1. Peter Douglas Beattie was born on 18 November 1952 and is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007.
51 Facts About Peter Beattie
1. 2.
Peter Beattie was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007.
3.
Peter Beattie worked as a lawyer, union secretary and ALP State Secretary before entering politics.
4.
Peter Beattie was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly at the 1989 state election.
5.
Peter Beattie served as a Health Minister from 1995 to 1996 under Wayne Goss, and then replaced Goss as party leader following a change in government.
6.
Peter Beattie retired in 2007 and was succeeded by his deputy Anna Bligh.
7.
Peter Beattie made an unsuccessful attempt to enter federal politics at the 2013 election, standing in the Division of Forde.
8.
In 2016, Peter Beattie was made chairman of the organising committee for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast.
9.
Peter Beattie was appointed a Commissioner of the Australian Rugby League Commission in July, 2017 and chair in February 2018 and Deputy Chair of the Rugby League International Federation in November, 2018.
10.
Peter Beattie joined the board of the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund in July 2010 and became chair in July 2019.
11.
Peter Beattie was born in Sydney as the youngest of seven children.
12.
Peter Beattie moved to Brisbane to attend the University of Queensland after winning a Commonwealth Scholarship, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree and a Bachelor of Laws degree.
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Peter Beattie was President of the Student Club at St John's College.
14.
Peter Beattie completed a Master of Arts degree from Queensland University of Technology, and then began practising as a lawyer.
15.
Peter Beattie only nominated for Ryan to give him the right to appeal to the National Executive of the ALP from a six-month suspension from the Queensland ALP for criticising the state parliamentary party for incompetence.
16.
Peter Beattie started a Reform Group within the ALP led by Dr Denis Murphy and himself to reform the Queensland branch of the party, which was dominated by elderly and conservative trade union leaders.
17.
In 1981 the federal Labor Party leader, Bill Hayden, led a federal intervention in Queensland, and Peter Beattie became Queensland State Secretary.
18.
At the 1989 election Peter Beattie was elected to the Queensland Parliament as MP for Brisbane Central.
19.
Something of a maverick within the parliamentary party during his early term, Peter Beattie was opposed by old guard faction leaders and kept out of the ministry for his role as Parliamentary Chair of the Criminal Justice Committee.
20.
Peter Beattie was only in office for six months before the Goss government lost office following defeat in the Mundingburra by-election.
21.
Goss then stood down as ALP leader, and Peter Beattie was elected in his stead unopposed, thus becoming Opposition Leader.
22.
Peter Beattie's first act as Opposition leader was a tactical one, moving a motion in Parliament preventing the new Coalition government under Rob Borbidge from calling an early election.
23.
Peter Beattie said the ALP would govern as if it had a majority of ten.
24.
Peter Beattie acted swiftly, forcing Elder and several other MPs to quit politics and to leave the ALP.
25.
In February 2004 Peter Beattie again went to the polls but a crisis blew up shortly before the election, with a highly critical report on the state of Queensland's system of child protection.
26.
Peter Beattie accepted full personal responsibility for the issue, and paradoxically turned the issue into a positive for the government.
27.
However, in the latter part of 2005, Peter Beattie faced potentially his most serious political crisis: the revelations and inquiries into Queensland Health and the Bundaberg public hospital after Jayant Patel, an Indian-born surgeon who performed several botched operations, some of which resulted in death, fled the country to the United States, where he had previously been struck off the register.
28.
Labor suffered major swings against it and both seats were lost to the Liberal Party, the first serious electoral setback for Peter Beattie since becoming Premier.
29.
Peter Beattie went on to win the September 2006 election convincingly in a third landslide, with a slight swing towards the ALP in terms of its primary vote, and two party preferred result.
30.
Premier Peter Beattie therefore was never challenged by the opposition and was able to secure a fourth consecutive term in office with another landslide victory.
31.
Peter Beattie is the only state Labor leader since Neville Wran, NSW Labor Premier from 1976 to 1986, to do so and is Queensland's fourth longest serving Premier after Labor's William Forgan Smith, the Country Party's Frank Nicklin and National Party Premier Sir Joh Bjelke-Petersen.
32.
Peter Beattie announced on 10 September 2007 his decision to retire from politics.
33.
Peter Beattie officially stood down as the Member for Brisbane Central on 14 September 2007.
34.
Peter Beattie then served as Queensland's Trade Commissioner to North and South America based in Los Angeles, a position he was appointed to by Anna Bligh in March 2008.
35.
In late May 2010 Peter Beattie announced that he was retiring from his position as Queensland's Los Angeles-based trade and investment commissioner.
36.
However, in August 2013, Peter Beattie announced his intention to run in the 2013 federal election in the Queensland federal seat of Forde following an approach by Prime Minister Rudd to Peter Beattie who was then living in New York.
37.
The ALP was in electoral trouble and Peter Beattie was convinced to run to save Queensland seats.
38.
Columnist Peter Wear, for example, ran a long-running satire on Queensland politics in general with the major role played by "President for Life Mbeattie".
39.
In May 2005 Peter Beattie released his autobiography Making A Difference, in which he described his upbringing, political life and his views on key issues, including health, education and social reform.
40.
Peter Beattie says that the reason he released the book while he is in office, rather than when he is retired, is because no-one would want to read about him if he was not in the public arena.
41.
Peter Beattie donated his personal collection of records to the State Library of Queensland's John Oxley Library.
42.
Peter Beattie joined Sky News Live as a commentator across multiple programs in February 2015.
43.
Peter Beattie was a regular political election commentator on Channels 9 and 7 from 2007 to 2015 and a regular Columnists for The Australian Newspaper from 2010 to 2015.
44.
Peter Beattie was appointed to the board of the Australian Rugby League Commission on 25 July 2017, as an independent commissioner.
45.
Peter Beattie is a supporter of reforming the organisation's constitution to give National Rugby League teams and state organisations direct representation on the board.
46.
Peter Beattie is a strong supporter of the Magic Round pioneered in Brisbane in May, 2019 and expanding Women's rugby league and rugby league in PNG, Fiji and the Pacific Nations.
47.
On 1 January 2001, Peter Beattie was awarded the Centenary Medal for his contribution to Queensland.
48.
Peter Beattie has been awarded five honorary doctorates, from The University of Queensland, Griffith University, QUT, Bond University and in the US an honorary Doctor of Laws from University of South Carolina.
49.
Peter Beattie won the first Biotechnology Industry Organisation's inaugural "International Award for Leadership Excellence" in 2008.
50.
Peter Beattie was briefly involved in Brisbane City Council politics in her own capacity in 2012.
51.
Peter Beattie is an Anglican, and his wife is the daughter of an Anglican clergyman.