His dad thought to pursue a political career was madness while his mum was sure there were better jobs.
Now Adrian Piccoli's parents are tickled pink he's the new deputy leader of the NSW Nationals.
The member for Murrumbidgee was promoted last week after his predecessor, Andrew Fraser, the maverick Coffs Harbour MP, was dumped in a relatively bloodless coup.
Yesterday Mr Fraser, joking about airport security finding knives in his back as he travelled home after a week in Parliament, said he had been stunned by his demotion.
He hadn't seen it coming, but accepted the party's decision, he said.
The announcement of Mr Piccoli's promotion should have given the Nationals some momentum following their loss in the hotly contested Port Macquarie byelection.
Instead, leader Andrew Stoner shot himself in the foot with a reckless throwaway line recommending a bullet for Liberal enemy Alby Schultz.
His new deputy looked stoic but slightly stunned at the gaffe, but nothing could diminish the thrill of his parents.
His father, John, 74, came to Australia as a 16-year-old with a brother, also 16, to support an older brother who had already settled in the Riverina.
The three boys lived in a shack in a paddock and often had dinner at a cafe in town.
That was where Mr Piccoli snr met his future wife, Nives, now 70.
"I knew he was a good solid hard worker," she recalled.
"I had heard of these boys who came to Australia with nothing."
Adrian, their youngest, was schooled in Griffith but boarded at St Gregory's in Campbelltown for his final years.
With an economics-law degree under his belt, he practised as a solicitor in Sydney for a year then went home.
But being stuck in an office all day wasn't for him.
So, despite his dad's view that there was no future in farming, he joined his older brother cultivating rice and vegetables on the family's 700-hectare property.
He joined the Nationals because he loved living in a country community and wanted an avenue to advocate for improvements.
What distinguished the party from Coalition partners the Liberals was its single-minded focus on what was best for people living outside Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong, he said.
"We are never compromised by the conflict that sometimes arises when you represent both," he said.
Elected to Parliament in 1999, Mr Piccoli paid tribute to his parents in his maiden speech, recalling his father hoeing a crop of onions, chasing weeds so small he "needed his reading glasses to spot them".
"That is a dedication and work ethic to which I can only aspire," he said.
"To my mother, who was once bashed at school after being called a wog and was made to apologise for being a wog, all I can say is: 'Mum, haven't us bloody wogs come a long way?"'
Last week Mr Piccoli said he was proud of his elevation because it illustrated what was best about Australia's migrant story.
"If you work hard, you can get somewhere and improve your lot and your children can have an easier life than you, and be in leadership positions."
Email a friend
Favourites
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Digg
StumbleUpon
MySpace
Reddit
Newsvine
LinkedIn
Kwoff
Twitter