Peter Garrett

Peter Robert Garrett (born 16 April 1953) is an Australian musician, environmentalist, activist and former politician.

Born on 16 April 1953, in Wahroonga, Sydney, Garrett was the eldest of three siblings.

He suffered from severe asthma as a child.

He attended Gordon West Public School and then Barker College in Hornsby before studying politics at the Australian National University (ANU), where he was a resident at Burgmann College, and later law at the University of New South Wales.

His father died from an asthma attack while Peter was in his teens, and his mother died in a fire at the family home when he was in his early twenties.

Peter managed to escape the fire, but his mother was asleep upstairs and he was unable to rescue her.

In 1973, Garrett became the lead singer of the Australian rock band Midnight Oil.

As a performer he is known for his signature bald head, his eccentric dance style, and a "mesmerising onstage presence".

In 1973, Garrett became the lead singer for the rock band Midnight Oil, after responding to an advertisement placed by one of the band's founding members, Rob Hirst.

In tandem with their musical and commercial success, the band were strongly identified with environmental and Aboriginal rights causes.

They were particularly critical of the military and foreign policy of the United States during the 1980s.

On and off stage, Midnight Oil often made political statements.

Garrett's first attempt to enter the Australian Parliament came in December 1984, when the Nuclear Disarmament Party (NDP) invited him to stand for a New South Wales seat in the Australian Senate at the federal election.

He refused at first, but after consulting his bandmates, he agreed on the condition that he head the ticket.

He needed 12.5% of the statewide vote to win a seat in the Senate voting system, but a primary vote of 9.6% proved insufficient when Labor allocated its second preferences to the Democrats ahead of the NDP.

During his time with Midnight Oil, Garrett served two terms as President of the Australian Conservation Foundation (from 1989 to 1993 and 1998 to 2004).

He was also invited to join the international board of Greenpeace in 1993 for a two-year term.

He served as an adviser and patron to various cultural and community organisations, including Jubilee Debt Relief, and was a founding member of the Surfrider Foundation.

At the closing ceremony of the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, the group performed before then-Prime Minister, John Howard, and a television audience of hundreds of millions, wearing black overalls bearing the word "sorry".

This referred to the Howard Government's refusal to apologise to Aboriginal Australians for the former policy of removing Aboriginal children from their families.

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.

Garrett announced his departure from Midnight Oil in 2002, saying he wished to concentrate more fully on his environmental and social activism.

Although no longer part of the band, Garrett performed several times with Midnight Oil in the following years.

In 2003, Garrett was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, "for service to the community as a prominent advocate for environmental conservation and protection, and to the music industry."

He served as President of the Australian Conservation Foundation for ten years before being elected for the Labor Party as the Member of the House of Representatives for the seat of Kingsford Smith in the 2004 election.

After the Asian tsunami on 26 December 2004, Garrett joined the other members of Midnight Oil to perform as part of the fund-raising event WaveAid.

After the conclusion of Garrett's term as President of the Australian Conservation Foundation ended, in June 2004 Labor Leader Mark Latham announced that Garrett would become an Australian Labor Party candidate for the House of Representatives at that year's federal election, in the safe New South Wales seat of Kingsford Smith which was being vacated by the former Cabinet Minister Laurie Brereton.

There was some initial criticism from Labor members within the electorate, as the local branch had wished to select their own candidate; in the end, Garrett was comfortably elected for the seat in October 2004.

After Labor's victory in the 2007 election, Garrett was appointed Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

On 7 July 2007, Garrett presented Crowded House at the Australian leg of Live Earth.

In 2009, the French Government appointed Garrett an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters.

On 14 March 2009, Garrett performed live at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with Midnight Oil for Sound Relief, in order to raise money for the Victorian bushfire appeal.

Following the 2010 election, he was made Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth by Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

In 2010, the World Wide Fund for Nature presented him with their Leaders for a Living Planet Award.

In November 2012, Garrett and Paul Kelly inducted Yothu Yindi in the ARIA Hall of Fame and performed with the band their best-known song "Treaty".

In the aftermath of the 2013 leadership spill, Garrett resigned from the Ministry and announced he would retire from politics at the 2013 election.

In 2015, Garrett alleged in his autobiography and an ABC documentary that he had been handed an envelope containing "hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars" in cash by a representative of Clubs NSW at a function following the 2004 election.

On 5 May 2016, after the conclusion of his career in Parliament, Garrett announced that Midnight Oil would be reforming and that they would be touring in 2017, including a trip to the United States.

Midnight Oil stated on their Facebook page: "We wanted you to be the first to know that the five of us are planning to do some gigs in Australia and overseas during 2017."

Days later, Garrett also announced his first solo album, A Version of Now, which was released on 15 July.