Peter Staples (born 15 October 1947 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian former politician for the

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 ...

. He was first elected to

Parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1983 as the Member for Diamond Valley. When Diamond Valley was abolished in 1984, Staples transferred to the newly created

Jagajaga The Division of Jagajaga is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. It is located in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, and lies north of the Yarra River. It covers an area of approximately 104 square kilometres and co ...

, essentially the western half of his old electorate. In 1987, he was appointed Consumer Affairs Minister by Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and union organiser who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991, holding office as the leader of the Australian Labor Party (A ...

in his third ministry. Staples would remain a junior minister for nearly six years, serving as Minister for Housing and Aged Care and later Aged, Family and Health Services in the Hawke and Keating Ministries. Staples lost his spot in the ministry to Frank Walker after the party's victory at the 1993 election. He spent the remainder of his career on the

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of the " ...

until his retirement from politics in 1996, as stated in his documentary, ''The Dance of a Thousand Summers''."Parliamentary Warriors No More", ''

Sun Herald The ''Sun Herald'' is a U.S. newspaper based in Biloxi, Mississippi, that serves readers along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The paper's current executive editor and general manager is Blake Kaplan and its headquarters is in the city of Gulfport ...

'', 3 March 1996

References

1947 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Diamond Valley Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Jagajaga Members of the Australian House of Representatives 20th-century Australian politicians {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub