Andrew Charles Frederick Ziolkowski was an Australian politician.
Background
Ziolkowski was born in Forbes, New South Wales, the son of Wladyslaw Ziolkowski - a Polish immigrant - and his wife Roma Ziolkowski. He grew up in Parramatta, and attended Street Patrick"s Primary School and Parramatta Marist High School.
Career
He served as an Australian Labor Party Member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 1991 until his death in 1994, representing the electoral district of Parramatta. He was one of three New South Wales MPs to die that year, with John Newman (47) dying close before and Tony Doyle (41) following soon after. He moved to Parramatta, in western Sydney, as a child.
After finishing school he worked as a Process Worker for Alcan in Granville and as a Steelworks Tradesman"s Assistant for BHP in Wollongong.
Ziolkowski"s political career began as a result of his involvement in trade unions and student politics. He attended university at Macquarie University, where he sat on the executive of the Students" Council and edited the student newspaper, Arena.
NSW Premier Bob Carr would later tell Parliament, "Andrew was editor of the Macquarie University student newspaper Arena, while Gabrielle continued as the president of the Students" Union. After university, Ziolkowski, who had been involved in Young Labor at university, found work as an Industrial Research Officer for the then-Federal Member for Parramatta, The Honorary
John Brown. In 1990 he was appointed a union official for the Transport Workers Union of Australia.
Ziolkowski was elected Member for Parramatta in 1991. At the age of 27 he was the youngest person ever elected to the New South Wales Parliament, and his difficult-to-pronounce surname soon saw him dubbed "Zorro" by fellow MPs. In July 1993, Ziolkowski advised the Leader of the Opposition, Bob Carr, that he had been diagnosed with a rare form of cancer, affecting the oesophagus and by September 1993 was forced by illness to stop attending parliament.
He finally succumbed in early 1994.
In her maiden speech to Parliament, Harrison stated
Andrew had hoped to publicly thank the staff of ward C5C at Westmead Hospital for their dedication and many acts of kindness. lieutenant is appropriate that I do that tonight on his behalf.