honour. Fierravanti-Wells was one of the Coalition's nominees to the multicultural advisory committee for the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. She also served on the board of Chris Riley's charity Youth Off The Streets from 1999 to 2004, including as chairman from 2002. Political career Fierravanti-Wells was an unsuccessful candidate for Liberal preselection at the 1994 Warringah by-election, which saw future prime minister Tony Abbott elected to parliament. She was president of the party's Italian special branch from 1995 and elected to the state executive in 1996, also serving as a delegate to state council from 1995 and to federal council from 2000. Fierravanti-Wells defeated incumbent senator John Tierney for Liberal preselection prior to the 2004 federal election, winning by 57 votes to 51 with the support of powerbroker David Clarke. Her victory followed four previous attempts to gain preselection. Normally Fierravanti-Wells would have taken her seat on 1 July 2005, however Tierney resigned in April prior to the expiration of his term. She was appointed to the resulting casual vacancy, and took her seat on 5 May. Following the 2008 Liberal leadership spill, Fierravanti-Wells was appointed as a shadow parliamentary secretary under Malcolm Turnbull, with responsibility for immigration and citizenship. She was promoted to shadow minister for ageing when Tony Abbott replaced Turnbull as opposition leader in December 2009, adding the mental health portfolio following the 2010 election. After the 2013 federal election, Fierravanti-Wells was appointed to the Abbott Ministry as the Parliamentary Secretary for Social Services from September 2013. In May 2015 she was also made parliamentary secretary to the Attorney-General, with a focus on anti-radicalisation. She was appointed as Assistant Minister for Multicultural Affairs in September 2015, following Turnbull's victory over Abbott in a leadership spill. Following the 2015 Parramatta shooting, Fierravanti-Wells stated that "we have been dealing with extremism and violent extremism as a national security issue, but what we really need to do is to be looking at it [as] a social issue with a national security angle". She supported ASIO director-general Duncan Lewis's request that Coalition MPs use more moderate language in reference to Islamic extremism, which was seen as controversial. She also stated that it was a duty of government to support "the modern and moderate interpretation" of Islam. On 13 February 2016, it was announced that Fierravanti-Wells would be appointed Minister for International Development and the Pacific following a rearrangement in the