Lidia Argondizzo
Lidia Argondizzo (born October 13, 1960) is an Australian politician. She has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Council since 2002, representing Templestowe Province. She is the current Government Whip in the Legislative Council. Argondizzo was born in Italy, but immigrated to Australia as a child. She attended Preston Girls High School and studied business at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. After graduating, she was employed by the Victorian Health Department for several years after graduating. It was during this period that Argondizzo made a move into local politics, when she was elected as a councillor in the City of Northcote in 1987. She left the Health Department the following year and instead took up a position as an electorate officer for Giovanni Sgro, an ALP member of the Legislative Council. In 1989, Argondizzo had two major breaks - she was elected mayor of the City of Northcote, and left Sgro's office in favour of a position as the office manager for ALP Senator Barney Cooney. She continued to juggle the two positions, and though she lost the mayoralty in 1990, she continued on as a councillor until 1993. During this period, she was quite active in her local party branch, and made several unsuccessful attempts to secure ALP preselection for a seat in either state or Federal parliament. In 2002, she finally succeded in securing ALP preselection to contest the seat of Templestowe Province at the election due later this year. Templestowe was held by a margin of nearly six percent by Deputy Liberal Leader in the Upper House and Shadow Minister for Natural Resoures and Energy Carlo Furletti, and he had been widely considered to have a fairly safe grip on the seat. However, on election day, the ALP won one of the largest victories in Victorian electoral history. A swath of Liberal-held seats across the state changed hands, and a number of shadow ministers were defeated. Argondizzo defeated Furletti on primary vote alone, and was solidly ahead after the distribution of preferences, making Furletti became one of the more major casualties of the election. Argondizzo was appointed as the Government Whip in the Legislative Council soon after being sworn in. She also took up positions on the Library, Legislative Council Standing Orders and Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee during 2003.
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