John Smith wrote on Jan 9
th, 2014 at 2:17pm:
matty wrote on Jan 9
th, 2014 at 1:55pm:
I'm reading on here and other places that this book and other things show that Cory should not be in Parliament. Funny, these lefties don't seem to understand a thing called democracy - Cory was voted in by the Australian people. And on the same page, is Lee Rhiannon (and pretty much all of the greens, but her especially) too far to the left to be in Parliament??
I asked that question before but never got a reply, was Cory voted in or was he handed his senate seat by the liberal hierarchy?
Bernardi is the son of an Italian immigrant father who came to Australia in 1958.[1] Bernardi was born and raised in Adelaide and attended Prince Alfred College in Kent Town, South Australia. He then went on to further his rowing career at the Australian Institute of Sport in 1989.[2]
Bernardi represented Australia in the sport of rowing in 1988 and 1989. In doing so at the age of 18, he is the youngest person to have represented Australia in the open heavyweight men's division of rowing. Bernardi, rowing in a Mercantile Rowing Club eight, won the Ladies' Challenge Plate at the Henley Royal Regatta in England.[3] He also competed at the 1989 World Rowing Championships in Bled (in then Yugoslavia, in now Slovenia), as part of the coxless four, and came tenth.[4]
Bernardi suffered a back injury in 1989 which effectively ended his rowing career.[1]
He is married to Sinead and they have two sons.[5]
Political career[edit]
Following the resignation of Robert Hill from the Senate in March 2006 to become Ambassador to the United Nations, Bernardi was chosen by the Parliament of South Australia to fill the vacancy. His senate term officially commenced on 4 May 2006.[6] He was elected to a full six-year term at the 2007 federal election.
In December 2007, Bernardi was appointed the Federal Coalition's Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Families and Community Services. In September 2008, new Federal Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull appointed Bernardi the Coalition Spokesman for Disabilities, Carers and the Voluntary Sector.[7] Bernardi is a member of the conservative faction or right-wing of the Liberal Party.[8]
On 17 February 2007, Bernardi was pre-selected by the State Council of the South Australian Liberal Party to be the number one candidate on the South Australian Liberal Senate ticket for the federal election[citation needed] to be held in late 2007. He was pre-selected ahead of Simon Birmingham, while Senator Grant Chapman came in third.