John Biase D'Orazio was a Western Australian politician. A pharmacist by trade, he served as mayor of the City of Bayswater from 1983 until 2000, then was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly electorate of Ballajura in 2001, where he served until 2008. Elected as a member of the Labor Party, D'Orazio briefly served as Minister for Police in the Carpenter Ministry, but was dumped in May 2006 following a series of personal controversies. In August, he was forced to resign from the party due to corruption allegations, and sat as an independent. He was readmitted to the party in June 2008, but resigned again two months later after failing to win preselection to recontest his seat. He subsequently contested the 2008 state election as an independent, but was unsuccessful.
Biography
Appointed as minister of justice and small business in 2005, he was then given the portfolios for police, emergency services, justice and community safety in February 2006. In May 2006 D'Orazio was stripped of his portfolios after it was revealed that he had been driving for two months without a licence after he had had a car accident in a ministerial vehicle. He had lost his licence after failing to pay several speeding fines He was forced to resign from the Party as a result. By August 2006, D'Orazio was caught up in a corruption investigation and had to front the Corruption and Crime Commission to explain phone calls between himself and Pasquale Minniti, who allegedly was using his influence with officers in the Western Australian Police force to have speeding fines dropped. D'Orazio won a fight to rejoin the Labor Party in April 2008 when the Party decided it was better to accept his membership than endure a costly legal battle. After losing preselection for the seat of Morley in the September 2008 election to journalist Reece Whitby, D'Orazio quit the ALP in June 2008 and announced his decision to contest the seat as an independent. His decision to direct preferences to Liberal candidate Ian Britza resulted in Britza winning the seat by 40 votes after preference distribution. Britza's victory allowed Liberal leader Colin Barnett to form a minority government in coalition with the National Party. In 2006, D'Orazio introduced a private members bill instigating a three-year trial of daylight saving in Western Australia, ahead of a referendum on the issue in 2009.
Death
D'Orazio died on 11 April 2011 from a heart attack at Murdoch St John of God Hospital during an operation to install a mini defibrillator in his body to assist his heart. He was 55.
