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Peter Baldwin (politician)

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The Honourable
Peter Baldwin
Minister for Social Security
In office
24 March 1993 – 11 March 1996
Prime MinisterPaul Keating
Preceded byNeal Blewett
Succeeded byJocelyn Newman
Member of the Australian Parliament
for Sydney
In office
5 March 1983 – 31 August 1998
Preceded byLes McMahon
Succeeded byTanya Plibersek
Member of the New South Wales Legislative Council
In office
23 April 1976 – 18 August 1982
Personal details
Born (1951-04-12) 12 April 1951 (age 73)
Aldershot, England
Political partyLabor
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
Macquarie University
OccupationActivist

Peter Jeremy Baldwin (born 12 April 1951)[1] is a former Australian politician. He was a member of the House of Representatives from 1983 to 1998, representing the seat of Sydney for the Australian Labor Party (ALP). He served as Minister for Social Security in the Keating government from 1993 to 1996. He was previously a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1976 to 1982.

Early life

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Baldwin was born in Aldershot, England. His family moved to Australia in 1958.[2] He attended Normanhurst Boys High School in Sydney,[2] and later received a Bachelor of Electrical Engineering from the University of Sydney and a Bachelor of Arts from Macquarie University.[1]

State politics

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Baldwin was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1976 to 1982.[3] In the 1970s he was prominent as a left-wing activist in the Australian Labor Party (ALP).

In the early morning hours of 17 July 1980, Baldwin assaulted at his home in the nearby Sydney suburb of Marrickville. Pictures of his battered face dominated the front pages of newspapers around the nation, and led to increased pressure for reform of the party.[4][5] Baldwin claimed that his assault was the result of his efforts to expose fraud and corruption among right-wing Labor members in the inner Sydney area, and Labor officials said they believed they knew the identity of one of Baldwin's attackers.[6][7]

Although nobody was ever charged with the assault, an article from The Sydney Morning Herald in 2005 claimed that the assault was undertaken by underworld figure Tom Domican acting on suggestions from then-Labor state secretary Graham Richardson.[8] In March 2007, Richardson won a settlement against Fairfax Media of $50,000 for defamation.[9]

Federal politics

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After leaving state politics, Baldwin was selected for the federal Division of Sydney following the deselection of the previous right-aligned MP, Les McMahon. He ran on a platform similar to that advocated by Tony Benn in the British Labour Party, arguing for a revival of Labor's commitment to state ownership and for the implementation of industrial democracy.[10] He held the seat from 1983 to 1998. He served as Minister for Employment and Education Services in April 1990, Minister for Higher Education and Employment Services from May 1990 to March 1993, and Minister for Social Security from March 1993 to the defeat of the Keating government in March 1996.[1]

Later career

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After leaving politics, Baldwin developed and co-founded Debategraph in March 2008, a web-based collaborative argument visualisation tool for mapping complex public policy debates which is used by the White House,[11] the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office,[12] and the Amanpour series on CNN.[13] He chairs the Blackheath Philosophy Forum.[14]

References

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  1. ^ a b c "Baldwin, the Hon. Peter Jeremy". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
  2. ^ a b Wright, Tony (19 July 1997). "The man they couldn't bash out of politics to quit prized Labor seat". The Sydney Morning Herald.
  3. ^ "Mr Peter Jeremy Baldwin (1951- )". Former members of the Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 3 May 2019.
  4. ^ "Case Summary: Mirror Newspapers Ltd v Harrison (1982)". The Law Reform Project. Archived from the original on 15 October 2024. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
  5. ^ Harris, Tony (May 2004). "The ALP left in Leichhardt municipality in the 1980s". International Journal of Socialist Renewal. Archived from the original on 30 October 2024. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
  6. ^ "MP bashed for exposing fraud". Sydney Morning Herald. 20 July 1980. Archived from the original on 7 June 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2021.
  7. ^ Jones, Brian (6 September 1995). "Challenges for Labor in Sydney council elections". Green Left. Archived from the original on 25 May 2024. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
  8. ^ McClymont, Kate (25 November 2005). "Lid lifted on the ugly '80s". Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 3 August 2024. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
  9. ^ Norington, Brad (6 March 2007). "Richo wins $50k from Fairfax for defamation". The Australian. Retrieved 20 September 2008.
  10. ^ Daniel, Nicholas (13 November 2020). "Labor's Anthony Albanese Is Not a Friend of Australia's Left — And He Never Was". Jacobin. Retrieved 17 November 2020.
  11. ^ Noveck, Beth (5 June 2009). "Open Government Brainstorm: Collaboration in Action". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 31 July 2012 – via National Archives.
  12. ^ "Nuclear debategraph". Foreign and Commonwealth Office/Debategraph. May 2010. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  13. ^ "Amanpour CNN". CNN/Debategraph. 30 April 2010. Retrieved 31 July 2012.
  14. ^ "2018 program". Blackheath Philosophy Forum. Retrieved 30 November 2018.

 

Political offices
Preceded by Minister for Social Security
1993–96 		Succeeded by
Parliament of Australia
Preceded by Member for Sydney
1983–98 		Succeeded by
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