Peter Beattie
Peter Beattie is Queensland’s Trade and Investment Commissioner for the Americas and was Premier of Queensland from June 26, 1998 to 13 September 2007.
As Premier his key strategy was to turn Queensland into Australia’s Smart State by refocusing the education system, skilling the workforce, encouraging research and development and creating thousands of long-term, new-age jobs in high tech industries such as biotechnology, information technology and aviation.
Mr Beattie is a determined advocate of international trade as a means of increasing employment. He believes that Queensland’s multiculturalism is a great strength, with people from many different backgrounds being great ambassadors for the State in their former home countries.
After working as a lawyer, Mr Beattie became State Secretary of Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party from 1981 to 1988. He was elected to State Parliament as the Member for Brisbane Central in 1989 and was immediately appointed as the chair of the reforming Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee. From July 1995 he served as Health Minister before becoming Opposition Leader on February 19, 1996.
After forming a minority government in 1998, Mr Beattie’s Government was re-elected three times, winning 66 of the 89 seats in Parliament in 2001, 63 seats in 2004 and 59 in the September 2006 election.
Peter Beattie was born on November 18, 1952, the youngest of seven children. He is married with three adult children. His qualifications include B.A., LL.B., M.A., while in 2003 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Science from the University of Queensland “in recognition of his leadership and commitment to higher education through Smart State initiatives and his support for research in the fields of biotechnology and nanotechnology”. In 2007 he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from the University of South Carolina.
Mr Beattie’s interests include economics and trade development, biotechnology, aerospace, international relations and creative industries such as music, photography and architecture. He is a keen walker and the author of three books: the autobiographical In the Arena and Making a Difference (2006) and a thriller, The Year of the Dangerous Ones.
