Queensland University of Technology. Faculty of Business

Peter Douglas Beattie was born in Sydney on 18 November 1952 to Arthur and Edna Beattie. After the death of his mother he went to live with his maternal grandmother, Annie Ebensen in the small North Queensland town of Atherton. Due to his grandmother?s financial situation and age he was made a ward of the state.

He attended Atherton State School and Atherton State High School, graduating in 1970 as School Captain and Dux of the School. As a ward of the state he received government assistance to complete high school and attended university on a departmental scholarship. Whilst studying for a combined Arts/Law degree at the University of Queensland, Beattie lived in the Halls of Residence of St. John?s College where he became President of the St. John?s College Student Club in 1974. He graduated from the University in 1975 with a Bachelor of Arts and Laws (BA, LLB).

On the 4 January 1975 Peter Beattie married Heather Scott-Halliday, daughter of the Reverend David Scott and Pat Halliday and they now have three children. He was admitted to practise as a solicitor in Queensland in 1978. From 1978-1981 he was State Secretary for the Queensland Railway Station Officers Union. In 1980 he unsuccessfully campaigned for the Federal seat of Ryan as the endorsed Australian Labor Party (ALP) candidate.

In 1981 Beattie was elected State Secretary of the Queensland Branch of the ALP, serving as Queensland State Campaign Director for 16 different elections. On 31 July 1988 he resigned as Queensland ALP State Secretary and announced his candidature for the state seat of Brisbane Central. At the same time he joined the ranks of Peter Channell and Associates as a solicitor specializing in ALP and other union related matters.

In 1989 he was elected ALP member for Brisbane Central and served as the inaugural Chairman of the Parliamentary Criminal Justice Committee from 1990-1992. He was made Minister for Health in the Goss Government from 1995 until its defeat in 1996 when he became Leader of the Opposition following Wayne Goss? resignation as Parliamentary Leader of the ALP. As Leader of the Opposition Beattie held the portfolios of Shadow Minister for Economics and Trade Development from 1996-1998 and Industry and Small Business from 1997-1998. He became Premier with the ALP?s election victory in 1998, retained government in 2001 also taking on the Ministerial portfolio for Trade. In February 2004 Peter Beattie led his party to a third successive election victory.