Concetta Fierravanti-Wells
Concetta Anna Fierravanti-Wells (née Fierravanti;[a] born 20 May 1960) is an Australian politician who was a Senator for New South Wales from 2005 to 2022, representing the Liberal Party. She served as Minister for International Development and the Pacific in the Turnbull government from 2016 to 2018. She grew up in Port Kembla, New South Wales, and, prior to entering politics, worked as a lawyer and policy adviser.
Concetta Fierravanti-Wells
Office established
Solicitor
Early life[edit]
Fierravanti-Wells was born on 20 May 1960 in Wollongong, New South Wales.[1] She is the daughter of Giuseppe and Antonia Fierravanti,[2] both of whom were born in Calitri, Italy.[3] Her father arrived in Australia in 1953 to work at the Port Kembla steelworks, and was joined by his future wife six years later.[2] Fierravanti-Wells acquired Italian citizenship by descent in 1985, but renounced it in 1994 prior to standing for parliamentary preselection.[3] She spoke Italian as her first language, learning English at kindergarten.[4]
Fierravanti-Wells grew up in Port Kembla, attending St Patrick's Catholic Primary School and St Mary, Star of the Sea College in Wollongong.[5] She went on to study at the Australian National University, completing a Bachelor of Arts in political science in European languages in 1980 and a Bachelor of Laws in 1982.[6] While at university she was named Miss Rugby 1981 by the ACT Rugby Union, representing the ANU Rugby Club.[7]
Career[edit]
Fierravanti-Wells served her articles of clerkship with the Canberra firm of Macphillamy, Cummins and Gibson. She joined the office of the Australian Government Solicitor (AGS) in 1984, working for its ACT branch until 1986 and then joining its New South Wales branch. She was the acting principal legal officer at the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service in 1990.[1] In the same year, Fierravanti-Wells began working as a policy adviser for federal MP and shadow minister Jim Carlton. She was involved in drafting the proposed changes to the Australian Public Service under the federal opposition's Fightback! policy. After the Coalition's defeat at the 1993 federal election she was seconded to New South Wales premier John Fahey as his senior private secretary.[8] Fierravanti-Wells re-joined the AGS in 1994 as a senior lawyer. She was also a consultant to MinterEllison from 2003.[1]
Outside of her professional career, Fierravanti-Wells was the Australian representative on the General Council of Italians Abroad (Consiglio Generale degli Italiani all'Estero) from 1990 to 1998.[1] She was made a knight of the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic in 1998,[2] the youngest Australian to receive the honour.[9] Fierravanti-Wells was one of the Coalition's nominees to the multicultural advisory committee for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She also served on the board of Chris Riley's charity Youth Off The Streets from 1999 to 2004, including as chairman from 2002.[1]
Personal life[edit]
Fierravanti-Wells is married to John Wells, a former Royal Australian Navy officer who commanded HMAS Tobruk during the 1990s.[27] They married in 1990 at naval base HMAS Watson.[2] In 2013, when she first became a parliamentary secretary, she reported that they own a property in Umbria, Italy.[28]