Kevin Rozzoli

Kevin Richard Rozzoli (born 13 September 1939) is an Australian politician. He was a Liberal Party of Australia member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1973 until 2003, representing the electorate of Hawkesbury. He also served as Speaker of the Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 1995, during the Greiner and John Fahey governments.

Rozzoli studied at Richmond High School. He subsequently received a trade certificate in watchmaking, and worked as a retail watchmaker and jeweller from 1956 to 1972. He was a member of the Windsor Municipal Council (a forerunner to the City of Hawkesbury) from 1968 to 1974, leaving the council after his election to parliament.

Bernie Deane, the then MLA for the relatively safe Liberal seat of Hawkesbury, resigned in late 1972. Rozzoli won Liberal preselection for the resulting by-election, going on to narrowly defeat Labor candidate Peter Dunn on February 17, 1973. He was re-elected nine terms in a career lasting thirty years. He studied for a law degree during his early parliamentary career, and was admitted to the bar in 1985. He was a shadow minister while the Liberal Party was in opposition during the 1980s, and was appointed Speaker of the Legislative Assembly when they won office under Nick Greiner in 1988.^[1][2]

Rozzoli attempted to recontest his seat for a tenth time at the 2003 state election, but amidst a period of intra-party factional conflict, was defeated for Liberal preselection by former Hornsby mayor Steven Pringle.^[3] The animosity created by defeating Rozzoli after thirty years was later touted as a factor in Pringle's own loss of preselection to Ray Williams after only one term; at the time, Rozzoli stated "what comes around, goes around".^[4]

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