Antonio Catanzariti (born 17 September 1949) is an Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n politician and citrus farmer. Catanzariti represented the 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...

 in the New South Wales Legislative Council

New South Wales Legislative Council

The New South Wales Legislative Council, or upper house, is one of the two chambers of the parliament of New South Wales in Australia. The other is the Legislative Assembly. Both sit at Parliament House in the state capital, Sydney. The Assembly is referred to as the lower house and the Council as...

 from the 2003 election

New South Wales state election, 2003

Elections to the 53rd Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday 22 March 2003. All seats in the Legislative Assembly and half the seats in the Legislative Council were up for election...

 until his retirement. On 31 January 2011, Catanzariti announced that he would not recontesting the next state election

New South Wales state election, 2011

Elections to the 55th Parliament of New South Wales were held on Saturday, 26 March 2011. The 16-year incumbent Australian Labor Party government led by Premier Kristina Keneally was defeated in a landslide by the Liberal-National coalition opposition led by Barry O'Farrell.New South Wales has...

 saying he wanted to devote more time to his farming interests and family.

Born in Platì

Platì

Platì is a town and comune in the province of Reggio Calabria, in Calabria, southern Italy. It rises 300 metres above the sea level on the slope of the Aspromonte mountains and is located next to the Aspromonte National Park...

 in Calabria

Calabria

Calabria , in antiquity known as Bruttium, is a region in southern Italy, south of Naples, located at the "toe" of the Italian Peninsula. The capital city of Calabria is Catanzaro....

, southern Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, Catanzariti's father left Italy for Australia in late 1949 with the hope of finding work and stability to raise his family. He first went to Adelaide and later moved to Griffith, New South Wales

Griffith, New South Wales

Griffith is a city in south-western New South Wales, Australia. It is also the seat of the City of Griffith local government area. Like the Australian capital, Canberra and the nearby town of Leeton, Griffith was designed by Walter Burley Griffin. Griffith was named after Sir Arthur Griffith the...

. His mother migrated to Australia when Catanzariti was just one year old and arrived in Griffith in September 1950. Catanzariti joined the Labor party in 1969 and held a number of party positions prior to his election to the Legislative Council in 2003. He also served as a board member at Murrumbidgee Electricity

Country Energy

Country Energy is a retail subsidiary of Origin Energy. The corporation was formally owned by the Government of New South Wales. It provides natural gas and electricity to retail customers in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland, South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory.-History:On 1...

 and the Sydney Market Authority

Sydney Markets

The Sydney Markets are a commercial enterprise in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Sydney Markets are located in the Inner West suburb of Flemington, 16 kilometres west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of the Municipality of Strathfield. The market is the...

; and as a councillor at Griffith City Council

City of Griffith

The City of Griffith is a Local Government Area in south-western New South Wales, Australia. It is in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area and on Kidman Way....

.

During the 2007 election campaign

New South Wales general election campaign, 2007

An election campaign was held ahead of a general election for the 54th Parliament of New South Wales on Saturday, 24 March 2007. The result—a win for the social-democratic Australian Labor Party and its new leader Morris Iemma—was widely perceived as a foregone conclusion, with opposition leader...

, the opposition National Party of Australia

National Party of Australia

The National Party of Australia is an Australian political party.Traditionally representing graziers, farmers and rural voters generally, it began as the The Country Party, but adopted the name The National Country Party in 1975, changed to The National Party of Australia in 1982. The party is...

 accused Catanzariti of offering to fund independent candidate Mike Neville's campaign for the Nationals-held seat of Murrumbidgee

Electoral district of Murrumbidgee

Murrumbidgee is an electoral district of the Legislative Assembly in the Australian state of New South Wales, named after the Murrumbidgee River. It is represented by Adrian Piccoli of the National Party of Australia....

. Catanzariti admitted he had suggested Neville stand for the seat, but denied that funding had been offered or provided. Neville was easily defeated in Murrumbidgee by sitting Nationals MP Adrian Piccoli

Adrian Piccoli

Adrian Piccoli is an Australian politician representing the electoral district of Murrumbidgee in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. He is the Minister for Education in the O'Farrell Government and the Deputy Leader of the New South Wales Nationals.-Personal life:Piccoli was born in Griffith...

.

Catanzariti is married to Mary Catanzariti and together they have three sons and a daughter.