23 Facts About Kon Vatskalis

Konstantine Vatskalis was born on 4 April 1957 and is a Greek-Australian politician and the current Lord Mayor of Darwin.

Kon Vatskalis was Minister for Business and Economic Development, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Defence Support, Minister for Sport and Recreation, Minister for Essential Services, Minister for Health, Minister for Mines and Energy, Minister for Primary Industries and Fisheries and Minister for Children and Families.

On 30 July 2014, Vatskalis announced that he would be resigning from the Legislative Assembly at the end of the August sittings, which triggered a 2014 Casuarina by-election.

Kon Vatskalis was born in Greece, and studied public health in Athens.

Kon Vatskalis became involved in student politics while there, becoming a student representative at the Athens Higher Vocational School and taking part in the 1970s pro-democracy protests, where he witnessed people being arrested for speaking freely.

Kon Vatskalis married an Australian woman, Linda Cotton in 1982, and in 1983, they emigrated to Western Australia.

Once they had arrived in Perth, Kon Vatskalis found that his Greek qualifications were not recognised, and was forced to start again, beginning a degree in environmental health at Curtin University, where he joined the Labor Party.

In 1992, not long before leaving Western Australia, Kon Vatskalis completed post-graduate studies this time in environmental science from Murdoch University.

In 1993, Kon Vatskalis secured a job managing the NT Health Department's Darwin Environmental Health Unit, which meant relocating to the Northern Territory.

Kon Vatskalis quickly became involved in Darwin's multicultural community, taking up a position hosting a Greek community radio show the same year, and going on to present a weekly nationwide Greek news segment on SBS Radio.

Kon Vatskalis served a stint on the Northern Territory Police's Ethnic Advisory Committee.

Kon Vatskalis left the Environmental Health Unit in 1999, taking up a position at Danila Dilba, the indigenous health service in Darwin.

Kon Vatskalis was successful in gaining preselection, but was not widely expected to be elected.

Not only had the ALP ever won Casuarina, but Kon Vatskalis was facing incumbent MP and Arts, Sciences and Ethnic Affairs Minister Peter Adamson.

Kon Vatskalis began to win praise from several sectors over his handling of a number of issues, including opening up a large number of new housing blocks and both introducing speed limits on the Lasseter Highway and funding road repair projects in an attempt to curb the number of road deaths.

Kon Vatskalis was responsible for closing Darwin's Lake Leanyer after a coronial inquest into a death there.

In February 2002, the Northern Territory News suggested that Kon Vatskalis had "consistently been one of the Government's better performers", though they criticised him for not appointing "new blood" to his departments.

Kon Vatskalis was criticised for the sacking without explanation of one of the Territory's most senior public servants, the head of the Parks and Wildlife Service, Dr Bill Freeland, and had recurring problems surrounding the planned gas plant at Wickham Point on Darwin Harbour.

In October 2002, Kon Vatskalis had to be placed under police protection when he received death threats from residents angry over a decision to approve the construction of a private school in a suburban street.

Kon Vatskalis launched a significant shakeup of mining laws, blocked proposals to create a second mine in the Kakadu National Park, and oversaw the proposal to clean up the environmental damage from the abandoned Mount Todd gold mine, near Katherine.

Kon Vatskalis led a number of delegations to China and presented the Territory's mineral wealth to mining companies and investors in China.

Kon Vatskalis won favour from the recreational fishing community, banning commercial fishing in the Adelaide River and rejecting proposals to introduce fishing licenses in the Territory.

Kon Vatskalis faced his first electoral test at the 2005 election, and despite having won the seat from the CLP for the first time ever in 2001, was easily elected with a massive swing in his favour, amidst a landslide result across the Territory.