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Peter Jeremy Baldwin (born 12 April 1951) 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

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

State politics

Baldwin was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council from 1976 to 1982. 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. 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.

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. In March 2007, Richardson won a settlement against Fairfax Media of $50,000 for defamation.

Federal politics

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. 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.

Later career

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, the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and the Amanpour series on CNN. He chairs the Blackheath Philosophy Forum.

References

1. ^ "Baldwin, the Hon. Peter Jeremy". Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 30 May 2007.
2. ^ 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.

v t e First Keating ministry (1991–93)
Prime Minister: Paul Keating
Cabinet	Kim Beazley Neal Blewett Nick Bolkus John Button Bob Collins Peter Cook Simon Crean John Dawkins Michael Duffy Gareth Evans Alan Griffiths Gerry Hand Brian Howe Ben Humphreys Ros Kelly John Kerin Robert Ray Graham Richardson Ralph Willis
Outer Ministry	Peter Baldwin Neal Blewett David Beddall Gordon Bilney Bob Brown Wendy Fatin Ross Free Jeannette McHugh David Simmons Peter Staples Michael Tate Robert Tickner
Parliamentary Secretaries	Laurie Brereton Peter Duncan Gary Johns Stephen Martin Bob McMullan Roger Price Con Sciacca Warren Snowdon

• 1951 births
• Living people
• Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
• Australian democratic socialists
• British emigrants to Australia
• Government ministers of Australia
• Labor Left politicians
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives
• Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Sydney
• Members of the New South Wales Legislative Council
• People educated at Normanhurst Boys' High School
• University of Sydney alumni
• Australian MPs 1983–1984
• Australian MPs 1984–1987
• Australian MPs 1987–1990