13 Facts About Peter Leahy

Lieutenant General Peter Francis Leahy, was born on 30 October 1952 and is a retired senior officer of the Australian Army, whose military career culminated with his appointment as Chief of the Army from 2002 until 2008.

Peter Leahy has been director of the National Security Institute, University of Canberra, since October 2008.

Peter Leahy entered the Royal Military College, Duntroon in 1971, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Military Studies in 1974 and being commissioned into the Royal Australian Infantry Corps.

Peter Leahy was promoted to lieutenant general and appointed Chief of Army on 28 June 2002.

Peter Leahy's appointment was extended by a further three years in June 2005, and he retired from the Army on 3 July 2008.

Peter Leahy is the longest serving incumbent of the position since General Sir Harry Chauvel in the 1920s, and the only Chief of Army with no operational service in a theatre of war.

In 1995, Peter Leahy was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, and in 2002 was upgraded to Officer.

Fourteen months prior to Peter Leahy's retirement as Chief of the Army, a company at which Peter Leahy's wife was a director, was awarded a federal government contract by the Department of Defence.

Peter Leahy had been registered in November 2003, with Leahy's wife named a director one month later.

Peter Leahy was awarded Commonwealth contracts for the first time during the final 14 months in which Leahy was still in his role as Chief of the Army, and made $2.2M from those tenders during that period.

On 19 September 2008, Peter Leahy joined the board of Codan.

Peter Leahy is Chairman of the North Queensland Defence Advisory Board, a member of the First Principles Review of the Department of Defence and in November 2014 was appointed to the board of Citadel Group Limited.

In September 2014, Peter Leahy was formally inducted as an Honorary Fellow of the Australian Institute of Building by the Governor General of Australia, Sir Peter Cosgrove.