Peter Katsambanis

Peter Argyris Katsambanis (1965-12-24 to September 2026) was a Greek Australian Liberal politician and solicitor who held elected office in Victoria and in both houses of the Parliament of Western Australia. He died aged 60 while under the care of the heart transplantation team at The Alfred Hospital in Melbourne. His wife Karalee Katsambanis said the family was devastated and thanked that team for the care they provided. Funeral arrangements will be announced in coming days for a service to be held in Melbourne. The exact calendar day of his death was not confirmed in sources reviewed for this profile.

He was born in Melbourne to Argyrios and Nicoletta Katsambanis and attended Windsor Public School, Prahran High School and Melbourne High School, graduating in 1983. At the University of Melbourne he completed a Bachelor of Commerce (1989) and a Bachelor of Law (1990). He began as an articled clerk with the Trust Company of Australia, became a senior trust officer with ANZ funds management in 1992, joined Perpetual Trustees as a solicitor in 1994, and founded his own legal firm in 1995.

He joined the Liberal Party in 1987, served as President of the Toorak Young Liberals (1990-91), and sat on the Prahran Electorate Council (1991-92). In 1996 he was elected to the Victorian Legislative Council for Monash Province. He served as a backbencher, including on the Scrutiny of Acts and Regulations Committee and later the Law Reform Committee, until his defeat in 2002.

Married twice, he later wed former Seven News Melbourne reporter Karalee Tilvern (Karalee Katsambanis). They moved to Western Australia in 2010, where she was born and educated. At the 2013 WA state election he won a Legislative Council seat for North Metropolitan, taking his place from 22 May 2013. In the Council he served on delegated legislation, estimates and audit committees.

After Rob Johnson left the Liberals to sit as an independent, a bitter 2016 preselection for the safe lower-house seat of Hillarys pitted Katsambanis against businessman Simon Ehrenfeld. Local processes favoured Ehrenfeld; the Liberal State Council overturned that outcome and endorsed Katsambanis (69-48). Johnson publicly alleged bigotry against Ehrenfeld, who is Jewish. Katsambanis had earlier spoken in Parliament against anti-Semitic attacks. He resigned from the Council on 6 February 2017 to contest Hillarys, and at the March 2017 election defeated Johnson and Labor's Teresa Ritchie. After the poll, Johnson released a late-night voicemail attributed to Katsambanis; Katsambanis denied being drunk and said Johnson had not conceded with grace.

As MLA for Hillarys he held shadow portfolios spanning Police, Road Safety, Corrective Services then Justice, and Industrial Relations under Mike Nahan and successors, and briefly served as Manager of Opposition Business (24 November 2020 to 29 January 2021). He chaired the Community Development and Justice Standing Committee. In 2017 his electorate office moved to a first-floor Hillarys Boat Harbour suite without disabled access; Premier Mark McGowan later admitted the approval was a mistake after complaints including from former federal MP Graham Edwards, though Katsambanis remained there for the time being.

Boundary changes cut the Liberal margin, and in Labor's 2021 landslide he lost Hillarys to Caitlin Collins. On 6PR he said: "I am done in politics. I walk away and I hold my head up high." Neos Kosmos and 6PR recorded his call for Liberals to take stock after what he described as rejection by four out of five Western Australians. Post-politics, the WA biographical register lists lawyer, chief of staff, and Administrative Appeals Tribunal member among employment history. He served as President of the World Hellenic Inter-Parliamentary Association (2017-2021) and as a vice-president of the Hellenic Community of Western Australia.

He is survived by Karalee and five children. Liberal Party of WA state director Simon Morgan called him the "fiercest and finest of warriors" for the Liberal cause. Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas praised service across Victorian and both WA houses and his contribution to the Greek Australian community.