Members A to Z

Ms. Maria Vamvakinou MP

Submitted by lbomassi on 7 December, 2009 - 16:42
in
Member of the Parliamentarian Network
Parliament: 
Australian House of Representatives
Political Party: 
Australian Labor Party

Maria Vamvakinou, the Federal Member for Calwell, is the first Greek-born woman to be elected to Australia’s national parliament. Prior to entering Parliament Maria worked in various political roles, including as an Electorate Officer to Andrew Theophanous and Senator Kim Carr and she also worked as and Executive Assistant to Joan Kirner, Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and as a Personal Secretary to Andrew McCutcheon, Victorian Minister for Planning and Housing. Maria has had extensive involvement in her local community and prior to entering Parliament Maria was a Councillor on the Northcote City Council.

Mr. Dirk Van der Maelen

Submitted by lbomassi on 9 August, 2010 - 14:07
in
Member of the Parliamentarian Network
Parliament: 
Belgian Chamber of Representatives
Political Party: 
The Socialist Party (SPA)

Dirk Van der Maelen is a member of the Belgian Chamber of Representatives, a lower house of the Belgian Federal Parliament. He is a strong advocate of fairer taxation laws and international justice.

Mr. Van der Maelen was fist elected to the Belgian Chamber of Representatives in 1989.  From 1999 to 2007 he was the leader of the SPA's fraction there. Since October 2007, Mr Van Der Maelen has been the Vice Chairman of the SPA.

Mr. Van der Maelen has always been deeply involved in security issues, international affairs and financing.He was once heralded the Best Member of the Parliament by the Belgian daily newspaper "De Morgen". He's been a strong advocate of the ban on landmines, cluster bombs and cluster munition and thanks to his proposal, Belgium has become the first country to issue a ban on the use, transportation, export, stockpiling, trade and production of cluster munitions. Mr. Van der Maelen also strongly condemns the military operation in Afghanistan and advocates the withdrawal of all Belgian troops from the country.

Mr. Johan Van Hecke

Submitted by Anonymous on 2 October, 2008 - 16:10
in
Member of the Parliamentarian Network
Mr. Van Hecke is a Belgian politician and former Member of the European Parliament for Flanders with the Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten, part of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe. He was a member of the European Parliament's Committee on International Trade, a member of the Delegation to the ACP-EU Joint Parliamentary Assembly, and was a substitute for the Delegation for relations with South Africa.

Ms. Hilde Vautmans MP

Submitted by Anonymous on 2 October, 2008 - 16:07
in
Member of the Parliamentarian Network
Parliament: 
Belgian Federal Parliament
Political Party: 
Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten

Ms. Vautmans is a Flemish liberal politician from the Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten party. Ms. Vautmans has graduate degrees from the Catholic University of Leuven (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) in sociology and criminology. She has particular interests in foreign affairs, human rights, health care, and development aid. Since 2006 Ms. Vautmans has been the president of the municipality Council in Hasselt.

Presidente Nichi Vendola, President of Puglia

Submitted by clynch on 11 February, 2009 - 11:53
in
Member of the Parliamentarian Network

Mr. Vendola is an Italian politician and the President of Puglia. In 1992 he was elected to the Chamber of Deputies and has held his seat ever since. As a member of the Anti-mafia Commission, he came to prominence as a strong opponent of the mafia and organised crime. In 2005 he ran for the presidency of the Puglia region and won, becoming the first member of the Communist Refoundation Party to be elected as president of any Italian region.