Kim Beazley

Ambassador of Australia to
the United StatesIn office
17 February 2010 – 22 January 2016Prime MinisterPreceded byDennis RichardsonSucceeded byJoe HockeyMember of the Australian Parliament
for BrandIn office
2 March 1996 – 17 October 2007Preceded byWendy FatinSucceeded byGary GrayMember of the Australian Parliament
for SwanIn office
18 October 1980 – 2 March 1996Preceded byJohn MartyrSucceeded byDon RandallPersonal detailsBornKim Christian Beazley
(1948-12-14) 14 December 1948
PartyLaborSpousesChildren3, including HannahParentsEducationHollywood Senior High SchoolAlma materProfessionAcademic, politician, diplomat

Kim Christian Beazley (born 14 December 1948) is an Australian former politician and diplomat. Since 2022 he has served as chairman of the Australian War Memorial. Previously, he was leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and leader of the opposition from 1996 to 2001 and 2005 to 2006, having previously been a cabinet minister in the Hawke and Keating governments. After leaving parliament, he served as ambassador to the United States from 2010 to 2016 and 33rd governor of Western Australia from 2018 to 2022.

Beazley was born in Perth, the son of politician Kim Beazley Sr. He studied at the University of Western Australia and Balliol College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar. After a period as a lecturer at Murdoch University, Beazley was elected to Parliament at the 1980 election, winning the Division of Swan. Prime Minister Bob Hawke appointed Beazley to the cabinet following Labor's victory at the 1983 election, and Beazley served as a minister continuously through to the party's defeat at the 1996 election. His roles included Minister for Defence from 1984 to 1990, Leader of the House from 1988 to 1996, Minister for Finance from 1993 to 1996 and the ninth deputy prime minister from 1995 to 1996.

After Labor's 1996 defeat, Beazley was elected unopposed as Labor Leader, replacing Paul Keating. Despite winning the popular vote at the 1998 election, Beazley could not win enough seats to form government, and after a second defeat in 2001, he resigned the leadership. He attempted twice to return to the leadership, doing so in 2005 after Labor lost the 2004 election, but was successfully challenged by Kevin Rudd in December 2006 following poor opinion polling. Beazley retired from Parliament at the 2007 election, which Labor won, and in 2010 was appointed Ambassador to the United States. He held this role until 2016, before being nominated as Governor of Western Australia by the premier, Mark McGowan, in 2018.