Amanda Eloise Vanstone AO (née O'Brien; born 7 December 1952) is an Australian former politician and a former Ambassador to Italy.

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.

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.

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.

[4] 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 and Youth Affairs.

In this portfolio she presided over heavy cuts to the employment programs established by the Keating government, which drew strong criticism.

In the Family and Community Services portfolio she presided over the Australian social security programs including Centrelink, attracting criticism by welfare activists.

Vanstone frequently defended the Howard government's policies, and the then Shadow Minister for Family and Community Services, Wayne Swan, described her as "a political hyena who takes delight in attacking society's most vulnerable".

She had also been criticised for overturning a deportation order and granting a visa in 2005 to Francesco Madafferi who had been implicated by Italian officials as a dangerous mafia figure.

Francesco and his brother Antonio ("Tony") Madafferi, a stall holder in Melbourne's Wholesale Fruit and Vegetable market (known to have been controlled by the Honoured Society), were alleged in a report by Victoria Police's organised crime squad to belong to a crime family involved in blackmail, extortion and murder.

[9] In August 2008, Madafferi was arrested and charged, along with several of Australia's other suspected crime bosses (including Australian 'Ndrangheta boss Pasquale "Pat" Barbaro), after Australian Federal Police made the world's biggest ecstasy haul, seizing drugs with a street value of $440 million.