Cory Bernardi

The son of an Italian immigrant, Leon Bernardi, who came to Australia at age 16, Cory Bernardi was born in Adelaide. He was a Liberal Party Senator for South Australia from 2006 to 2017, serving the remainder of his term as founder of the Australian Conservative Party, which disbanded in 2019 when he left office in January 2019. A graduate of the University of South Australia, he bought a pub in 1993 and sold it in 1996. He became a stock broker and worked as such from 1996 to 2003. He has also authored two books to help parents teach their children the value of exercise and how to handle money. He successfully launched his own fund, eventually selling it as he became more involved in politics. By 1998, aged 28, he had become the president of the Liberal Party of South Australia. Raised Protestant, despite his Italian paternal roots, he converted to Roman Catholicism and attends the Traditional Latin Mass. He and his Irish-born wife, Sinéad, have two sons, Oscar and Harvey.