Andrew Ziolkowski
Encyclopedia
Andrew Charles Frederick Ziolkowski (12 December 1963 – 12 April 1994) was an Australian politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. He served as an Australian Labor Party
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party is an Australian political party. It has been the governing party of the Commonwealth of Australia since the 2007 federal election. Julia Gillard is the party's federal parliamentary leader and Prime Minister of Australia...

 Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly
New South Wales Legislative Assembly
The Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of New South Wales, an Australian state. The other chamber is the Legislative Council. Both the Assembly and Council sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney...

 from 1991 until his death in 1994, representing the electoral district of Parramatta
Electoral district of Parramatta
Parramatta is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales. It is currently held by Geoff Lee of the Liberal Party of Australia....

. He was one of three New South Wales MPs to die that year, with John Newman
John Newman (Australian politician)
John Paul Newman was a member of the New South Wales state parliament and Member for the seat of Cabramatta. He was the first elected politician to be assassinated in Australia.-Early life:...

 (47) dying close before and Tony Doyle
Tony Doyle (politician)
Anthony Kenneth "Tony" Doyle was an Australian politician. He was the Labor member for Peats in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1985 to 1994....

 (41) following soon after. He was succeeded in office by his wife, Gabrielle Harrison
Gabrielle Harrison
Gabrielle Mary Harrison was an Australian politician. She served as an Australian Labor Party Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1994 until 2003, representing the electorate of Parramatta. Harrison successed her first husband, Andrew Ziolkowski, who died in office.-Private...

.

Private life

Ziolkowski was born in Forbes
Forbes, New South Wales
-Notable residents:*Carolyn Simpson - Judge of the Supreme Court of New South Wales; Member of the first all-female bench to sit in an Australian court*NSW Deputy Premier Carmel Tebbutt was born and raised in Forbes....

, New South Wales
New South Wales
New South Wales is a state of :Australia, located in the east of the country. It is bordered by Queensland, Victoria and South Australia to the north, south and west respectively. To the east, the state is bordered by the Tasman Sea, which forms part of the Pacific Ocean. New South Wales...

, the son of Wladyslaw Ziolkowski - a Polish
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...

 immigrant - and his wife Roma Ziolkowski. He moved to Parramatta
Parramatta, New South Wales
Parramatta is a suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Greater Western Sydney west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Parramatta River. Parramatta is the administrative seat of the Local Government Area of the City of Parramatta...

, in western Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, as a child. He grew up in Parramatta, and attended St Patrick's Primary School and Parramatta Marist High School
Marist Brothers
The Marist Brothers, or Little Brothers of Mary, are a Catholic religious order of brothers and affiliated lay people. The order was founded in France, at La Valla-en-Gier near Lyon in 1817 by Saint Marcellin Champagnat, a young French priest of the Society of Mary...

.

Early years

After finishing school he worked as a Process Worker for Alcan
Alcan
Rio Tinto Alcan Inc. is a Canadian company based in Montreal. It was created on November 15, 2007 as the result of the merger between Rio Tinto PLC's Canadian subsidiary, Rio Tinto Canada Holding Inc., and Canadian company Alcan Inc. On the same date, Alcan Inc. was renamed Rio Tinto Alcan Inc..Rio...

 in Granville
Granville, New South Wales
Granville, is a suburb in western Sydney, Australia. Granville is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the City of Parramatta. A small part in the north-west is located in the Local Government Area of the City of Holroyd.South Granville is a...

 and as a Steelworks Tradesman's Assistant for BHP
BlueScope Steel
BlueScope Steel is a flat product steel producer with operations in Australia, New Zealand, Asia, the Pacific and North America. It was spun off from BHP Billiton in 2002 as BHP Steel and renamed BlueScope Steel on 17 November 2003...

 in Wollongong
Wollongong, New South Wales
Wollongong is a seaside city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. It lies on the narrow coastal strip between the Illawarra Escarpment and the Pacific Ocean, 82 kilometres south of Sydney...

. Ziolkowski's political career began as a result of his involvement in trade union
Trade union
A trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...

s and student politics. He attended university at Macquarie University
Macquarie University
Macquarie University is an Australian public teaching and research university located in Sydney, with its main campus situated in Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of Sydney...

, 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
Gabrielle Harrison
Gabrielle Mary Harrison was an Australian politician. She served as an Australian Labor Party Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1994 until 2003, representing the electorate of Parramatta. Harrison successed her first husband, Andrew Ziolkowski, who died in office.-Private...

, who was chairman of the Student Union at the time.

NSW Premier
Premiers of New South Wales
The Premier of New South Wales is the head of government in the state of New South Wales, Australia. The Government of New South Wales follows the Westminster system, with a Parliament of New South Wales acting as the legislature...

 Bob Carr
Bob Carr
Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...

 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." Ziolkowski married Harrison on 30 November 1985 and she elected to keep her own name. After university, Ziolkowski, who had been involved in Young Labor
Australian Young Labor
Australian Young Labor is the youth wing of the Australian Labor Party. All ALP members aged under 26 are automatically members. Australian Young Labor is the peak youth body within the ALP. It represents about 9500 members in every state and territory in Australia...

 at university, found work as an Industrial Research Officer for the then-Member for Parramatta, John Books
John Books
John Cameron Books is a former Australian politician. He was the Liberal member for Parramatta in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1988 to 1991....

. In 1990 he was appointed a union official for the Transport Workers Union of Australia
Transport Workers Union of Australia
The Transport Workers Union of Australia is a trade union with over 80,000 members throughout Australia. It has 5 main branches in Australia* Australian Capital Territory/New South Wales* Queensland* Victoria/Tasmania...

.

State politics

Ziolkowski was elected Member for Parramatta in 1991. At the age of 27 he was 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. In July 1993, Ziolkowski advised the Leader of the Opposition, Bob Carr
Bob Carr
Robert John "Bob" Carr , Australian statesman, was Premier of New South Wales from 4 April 1995 to 3 August 2005. He holds the record for the longest continuous service as premier of NSW...

, that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

, affecting the oesophagus and by September 1993 was forced by illness to stop attending parliament. He finally succumbed in early 1994.

Ziolkowski's death resulted in a by-election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

 on held on 27 August 1994, which his wife, Gabrielle Harrison, went on to win. He was survived by his wife and a son, Tristan, then aged 7. In her maiden speech to Parliament, Harrison stated
Andrew had hoped to publicly thank the staff of ward C5C at Westmead Hospital
Westmead Hospital
Westmead Hospital is a major 975 bed tertiary hospital in Sydney, Australia, opened on 10 November 1978 by the then Premier, Neville Wran, and guest of honour was former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam...

for their dedication and many acts of kindness. It is appropriate that I do that tonight on his behalf.
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