Paul Papalia

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Paul Papalia is an Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since February 2007, representing the electorate of Peel. A decorated former navy diver who served two tours in Iraq, Papalia entered parliament after winning a by-election sparked by the resignation of scandal-tarred former minister Norm Marlborough.

Papalia served in the Royal Australian Navy for 26 years before entering politics, working as a navy diver. He specialised in explosives retrieval and escape and rescue, and attained the rank of lieutenant commander. [1] [2] [3] He served with the United Nations Special Commission in Iraq during the early 1990s, and was awarded the Conspicuous Service Cross in 1994 for his work there. [4] Papalia later returned to Iraq during the Iraq War, serving as executive officer in an Australian mine-clearing team. [5] He left the navy in 2004, and operated a small business renovating houses up until the time of his election to parliament. [6] He publicly opposes the Iraq War, and has advocated a rapid withdrawal of Australian forces from the country. [7]

In November 2006, state Minister for Small Business Norm Marlborough resigned from parliament after it was revealed that he had lied to the Corruption and Crime Commission about his dealings with disgraced former Premier of Western Australia Brian Burke, thus forcing a by-election in his electorate of Peel. [8] Peel had been held by the Labor Party since the seat's inception and was generally considered a safe Labor seat, but concerns about an electoral backlash over Marlborough's conduct led the party to look for a candidate without a political background.[9] Papalia thus nominated for Labor preselection in the by-election, and was easily successful – despite having only joined the party weeks before – after receiving strong support from Premier Alan Carpenter. [10] He went on to easily win the by-election, receiving a small swing in his favour in a seat that the government had suspected they might lose. [11] Papalia will thus be sworn in as the member for Peel at the next sitting of parliament.

[edit] References

  1. ^ O'Brien, Amanda. "Iraq war veteran to run for ALP". The Australian, December 15, 2006.
  2. ^ Mason, Graham and Spencer, Ben. "No new blood in Ravlich reshuffle". The West Australian, December 14, 2006.
  3. ^ Mason, Graham. "Premier gets navy diver for Peel". The West Australian, December 15, 2006.
  4. ^ "Australia Day Honours". Sydney Morning Herald, January 26, 1994.
  5. ^ Baker, Mark. "Secrets of Australian heroism revealed". The Age, May 3, 2003.
  6. ^ O'Brien, Amanda. "Lib's hopes on scandal fallout". The Australian, January 31, 2007.
  7. ^ Taylor, Robert. "Navy man dives in for Peel selection". The West Australian, December 11, 2006.
  8. ^ O'Brien, Amanda. "Lib's hopes on scandal fallout". The Australian, January 31, 2007.
  9. ^ Taylor, Robert. "Our new man for Peel is a cleanskin, says Carpenter". The West Australian, January 18, 2007.
  10. ^ Mason, Graham. "Premier gets navy diver for Peel". The West Australian, December 15, 2006.
  11. ^ Lampathakis, Paul. "Labor claims Peel victory". The Sunday Times, February 3, 2006.
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