John D'Orazio

His parents were Iterno Giuseppe D’Orazio and Larentina Carione, who had immigrated from the Italian region of Abruzzo in 1949 and 1951 respectively.

D'Orazio grew up at the family's market garden in Bayswater, another suburb of Perth, and attended Christian Brothers College in Bedford and Highgate, where he was a classmate of Stephen Smith.

John Biase D'Orazio (5 September 1955 – 11 April 2011) was an Australian politician who served as the member for Ballajura in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly from 10 February 2001 to 6 September 2008.

D'Orazio was born on 5 September 1955 in Mount Lawley, a suburb of Perth, Western Australia.

From 1973 to 1976, he studied at the Western Australian Institute of Technology (now known as Curtin University) and obtained a bachelor of science degree, majoring in pharmacy.

Whilst studying there, he played cricket and captained the university's Gaelic football team.

From 1976 to his election to parliament in 2001, he operated a pharmacy.

D'Orazio became interested in local government whilst trying to challenge planning precedents that applied to his pharmacy.

He was awarded Sportsman of the Year there in 1978.

In 1981, he was elected to the Bayswater council, and in 1984, he became the mayor of Bayswater, in which position he served until 2001.

In May 1981, he was elected to the west ward of the Shire of Bayswater council.

In May 1983, he became the deputy shire president, and in May 1984 he became the mayor of the City of Bayswater, succeeding C. C. Cardaci.

Under D'Orazio as mayor, the City of Bayswater restructured its administration; the Morley Galleria Shopping Centre was constructed; it became the first local government in the state to become debt free; it introduced co-mingled recycling and a green waste bin, regarded as one of the best waste systems in Australia at the time; it introduced security patrols; the first wave pool in the state, Bayswater Waves, was constructed; and the Bayswater Community Bank, a Bendigo Bank community branch, was created following the closure of all other banks in the Bayswater town centre.

D'Orazio originated the phrase "the Garden City" used as the city's tagline.

On 9 March 1988, D'Orazio was honoured with the naming of the John D'Orazio Park on the corner of Garratt Road and Guildford Road.

In December 1995, D'Orazio was made an Honorary Freeman of the City in recognition of his service for 17 consecutive years as councillor.

The award is the highest honour that a local government can give in Western Australia.

At the 2001 Western Australian state election, D'Orazio was elected to the seat of Ballajura in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly, beating the Liberal incumbent Rhonda Parker.

Following the 2005 state election, he was promoted to cabinet by Premier Geoff Gallop, becoming the minister for justice and minister for small business.

His licence was suspended at the time after failing to pay for speeding fines issued in 2005.

He was a minister in the governments of Geoff Gallop and Alan Carpenter, and a member of the Australian Labor Party until 29 August 2006, when he resigned following several controversies.

Born to Italian immigrants, D'Orazio grew up on a market garden in the Perth suburb of Bayswater.

He studied pharmacy at the Western Australian Institute of Technology, later opening his own pharmacy business.

On 3 February 2006, after Alan Carpenter became Premier, D'Orazio was appointed as the minister for police and emergency services, minister for justice, and minister for community safety.

In February 2006, it was revealed that in 2003 D'Orazio had organised a meeting between Adam Spagnolo, a City of Bayswater employee, and Tony Drago, the owner of a carpet business, where they allegedly reached a deal where Spagnolo would use his position at the City of Bayswater to give carpet contracts to the business.

In March 2006, it was revealed that up to 15 staff at his pharmacy were not paid superannuation.

In April, he crashed his ministerial car.

This caused him to be stripped of his existing ministries on 8 May 2006 and be made the minister for disability services, minister for citizenship and multicultural interests, and minister for seniors and volunteering.

A day later, he resigned from cabinet.

His licence was later reinstated as the speeding fines were sent to the wrong address.

In August, it was revealed he had talked to corrupt panel beater Pasquale Minniti who said he could help D'Orazio get his licence back by using his connections at Western Australia Police.

This forced him to resign from the Labor Party and sit as an Independent.

As an Independent MP, D'Orazio worked with Liberal backbencher Matt Birney to create a private member's bill for a referendum on whether to introduce daylight saving time.

The bill passed, and so a three-year trial of daylight saving time commenced, with a daylight saving referendum occurring at the end of that.

The Crime and Corruption Commission cleared D'Orazio of any wrongdoing the following month, and all charges against Spagnolo were dropped in 2007.

After the CCC found in December 2007 that D'Orazio had not engaged in misconduct when meeting with Minniti, the Labor Party was forced to let D'Orazio join again.

He failed in his bid for preselection for the seat of Morley, so he resigned from the party on 26 June 2008 to stand as an Independent.

His decision to direct his preferences to Liberal candidate Ian Britza was credited as the reason for Britza winning Morley.

D'Orazio went back to running a pharmacy after leaving parliament.

He died on 11 April 2011 during an operation on his heart following a diagnosis of amyloidosis.