Andrew Ziolkowski

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Andrew Charles Frederick Ziolkowski (1963-12-12–1994-04-12) was an Australian politician. He served as Member for Parramatta in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1991 until his death three years later. He was one of three New South Wales MPs to die that year, with John Newman (47) dying close before and Tony Doyle (41) following soon after.

Ziolkowski was born in Forbes, New South Wales, the son of a Polish immigrant. He moved to Parramatta, in western Sydney, as a child. He grew up in Parramatta, and attended St Patrick's Primary School and Parramatta Marist High School. After finishing school he worked as a Process Worker for Alcan in Granville and as a Steelworks Tradesman's Assistant for BHP in Wollongong.

Ziolkowski's political career began as a result of his involvement in trade unions and student politics. He attended university at Macquarie University, where he sat on the executive of the Students' Council and edited the student newspaper, Arena. It was during his student days that Ziolkowski met his future wife, Gabrielle Harrison, who was chairman of the Student Union at the time. NSW Premier Bob Carr would later tell Parliament, "Andrew was editor of the Macquarie University student newspaper Arena, while Gabrielle continued as the president of the Students' Union. I understand that his wife got a lot of coverage in the student paper."[1] On 1985-11-30, he married Harrison, who kept her own name.

After university, Ziolkowski, who had been involved in Young Labor at university, found work as an Industrial Research Officer for the then-Member for Parramatta. In 1990 he was appointed a union official for the Transport Workers Union of Australia. Ziolkowski was elected Member for Parramatta in 1991. At the age of 27 he was by far the youngest person ever elected to the New South Wales Parliament, and his difficult-to-pronounce surname soon saw him dubbed "Zorro" by fellow MPs. Ziolkowski sat on the back bench for two years, but in September 1993 was forced by illness to stop attending parliament. He was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, affecting the oesophagus, and finally succumbed in early 1994.

Ziolkowski's death resulted in a by-election on 1994-08-27, which his wife went on to win. He was survived by his wife and a son, Tristan, then aged 7.

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^  Excerpt from NSW Legislative Assembly Hansard, 1994-04-13 (see references)

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