Peter Garrett

Peter Robert Garrett, MP, ( born April 16, 1953 in Sydney ) is an Australian musician and politician. After a successful career as a singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil, he was a member of the Australian Labor Party (ALP ) and the Australian House of Representatives. After the election victory of his party in parliamentary elections in Australia in 2007 Prime Minister Kevin Rudd appointed him Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. In the 2010 general election Peter Garrett was re-elected in his constituency Kingsford Smith. Until 2013, he served in the cabinet of Julia Gillard 's Minister of State for school education, children and youth.

Music

After law studies at the Australian National University in 1976 Garrett singer of the rock band Midnight Oil, the celebrated primarily in the late 1980s and early 90s worldwide success. The band continued until its dissolution in 2002 in her songs over and over again with the foreign policy of the United States, environmental issues and the situation of Aboriginal people apart.

Policy

During his career as a musician Garrett tried to gain a foothold in Australian politics. In 1984 he was co-founder of the Nuclear Disarmament Party, but failed in an attempt to gain a seat in the Australian Senate.

From 1989 to 1993 and from 1998 to 2004 he was president of the Australian Conservation Foundation, an Australian environmental group, and was in 1993 the International Board of Greenpeace.

In 2004 he was at the instigation of the then Chairman of the Australian Labor Party, Mark Latham, candidate for the constituency of Kingsford Smith in New South Wales. In the parliamentary elections of 2004, he was elected with almost 50 % of the vote as a delegate to the Australian House of Representatives.

2006 appointed the newly elected party leader Kevin Rudd Garrett to Shadow Minister for the areas of climate change, environment, heritage and the arts. After the landslide victory of the Labour Party in the 2007 parliamentary elections, in which Garrett was confirmed with 53.14 % of the votes in his constituency, he was appointed on 29 November 2007 Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts. However, The Department of Climate Change went to the politician Penny Wong, what observers were led to several errors Garrett during the election campaign.

When the National Conference of the ALP the nuclear political paradigm shift was confirmed in 2009 when uranium mining in Australia and the construction of a fourth uranium mine, the Four Mile uranium mine admitted, said the reigning Australian Environment Minister Peter Garrett that this decision set under the dictum " the bar to the highest level " has fallen. Before the 2010 election Garrett came into severe criticism as a national program for building insulation for homes a number of house fires caused distributed throughout Australia, which had several deaths result. After his re-election he no longer supports the environmental department, but the Ministry for school education, children and youth was then assigned. With inauguration of the second Rudd government on June 27, 2013 Garrett resigned from the government.

Awards

In 2000 Garrett was awarded the Australian Humanitarian Foundation Award.

In 2003 he was appointed for his services to the environment and to the Australian music to the Member of the Order of Australia.