Welcome
Thank you for visiting my website.
When I became an Australian Senator, I committed to listening to locals and improving our community. That includes shining a light on the issues that affect working people, highlighting key social justice issues and working towards fairness for all.
I’m proud of Federal Labor’s commitment to improving wages, creating jobs, delivering quality education and strengthening Medicare.
My story
The son of Italian immigrants, I grew up in Melbourne’s south-east and attended a local Catholic primary and secondary school before going on to university.
Driven by my parents’ example of hard work and sacrifice, my working life began as a teenager at the local dry cleaners.
I joined the Australian Labor Party in 2000, inspired by former Victorian Premier Steve Bracks’ state campaign to roll back Coalition cuts to education and health, and to reverse industrial relations reforms that had disadvantaged workers.
After graduating, I began my career in financial planning, but soon realised that my true passion was making a meaningful difference for working people.
That passion led me into the labour movement and a role with the SDA Union, where I advocated for better pay and conditions for retail, fast food and warehousing workers. A highlight of this work was helping recover underpaid wages for 7-Eleven employees – work that strengthened my commitment to fairness and justice in the workplace.
My experience in workplace issues later led to me becoming an adviser to Senator the Hon. Jacinta Collins, focusing on workplace relations policy.
My belief in preventative healthcare and universal access to high-quality health services motivated me to volunteer on the board of my local community health organisation, Link Health and Community.
On 6 March 2019, I had the honour of being appointed the 100th Senator to represent the people of Victoria in the Australian Parliament. Since August 2020, I have also served on the ALP’s national executive.
I hold a number of parliamentary roles focused on defence, foreign affairs, national security and agriculture.
Since 2022, I have chaired the Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee and since October 2024 the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security (PJCIS), two of the most significant oversight roles in the Australian Parliament.
Through the PJCIS, I have led Australia’s most significant reform to intelligence oversight in more than four decades, championing the Strengthening Oversight of the National Intelligence Community (SONIC) Bill to extend parliamentary scrutiny to all ten agencies of the National Intelligence Community for the first time.
National security is inseparable from the economic security of Australian workers, the safety of our communities and the sovereignty of our nation. I have argued that Australia’s agricultural and forestry industries are matters of national security, not just economic policy. I have advocated for Australia to take a harder line on authoritarian states that seek to undermine our values and threaten our partners. And I have stood publicly with Taiwan, with Israel and with the Iranian people in their struggle for freedom.
I have also championed the full implementation of AUKUS, the $13 billion critical minerals framework with the United States and the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund because I believe a secure Australia must also be an industrially capable one.
My roots have never changed. I am still the son of Italian immigrants who came to this country with nothing and built a life through hard work and community. Everything I do in the Senate is in service of that same idea: that Australia is a place where anyone who works hard, plays by the rules and contributes to their community deserves a fair go.
I am also proud to chair several parliamentary groups in Canberra such as the country groups of Italy, Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates, the European Parliament and Holy See, as well as the Parliamentary Friends of Fresh Produce, Red Meat, and Forestry, Timber and Paper Products, among others.
Throughout my adult life, my mission has remained the same: to support workers and ensure every Australian has access to quality education and the opportunity for a decent job with fair pay and conditions.
Away from politics, I am a passionate Collingwood Football Club member, a Formula One fan and a Weber BBQ enthusiast.
