Hon Kim Beazley

Kim Beazley was born on 14 December 1948 in Perth. His father, the Hon Kim Edward Beazley, was a Federal Parliamentarian for more than 30 years representing the electorate of Fremantle, and was Minister for Education from December 1973 until November 1975 in the Whitlam Government.

Kim C Beazley was educated at the University of Western Australia and at Oxford University and has Masters degrees in Arts and Philosophy. He is a former Rhodes Scholar, and was a lecturer in social and political theory at Murdoch University, Western Australia.
The Honourable Kim Christian Beazley, Federal Member for Brand, has served in the Federal Parliament since 1980, when he contested and won the Perth metropolitan seat of Swan in a general election. He held the electorate of Swan in every subsequent election up to and including 1993. In 1996 he moved to the seat of Brand.
His Ministerial career began on 11 March 1983 in the first Hawke Government. He was appointed as Minister for Aviation and Minister Assisting the Minister for Defence and was the youngest member of the ministry at the time of his appointments. On 13 December 1984, Kim Beazley was appointed as Minister for Defence. He was the youngest ever Australian Defence Minister, and the sixth Western Australian to hold that position. He served in this portfolio for nearly six years. He also served as a Special Minister of State from 14 July 1983 until 21 January 1984.
On 15 February 1988 Kim Beazley was appointed Government Leader in the House of Representatives and Vice-President of the Executive Council. In April 1990, following a general election, Kim Beazley was appointed Minister for Transport and Communications. He also served as Finance Minister from 9-27 December 1991, before being appointed to the portfolio of Minister for Employment Education and Training. He was re-appointed to the Finance portfolio in December 1993.
On 20 June 1995, the Federal Labor Caucus elected Kim Beazley as Deputy Prime Minister, a position he held until the general election on 2 March 1996. Kim Beazley was elected as Leader of the Opposition and Leader of the Federal Parliamentary Labor Party on 19 March 1996. He served as Leader of the FPLP until the general election in 2001. On 12 July 2004 he was elected as Shadow Minister for Defence, and served in this position until the general election in October 2004.
The Honourable Kim Beazley retired from politics in September 2007.

Speaker Topics Include:

Australia, International Affairs and the Future - Terrorism, Islam Fundamentalism
National Security Policy
World Affairs
Economics
Population
Politics and the Future
The Political Process and how it affects you.
Political Leadership
Political Management.
Terrorism - What price war?
Life in Politics