Former Australian Deputy Prime Minister to Deliver Lecture at St Mary's

Former Deputy Prime Minister of Australia and Former Ambassador to the Holy See Tim Fischer will deliver a lecture at St Mary’s University, Twickenham on Friday 30^th October. The lecture entitled Is Australia becoming the new Italy Politically? Meanwhile is Italy Westminstering its Senate? will explore the future of Australian and Italian politics. Tim will discuss the recent turbulent history of Australian politics, which has seen four Prime Ministers and four Treasurers in the space of four years. He will also speak about the recent shift in Italian politics where, despite having seen over 30 Prime Ministers since 1945, its parliament has recently passed legislation to reduce the powers of the Italian Senate to a level similar to the British House of Lords. Tim entered politics in 1971 when he was elected to the New South Wales Parliament, joining the national government in 1984. During this time he was Shadow Minister for Energy & Resources, Shadow Minister for Trade, Leader of the National, and later Minister for Trade and Deputy Prime Minister in the Howard Government from 1996 to 1999. He retired from domestic politics in 2001, serving as Australian Ambassador to the Holy See from 2009 to 2012. The lecture is on Friday 30^th October at 2pm at the University’s Strawberry Hill Campus.