravanti-Wells (born 20 May 1960) is an Australian politician who was a Senator for New South Wales from 2005 to 2022, representing the Liberal Party.

Fierravanti-Wells was born on 20 May 1960 in Wollongong, New South Wales.

She is the daughter of Giuseppe and Antonia Fierravanti, both of whom were born in Calitri, Italy.

She went on to study at the Australian National University, completing a Bachelor of Arts in political science in European languages in 1980 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1982.

While at university she was named Miss Rugby 1981 by the ACT Rugby Union, representing the ANU Rugby Club.

Fierravanti-Wells served her articles of clerkship with the Canberra firm of Macphillamy, Cummins and Gibson.

She joined the office of the Australian Government Solicitor (AGS) in 1984, working for its ACT branch until 1986 and then joining its New South Wales branch.

Fierravanti-Wells acquired Italian citizenship by descent in 1985, but renounced it in 1994 prior to standing for parliamentary preselection.

She spoke Italian as her first language, learning English at kindergarten.

Fierravanti-Wells grew up in Port Kembla, attending St Patrick's Catholic Primary School and St Mary, Star of the Sea College in Wollongong.

She was the acting principal legal officer at the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service in 1990.

In the same year, Fierravanti-Wells began working as a policy adviser for federal MP and shadow minister Jim Carlton.

She was involved in drafting the proposed changes to the Australian Public Service under the federal opposition's Fightback! policy.

Outside of her professional career, Fierravanti-Wells was the Australian representative on the General Council of Italians Abroad (Consiglio Generale degli Italiani all'Estero) from 1990 to 1998.

After the Coalition's defeat at the 1993 federal election she was seconded to New South Wales premier John Fahey as his senior private secretary.

Fierravanti-Wells re-joined the AGS in 1994 as a senior lawyer.

Fierravanti-Wells was an unsuccessful candidate for Liberal preselection at the 1994 Warringah by-election, which saw future prime minister Tony Abbott elected to parliament.

She was president of the party's Italian special branch from 1995 and elected to the state executive in 1996, also serving as a delegate to state council from 1995 and to federal council from 2000.

She was made a knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1998, the youngest Australian to receive the honour.

She also served on the board of Chris Riley's charity Youth Off The Streets from 1999 to 2004, including as chairman from 2002.

Fierravanti-Wells was one of the Coalition's nominees to the multicultural advisory committee for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

She was also a consultant to MinterEllison from 2003.

Fierravanti-Wells defeated incumbent senator John Tierney for Liberal preselection prior to the 2004 federal election, winning by 57 votes to 51 with the support of powerbroker David Clarke.

Her victory followed four previous attempts to gain preselection.

Normally Fierravanti-Wells would have taken her seat on 1 July 2005, however Tierney resigned in April prior to the expiration of his term.

She was appointed to the resulting casual vacancy, and took her seat on 5 May.

Following the 2008 Liberal leadership spill, Fierravanti-Wells was appointed as a shadow parliamentary secretary under Malcolm Turnbull, with responsibility for immigration and citizenship.

She was promoted to shadow minister for ageing when Tony Abbott replaced Turnbull as opposition leader in December 2009, adding the mental health portfolio following the 2010 election.

After the 2013 federal election, Fierravanti-Wells was appointed to the Abbott Ministry as the Parliamentary Secretary for Social Services from September 2013.

In May 2015 she was also made parliamentary secretary to the Attorney-General, with a focus on anti-radicalisation.

She was appointed as Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs in September 2015, following Turnbull's victory over Abbott in a leadership spill.

Following the 2015 Parramatta shooting, Fierravanti-Wells stated that "we have been dealing with extremism and violent extremism as a national security issue, but what we really need to do is to be looking at it [as] a social issue with a national security angle".

She supported ASIO director-general Duncan Lewis's request that Coalition MPs use more moderate language in reference to Islamic extremism, which was seen as controversial.

She also stated that it was a duty of government to support "the modern and moderate interpretation" of Islam.

She served as Minister for International Development and the Pacific in the Turnbull government from 2016 to 2018.

She grew up in Port Kembla, New South Wales, and, prior to entering politics, worked as a lawyer and policy adviser.

On 13 February 2016, it was announced that Fierravanti-Wells would be appointed Minister for International Development and the Pacific following a rearrangement in the First Turnbull Ministry.

In April 2018, speaking at the Overseas Development Institute in London, Fierravanti-Wells said increasing Australia's foreign aid commitment was opposed by most in the country.

"In Australia we had some research done where it showed that about 80% of Australians believe that we should not be spending more on foreign aid or that what we spend is about right".