Tony Aquilina

Who was Tony Aquilina?

Anthony Saviour Aquilina was an Australian politician.

Tony Aquilina was born in Malta and was married to Joanne; they had two sons. He worked as a primary school teacher. His then wife Joanne was also a teacher at Jamison High School. A long-time resident of Jamisontown Aquilina became a mayor of Penrith where he also worked with and campaigned for Ross Free. He was elected to the New South Wales Legislative Assembly as the Australian Labor Party member for the seat of Mulgoa. He switched to the seat of St Marys in 1991 after Mulgoa was abolished, but his second term was beleaguered by scandal, and then-Opposition Leader Bob Carr forced him to resign at the 1995 election in order to end the associated bad publicity. In 1996, he was found guilty on fraud charges and was sentenced to one year in prison, which on appeal was commuted to community service. He died in Sydney after a long illness.

He is not related to John Aquilina, the former Leader of the House in the Legislative Assembly.