Craig Ondarchie


Craig Philip Ondarchie is an Australian politician representing the Liberal Party in the Victorian Legislative Council.
He attended Kingswood College and has been a member of the Liberal Party since 1997.
Ondarchie worked for over a decade in business development, two years as executive director of the Royal Women's Hospital, and eight years as managing partner of the Melbourne corporate governance organisation, RADNO.
He was elected to the Northern Metropolitan Region at the 2010 Victorian Election, and currently sits on parliamentary committees overseeing environment and planning legislation, public accounts and estimates, and environment and planning references. On 25 April 2013, Ondarchie was appointed as Parliamentary Secretary to the Premier of Victoria.
After the 2014 Victorian state election, Ondarchie became a member of the Opposition front bench, serving as Shadow Minister for Investment and Jobs and Shadow Minister for Trade. Ondarchie caused controversy in 2018 during debate on a bill in the Legislative Council that would have, among other things, given presumptive rights to firefighters who had contracted cancer as part of their work. Ondarchie requested a pair, and was granted one after saying to the chamber "I do not want to be here. Today I want to be right now with my church family". Ondarchie was granted a pair, but then returned to Parliament the following morning to vote against the bill, which caused the bill to be defeated and presumptive rights to be delayed to firefighters with cancer.
Ondarchie failed to reach a quota in his own right at the 2018 Victorian state election, but was re-elected only with the help of preferences.