David Peter Beddall (born 27 November 1948) is a former Australian politician.
Beddall was born in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, England and was employed by the
Commonwealth Bank
The Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA), or CommBank, is an Australian multinational bank with businesses across New Zealand, Asia, the United States and the United Kingdom. It provides a variety of financial services including retail, busines ...
and was a self-employed commercial finance consultant before he entered parliament. He was elected as
Australian Labor Party
The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also simply known as Labor, is the major centre-left political party in Australia, one of two major parties in Australian politics, along with the centre-right Liberal Party of Australia. The party forms the f ...
member in the
Australian House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Senate. Its composition and powers are established in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia.
The term of members of the ...
for the seat of
Fadden at the
1983 election, and then for the seat of
Rankin at the
1984 election.
In April 1990, he was appointed
Minister for Small Business and
Customs
Customs is an authority or agency in a country responsible for collecting tariffs and for controlling the flow of goods, including animals, transports, personal effects, and hazardous items, into and out of a country. Traditionally, customs ...
in the
Hawke ministry (Minister for Small Business, Construction and Customs from December 1991). In March 1993, he was appointed junior Communications Minister (serving concurrently with senior Communications Minister
Bob Collins) in the
second Keating Ministry. As Communications Minister, Beddall launched
SBS television
The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...
and
Triple J
Triple J (stylised in all lowercase) is a government-funded, national Australian Radio in Australia, radio station intended to appeal to listeners of alternative music, which began broadcasting in January 1975. The station also places a greate ...
radio across different parts of Australia, and took the early steps in
Telstra
Telstra Group Limited is an Australian telecommunications company that builds and operates telecommunications networks and markets voice, mobile, internet access, pay television and other products and services. It is a member of the S&P/ASX 20 ...
's Future Mode of Operation digital transformation.
In December 1993, he and Collins left the Communications portfolio, which was taken by
Michael Lee, and Beddall replaced Lee as Minister For Resources. Beddall lost that portfolio with the defeat of the
Keating government at the
1996 election, in which he was one of only two Labor MPs returned from Queensland. He retired from parliament at the
1998 election.
Notes
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Fadden
Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Rankin
Members of the Australian House of Representatives
1948 births
Living people
20th-century Australian politicians
Government ministers of Australia
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