[1] He was a Labor Party member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly from 1994 to 2010, representing the electorate of Brunswick.
After matriculating at Newlands High School, Carlo went on to study politics and languages at University of Melbourne.
Carlo used his university years to convert his knowledge of Venetian dialect to standard Italian, and to learn Spanish.
He succeeded long-standing Labor MP Tom Roper who had been the Victorian Treasurer and a senior Minister in the Cain and Kirner governments.
From October to December 1999 he was Parliamentary Secretary for Multicultural Affairs, before moving to Infrastructure under the then state Minister for Transport, Peter Batchelor.