A Tribute to Peter Katsanbanis 1965-2026

MLC Monash Province, Victorian Legislative Council, 1996-2002

MLC North Metropolitan Region 2013-17

MLA Hillarys 2017-21

Peter Katsambanis was a staunch Liberal who was indeed one of our ‘fiercest and finest warriors”, serving in three separate Parliamentary chambers in both Victoria and Western Australia for a total of more than 14 years.

He was born in December 1965, growing up in the inner Melbourne suburb of Prahran, the son of first-generation Greek migrants.  In Peter’s words “their work ethic, their strong moral compass, their thrift, their commitment to our orthodox Christian faith and a pride in our Hellenic heritage are things they have bestowed upon me that I will treasure for life”.  He was educated in local public schools and Melbourne University, where in 1988 he was battling militant leftists in the National Union of Students.  

By 1990 Peter had graduated in both commerce and law and worked as a senior trust officer for the ANZ Bank, and as a solicitor for Perpetual Trustees before founding his own law firm in 1995.  He joined the Liberal Party in 1987, served as a Young Liberal branch president in 1990-91, and in 1996 was selected to contest the Monash Province of the Victorian Legislative Council. 

With two MLCs standing at alternate elections, the province comprised the inner southeastern Legislative Assembly districts of Albert Park, Prahran, Malvern and Caulfield.  It was a consistent but not safe Liberal Province, only narrowly held by previous Liberal MLCs in 1985 and 1988.  Peter won with a 12,400 majority of the 130,000 votes cast – a 2PP of 54.8% - as  part of the 1996 re-election of the Kennett Government.  However, the expiry of his term at the 2002 election coincided with the landslide re-election of the Bracks ALP Government: after preferences he was defeated in Monash by 5000 votes, 48.1%.

After returning to legal work, Peter and Karalee Katsambanis with their young family relocated to Perth in 2010, settling in Hillarys.  Peter was appointed Chief of Staff to Hon Peter Collier, successively Minister for Energy, Training, Indigenous Affairs and Education.  In 2012 Peter’s Liberal involvement saw him selected for the seemingly unwinnable 4^th position on the North Metropolitan Region Legislative Council team for the 2013 election. 

Winning 4 positions out of 6 was always more difficult than gaining 4 out of 7 as had occurred 20 years previously, but the Liberal Party polled a record 57.1%, comfortably electing four MLCs.  Peter’s election was only the seventh occasion in WA Parliamentary history where a new member had previously served in another state parliament – and this had last occurred in 1933, 80 years earlier.  His first speech as an MLC denounced “the inequality in GST distribution between the states that sees WA receive less than half of what it would get on a per capita basis threatens the very fabric of our Federation, because it destroys the compact of equality between the states on which the 3 Commonwealth of Australia was founded back in 1901”.

In 2013-17 Hon Peter Katsambanis MLC served on the Joint Standing Committees on Audit and on Delegated Legislation and was Deputy Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Estimates and Financial Operations.  After Rob Johnson resigned from the Liberal Party in 2016, Peter was endorsed to contest the district of Hillarys at the 2017 election. 

Despite a contentious selection, the 2017 pro-Labor tide and a bitter local election campaign, Peter retained Hillarys after polling 39.6% of the primary vote against 28.7% for the ALP, 9.0% for the Greens and 20.1% for Rob Johnson as an Independent; after preferences he defeated Labor by 1900 votes, 54.1%.  He was a vigorous Opposition frontbencher, with continual responsibility for Police, Road Safety, and Industrial Relations in the four difficult years 2017-2021.  At the 2021 McGowan landslide Hillarys was one of the 11 Liberal seats lost to the ALP.

Always proud of his Greek heritage, Peter served as president of the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association from 2017 to 2021 and also as vice-president of the Hellenic Community of Western Australia.  After his defeat in Hillarys, he stated that while it was the end of his parliamentary career, “I walk away and I hold my head up high”.  He served as a Member of the Administrative Appeals Tribunal before the family returned to Melbourne. After declining health, Peter died at the Alfred Hospital in the care of the heart transplant team. 

We express our deep sympathy to Mrs Karalee Katsambanis, and to Peter’s children Ross, Nicolette, Andrew, Angelica and Zoe. 

Tribute prepared by Jeremy Buxton