Nick Lalich

Nick Lalich (born 1945) is an Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly since October 2008, representing the electorate of Cabramatta. Lalich is also the current Mayor of Fairfield, a position which he has held since 2004.

Early life and career

Lalich was born in Egypt to refugee parents who had fled the Tito regime in Yugoslavia. His family migrated to Australia when he was three, and spent time in resettlement camps at Uranquinty and Bonegilla. They eventually settled in the Bonnyrigg area, where Lalich's father variously worked for the government and ran a farm.

Lalich remained in the Bonnyrigg area, where he worked as an electrician and builder for Prospect Electricity before his election to the City of Fairfield council as a Labor candidate in 1987. He was elected by his colleagues as mayor in 1993-94, and was a candidate for preselection for the seat of Cabramatta in 1994, after the assassination of John Newman, losing to Reba Meagher. He had been a close ally of councillor Phuong Ngo, who was later found guilty of arranging the hit on Newman, and visited him in jail after his arrest. In 2008, Ngo claimed that Lalich had been the first person to tell him of the murder on the night of Newman's death. Lalich remained on council, was again elected mayor by his colleagues in the early 2000s, and ran and won as the first popularly elected mayor of Fairfield in 2004. He was easily re-elected as mayor in late 2008, only weeks before his election to parliament.

Election to parliament

In September 2008, Reba Meagher, the embattled state Health Minister, resigned from politics after it became clear that she would likely be dumped from Cabinet in a forthcoming ministerial reshuffle. This resulted in a by-election for her seat, and Lalich, who had lost a preselection vote to her in 1994, was immediately touted as her replacement, duly winning preselection. He faced a strong challenge in the usually safe seat due to an unpopular government and a strong Liberal candidate in Australian Broadcasting Corporation journalist Dai Le, but withstood a 20% swing against Labor to hold the seat for the party. Lalich was sworn in as a member of the Legislative Assembly on October 18, and appointed to the Public Bodies Review Committee on October 30. He has also vowed to continue as Fairfield mayor in addition to his parliamentary responsibilities.

Recent controversy

There has been recent controversy regarding Lalich's stand against erecting an Australian-Assyrian war memorial plaque in Fairfield. The motion was initially rejected when it was first introduced to the council by Liberal councillor Zaya Toma in November 2008 and was going to be fully funded by the Assyrian Levies Association. When another meeting was set in February 2009, close to 300 members of the Assyrian community in Fairfield attended. The community was assured that the motion would pass but Mayor Nick Lalich and Labor councillor Anwar Khoshaba voted against the memorial plaque, it was met with anger from some members of the crowd who began shouting at Cr Khoshaba and Mayor Nick Lalich: ``No more Labor and ``Out with Lalich. The controversy only grew after Lalich made allegedly defamatory remarks a week later against Liberal councillor Zaya Toma.