Frederick Warren Pitt (born 14 March 1948) is an Australian politician. He was a

Labor Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

member of the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

from 1989 to 1995 and 1998 to 2009.

Early life

Born in

Cairns Cairns (, ) is a city in Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. The population in June 2019 was 153,952, having grown on average 1.02% annually over the preceding five years. The city is the 5th-most-p ...

, Pitt was a school teacher before entering politics. He underwent national service and was an army reservist from 1969 to 1975 and was active in the local community, being recognised as Mulgrave Shire Citizen of the Year in 1983.

Political career

Pitt was elected to state parliament as the member for Mulgrave at the 1989 state election defeating sitting National Party MP

Max Menzel Max Richard Menzel (born 30 March 1941) is a former Australian politician. He was born in Tully in Queensland to Richard Franz Menzel and Dulcie Margaret, ''née'' Kelly on the 30th of March 1941. He had an Uncle Albert "Bill" Menzel whose whe ...

. Pitt was himself defeated two terms later at the 1995 state election by the Nationals'

Naomi Wilson Naomi Kate Wynn Wilson (born 27 January 1940) is a former teacher and Tanzanian-born Australian politician, who was a National Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 1995 to 1998, as which she represented the district o ...

. Pitt sought a rematch at the 1998 state election, but leakage of

Coalition A coalition is a group formed when two or more people or groups temporarily work together to achieve a common goal. The term is most frequently used to denote a formation of power in political or economical spaces. Formation According to ''A Gui ...

preferences allowed

Charles Rappolt Charles Robert "Charlie" Rappolt (23 August 1939 – 2 August 1999) was an Australian politician. A member of Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party, Rappolt spent five turbulent months in the Parliament of Queensland in 1998. A native of Cair ...

of One Nation to defeat Pitt. Rappolt resigned only four months into his term, and Pitt narrowly defeated Wilson in the resulting by-election, providing Labor

Premier Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

Peter Beattie Peter Douglas Beattie (born 18 November 1952) is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Labor Party from 1996 to 2007. Beattie was born in Sy ...

with a majority in his own right (previously Beattie's government had to rely on the support of

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

Peter Wellington Peter William Wellington (born 21 August 1957) is an Australian politician. He was the independent member for Nicklin in the Queensland Legislative Assembly from 1998 to 2017, and served as Speaker from 2015 to 2017. Wellington has held the b ...

). Fortuitously, Pitt served all his time in parliament as a member of the majority party. Consequently, he served in a number of government roles. In the government of

Wayne Goss Wayne Keith Goss (26 February 1951 – 10 November 2014) was Premier of Queensland from 7 December 1989 until 19 February 1996, becoming the first Labor Premier of the state in over thirty two years. Prior to entering politics, Goss was a solic ...

, Pitt served as Deputy Government Whip from March to October 1992, Government Whip from October 1992 to February 1995, and Minister for Business, Industry and Regional Development from February to July 1995. In the government of Peter Beattie, Pitt served as Chair of the Scrutiny of Legislation Committee from May 2001 to January 2004 until he became Minister for Communities and Disability Services in February 2004. He retained the portfolio for years to come, and to his responsibilities were added: Seniors in April 2004, Youth in September 2006, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships in January 2007. That gave Pitt the unusually long title of "Minister for Communities, Disability Services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Seniors and Youth", which he retained until Beattie's retirement in September 2007. In the government of

Anna Bligh Anna Maria Bligh (born 14 July 1960) is a lobbyist and former Australian politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland, in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Labor Party. She was the first woman to hold either position. In 2 ...

, Pitt served as Minister for Main Roads and Local Government from September 2007 until his retirement in February 2009. Upon his retirement, Pitt's son Curtis was preselected as the Labor candidate in the district of Mulgrave.

Curtis Pitt Curtis Warren Pitt (born 1 February 1977) is an Australian politician who has been a Labor Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland since 2009, representing the district of Mulgrave. On 14 February 2015, he was sworn in as Treas ...

successfully retained the seat for the Labor Party at the 2009 state election

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pitt, Warren 1948 births Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Members of the Order of Australia 21st-century Australian politicians