Peter John Knott (8 August 1956 – 29 October 2015) was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the Australian House of Representatives. He represented

Gilmore Gilmore or Gillmore may refer to: *Gilmore (surname) Places Australia *Gilmore, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Tuggeranong *Gilmore Avenue, a road in southern Perth, Western Australia *Division of Gilmore, an ...

from 1993 to 1996 for the Australian Labor Party (ALP). Knott was a librarian and teacher before entering Parliament. His father was New South Wales Labor MP Bill Knott, who represented the seats of

Wollondilly Wollondilly Shire is a periurban local government area adjacent to the south-western fringe of Sydney, parts of which fall into the Macarthur, Blue Mountains and Central Tablelands regions in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Wollondil ...

and Kiama in state parliament from 1978 to 1986. Knott was considered an eccentric character by his colleagues and the media, with a number of colourful stories to his name. During the 1993 election campaign, he was asked to organise a visit to a local bakery for prime minister Paul Keating, so that Keating could capitalise on confusion over opposition leader John Hewson's proposed goods and services tax, exemplified by Hewson's own garbled explanation during the birthday cake interview. When they arrived at the bakery, the owner proceeded to loudly harangue the prime minister over payroll tax (a state tax) in front of the media, causing Keating to leave in embarrassment. Knott was defeated at the 1996 election, but contested the 2001 election for the ALP. In the 2001 campaign he caused controversy by suggesting that the

11 September 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

were a result of United States foreign policy. He later withdrew this comment. Nevertheless, there was an 11-point swing against the ALP at the election—the largest swing to the Liberal Party in 2001. Knott died in late 2015, aged 59.

References

1956 births 2015 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Gilmore Australian schoolteachers University of Wollongong alumni 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub