Amanda Eloise Vanstone (née O'Brien; born 7 December 1952) is an Australian former politician and a former Ambassador to Italy. She was a Liberal Senator for South Australia from 1984 to 2007, and held several ministerial portfolios in the Howard Government. After her resignation from the Senate in 2007, she served as the Australian Ambassador to Italy until July 2010. Her time as Minister for Immigration was marked by controversies within the Department of Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs. Early life Vanstone was born Amanda Eloise O'Brien on 7 December 1952 in Adelaide, South Australia. She is the youngest of four children. Her father died when she was three. Her mother remarried soon afterwards, but not long after this her stepfather also died. She was educated at the St Peter's Collegiate Girls' School. Vanstone has said that she does not defer to male authority due to growing up in a female-headed household and attending a school run by women. At the University of Adelaide, Vanstone received both Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Law degrees. She also earned a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice and a Marketing Studies Certificate from the South Australian Institute of Technology which is now the University of South Australia. In the late 1980s, she married Tony Vanstone, a commercial lawyer from Adelaide, taking his surname. Prior to entering politics, she worked as a retailer in a large department store, and later had her own business selling prints and picture-frames. She also worked as a legal practitioner. Political career In December 1984, at age 31, Vanstone was elected the youngest member of the Australian Senate as a representative for South Australia. She was one of 27 senators for the Liberal Party of Australia elected that year. Vanstone's maiden speech to the Senate was made on 27 March 1985 and addressed issues that young Australians had with the then Labor Government led by Prime Minister Bob Hawke. Vanstone was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry from 1987 to 1988, from 1989 to 1990 and from 1993 to 1996, serving as Shadow Attorney-General and Shadow Minister for Justice from 1994 to 1996. In May 1990, as an opposition backbencher, Vanstone was instrumental in the introduction of televised proceedings in parliament. In March 1996, Vanstone became one of the two women (with Jocelyn Newman) in John Howard's cabinet when she was appointed Minister for Employment, Education, Training