{{Short description|Australian politician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=September 2016}} {{Use Australian English|date=September 2016}} {{Infobox officeholder | honorific_prefix = | name = John Panizza | honorific_suffix = | image = | title = Senator for Western Australia | term_start = 11 July 1987 | term_end = 31 January 1997 | successor = Ross Lightfoot | birth_date = {{birth date|df=yes|1931|3|24}} | birth_place = Southern Cross, Western Australia | death_date = {{death date and age|df=yes|1997|1|31|1931|3|24}} | death_place = Cairns, Queensland, Australia | spouse = {{marriage|Coral Anne Noble|8 February 1958}} | party = Liberal | relations = | children = | alma_mater = | occupation = Farmer | profession = | signature = | website = | footnotes = }} '''John Horace Panizza''' ({{IPA|it|paˈnittsa|lang}}; 24 March 1931 – 31 January 1997) was an Australian politician. He was a Senator for Western Australia from 1987 until his death in 1997, representing the Liberal Party. He was a farmer before entering politics.
==Early life== Panizza was born on 24 March 1931 in Southern Cross, Western Australia. He was the son of Caterina Cristina (née Della Bona) and Bortolo "Bob" Panizza.<ref name=bio>{{Cite Au Senate|Sen id=panizza-john-horace|name=PANIZZA, John Horace (1931–1997)|first=Hari|last=Gupta|year=2017|access-date=2023-01-10|ref=}}</ref> His parents were Italian immigrants; his father was born in Tirano, Lombardy, and arrived in Australia in 1922. He visited Italy in 1928 to marry and on his return settled on a farming property near Marvel Loch, Western Australia.<ref name=hunt>{{cite book|editor-first=Lyall|editor-last=Hunt|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/46566985.pdf|title=Yilgarn: Good Country for Hardy People|year=1988|publisher=Shire of Yilgarn|isbn=0958865752|page=232}}</ref>
Panizza was raised on the family farm,<ref name=bio/> which by 1940 his father had expanded to a wheat and wool property of {{convert|6500|ha|acre}}. His father also invested in mining with other Italian immigrants and was a part-owner of the May Queen mine near Marvel Loch, helping finance his farming activities.<ref name=hunt/> Panizza spoke Italian as his first language and did not learn English until the age of nine. He was sent to boarding school at Aquinas College, Perth, returning to work on the family farm with his two brothers. He eventually took over as manager from his father and also had real estate interests.<ref name=bio/>
==Politics== Panizza was elected to the Yilgarn Shire Council in 1975 and served as president from 1982 to 1987.<ref name=aph/> He was initially a member of the National Party and was an unsuccessful preselection candidate for the Western Australian Legislative Council in 1985. He subsequently joined the Liberal Party and narrowly lost to the incumbent Nationals MP Harry Gayfer at the 1986 Legislative Council election.<ref name=bio/>
===Senate=== At the 1987 federal election, which followed a double dissolution, Panizza was placed fifth on the Liberal Party's Senate ticket in Western Australia and elected to a three-year Senate term.<ref name=bio/> He was re-elected at the 1990 and 1996 elections.<ref name=aph>{{cite news|url=https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query=Id:%22handbook/allmps/JI4%22|title=Biography for PANIZZA, John Horace|publisher=Parliament of Australia|access-date=16 May 2024}}</ref>
Panizza was reportedly the first Italian-Australian elected to the Senate.<ref name=bio/> In 1990 he moved a motion in the Senate expressing regret at the internment of Italians during World War II.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://theconversation.com/why-australia-must-apologise-to-italians-interned-during-world-war-ii-4582|title=Why Australia must apologise to Italians interned during World War II|first=Mia|last=Spizzica|date=6 December 2011|access-date=16 May 2024|publisher=The Conversation}}</ref>
In the Senate, Panizza spoke frequently on agricultural matters and was a "consistent advocate for mineral exploration and development".<ref name=bio/> In 1994, against the government's wishes, he secured the establishment of a Senate inquiry into the CSIRO rural research activities,<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/118262848|title=Inquiry move 'vindicated'|first=Simon|last=Grose|date=16 August 1994|newspaper=The Canberra Times}}</ref> with the support of Democrats and Greens WA senators.<ref name=bio/> According to ''The Canberra Times'', the inquiry followed "months of controversy and turmoil within the CSIRO", but faced difficulties when CSIRO chief executive John Stocker stated the inquiry was of "no value" to the organisation and the relevant government minister Peter Cook stated he would ignore its findings.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/130537174|title=Inquiry a pillow fight of no value to CSIRO|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=12 November 1994}}</ref>
Panizza served as the Liberal Party's Senate whip from 1995 until his death in office in 1997, having previously served as deputy whip from 1993 to 1995.<ref name=bio/> He was a social conservative, in 1993 stating that he was "utterly disgusted [...] almost sick in the stomach" by moves towards legal recognition of same-sex relationships in certain circumstances.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/127527146|title='Same sex' families move begets backlash|newspaper=The Canberra Times|date=27 November 1993}}</ref> He opposed the Keating government's ''Human Rights (Sexual Conduct) Act 1994'', which repealed Tasmania's anti-sodomy laws, but ultimately voted in favour of the legislation in line with the Liberal Party's position under Alexander Downer.<ref name=bio/>
==Personal life== In 1958, Panizza married Coral Noble, with whom he had four children. He died on 31 January 1997 while in Cairns, Queensland, to attend a Senate committee hearing.<ref name=bio/> Ross Lightfoot was appointed to replace him.<ref name=Psephos>{{cite web|last=Carr |first=Adam |title=Australian Election Archive |work=Psephos, Adam Carr's Election Archive |url=http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia |year=2008 |accessdate=2008-11-19 |url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20070717093439/http://psephos.adam-carr.net/countries/a/australia/ |archivedate=17 July 2007 }}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Panizza, John}} Category:1931 births Category:1997 deaths Category:People from Southern Cross, Western Australia Category:Australian politicians of Italian descent Category:Western Australian local councillors Category:Liberal Party of Australia members of the Parliament of Australia Category:Members of the Australian Senate for Western Australia Category:Members of the Australian Senate Category:20th-century Australian politicians