Mr Peter Beattie AC
Honorary Fellow
- Club/association Details
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Role(s): Honorary Fellow Level: Honorary Status: Active
- Bio/Profile
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Peter Douglas Beattie AC is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007.
Beattie was born in Sydney but grew up in Atherton, Queensland. He worked as a lawyer, union secretary and ALP State Secretary before entering politics. Beattie was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly at the 1989 state election. He served as a Health Minister from 1995 to 1996 under Wayne Goss, and then replaced Goss as party leader following a change in government. As leader of the opposition, Beattie led the Labor Party back to power at the 1998 election, and won further victories at the 2001, 2004 and 2006 elections. He retired in 2007 and was succeeded by his deputy Anna Bligh.
Beattie was named a Companion of the Order of Australia for "eminent service to the Parliament and community of Queensland, through initiatives in the area of education and training, economic development, particularly in biotechnology, information technology and aviation industries, and to the promotion of international trade.".[28] 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. Beattie won the first Biotechnology Industry Organisation's inaugural "International Award for Leadership Excellence" in 2008.
After retiring as Premier, Beattie was appointed to a series of corporate government and academic boards and held numerous academic roles. He made an unsuccessful attempt to enter federal politics at the 2013 election, standing in the Division of Forde. In 2016, Beattie was made chairman of the organising committee for the 2018 Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast. He 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 (RLIF) in November, 2018. Beattie joined the board of the Medical Research Commercialisation Fund in July 2010 and became Chair in July 2019.
