Former Australian House Leader given Maltese citizenship
Australia’s former Leader of the House John Aquilina has received a Maltese citizenship certificate from Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Tonio Borg.
John Aquilina (born 12 March 1950 in Malta), an Australian politician, is a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Blacktown between 1981 and 1991 and the electorate of Riverstone since 1991 for the Australian Labor Party.
Between 1986 and 1988 and again between 1995 and 2003, he served in a range of ministerial portfolios including Minister for Natural Resources and Minister for Youth and Community Services in the Wran and Unsworth Labor Governments and Minister for Education and Training, Minister for Fair Trading, and Minister for Land and Water Conservation in the Carr Labor Government.
From 2003 to 2007, he was Speaker of the NSW Legislative Assembly. In 2007, Aquilina became Leader of the House.
He had renounced to Maltese citizenship in order to assume a political role in Australia.