Popular singer and political activist, born in Sydney, New South Wales, SE Australia. He studied at the Australian National University and the University of New South Wales, and became a lawyer. During 19972002 he was lead singer with the band Midnight Oil, which has achieved considerable fame in Australia and abroad, many of their songs dealing with issues such as Aboriginal land rights, conservation, and prison reform. He became widely known in 1984 when he stood for parliament, narrowly missing out on becoming a senator for the Nuclear Disarmament Party. He is president (198993, 19982004) of the Australian Conservation Foundation, a job he combines with that of a rock-and-roll star. He was awarded the Order of Australia in 2003.
Peter Garrett, MP, AM (born 16 April 1953), Australian musician and politician, has been an Australian Labor Party member of the House of Representatives for the seat of Kingsford Smith, New South Wales, since October 2004.
Music and activism
Garrett was educated at the Australian National University in Canberra and then at the University of New South Wales, where he graduated in arts and law respectively.
Garrett was one of the founders of the Nuclear Disarmament Party and stood for a seat in the Australian Senate in New South Wales at the December 1984 federal election.
Garrett served as president of the Australian Conservation Foundation from 1989 to 1993 and 1998 to 2004.
Midnight Oil had a history of making political statements through their music and performances.
In 2000 Garrett was awarded the Australian Humanitarian Foundation Award in the Environment category and in 2001 he received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of New South Wales.
Following the Asian Tsunami of Boxing Day 2004, Garrett and the other members of Midnight Oil reformed for two gigs as a part of the fund raising event WaveAid.
Australian federal politics
In June 2004 Labor leader Mark Latham announced that Garrett would become an Australian Labor Party candidate for the House of Representatives at the 2004 federal election, in the safe New South Wales seat of Kingsford Smith which was being vacated by the former Cabinet minister Laurie Brereton.
Garrett has modified many of his earlier radical views and says he is now a "team player" in the Labor Party.
In June 2005 Garrett was appointed Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Reconciliation and the Arts. Recently political commentator Laurie Oaks, the The Bulletin magazine has suggested making Garrett the ALP's enviromental spokesperson, in light of the recent debate on climate change and questions over the performance of the current spokesman Anthony Albanese.*
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