Peter Bruce Watson (born 30 May 1947) is an Australian politician. He was the Labor Party member of the

Western Australian Legislative Assembly The Western Australian Legislative Assembly, or lower house, is one of the two chambers of the Parliament of Western Australia, an Australian state. The Parliament sits in Parliament House in the Western Australian capital, Perth. The Legisla ...

from February 2001 to March 2021, representing the electorate of Albany. Watson was born in the Melbourne suburb of

Reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

. After arriving in Western Australia in 1961, Watson attended

Perth Modern School , motto_translation = Knowledge is Power , location = Subiaco, Perth, Western Australia , country = Australia , coordinates = , mapframe-stroke-colour = #C60C30 , mapframe-marker-co ...

and took up athletics. He excelled at the 1500m event and won the Australian title in 1968 and again in 1973. Watson was the third West Australian after

Herb Elliott Herbert James Elliott (born 25 February 1938) is a former Australian athlete and arguably the world's greatest middle distance runner of his era. In August 1958 he set the List of world records in athletics, world record in the mile run, clock ...

and Keith Wheeler to break the

four minute mile ''Four Minute Mile'' is the debut studio album by American rock band The Get Up Kids. Background The Get Up Kids evolved out of the breakup of Kingpin, which consisted of high school friends guitarist Jim Suptic, bassist Rob Pope and his brother ...

. He represented Australia at the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1968), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XIX Olimpiada) and commonly known as Mexico 1968 ( es, México 1968), were an international multi-sport eve ...

and the

1974 Commonwealth Games The 1974 British Commonwealth Games ( mi, 1974 Taumāhekeheke Commonwealth) were held in Christchurch, New Zealand from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. The Games were off ...

. Employed at

Australia Post Australia Post, formally the Australian Postal Corporation, is the government business enterprise that provides postal services in Australia. The head office of Australia Post is located in Bourke Street, Melbourne, which also serves as a post o ...

, Watson held various positions, including postal manager, before entering politics. He was successful at the

2001 Western Australian state election Elections were held in the state of Western Australia on 10 February 2001 to elect all 57 members to the Legislative Assembly and all 34 members to the Legislative Council. The two-term Liberal–National coalition government, led by Premier R ...

, defeating the sitting member, Kevin Prince, and was re-elected in

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

. At the 2008 election, electoral boundary changes resulting from the adoption of the one-vote one-value principle meant that substantial rural areas were included in the electorate, and it became notionally Liberal. Watson won the seat by 89 votes. In both the 2008 and

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fact ...

elections, Watson accomplished the feat of winning in the face of swings against the Australian Labor Party in the state as a whole. Watson retained the seat again at the 2017 election with a swing toward him of 1.8%, winning the seat by 4.1% after preferences. Watson was appointed

Speaker Speaker may refer to: Society and politics * Speaker (politics), the presiding officer in a legislative assembly * Public speaker, one who gives a speech or lecture * A person producing speech: the producer of a given utterance, especially: ** I ...

of the Legislative Assembly on 11 May 2017.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Watson, Peter 1947 births Living people Members of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Speakers of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Olympic athletes for Australia Australian male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games People educated at Perth Modern School Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Western Australia 21st-century Australian politicians Politicians from Melbourne Athletes from Melbourne Sportsmen from Western Australia Commonwealth Games competitors for Australia People from Reservoir, Victoria