Preceded by Alan Carpenter Years of service 1981–2006 Awards Order of Australia Rank Major Allegiance Australia Service/branch Australian Army | Occupation Soldier Role Soldier Battles and wars Iraq War Citizenship Australian Name Peter Tinley | |
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Full Name Peter Charles Tinley Born 9 July 1962 (age 61)
Karrinyup, Western Australia ( 1962-07-09 ) Alma mater University of New England | ||
Education University of New England Political party Australian Labor Party | ||
Early Life
Peter Charles Tinley (born 9 July 1962) is an Australian politician and former soldier. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since November 2009, representing the electorate of Willagee.
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Early life and military career
Born in the northern Perth suburb of Karrinyup, Tinley joined the Australian Army in 1981 and graduated from Royal Military College, Duntroon, earning the Queen's Medal as the cadet graduating top of his class. He spent 17 of his 25 years in the army in the Special Air Service Regiment (SASR). In 2002, he was the lead tactical planner for Australia's special forces advising the United States, and in 2003 he served as Deputy Commander for the Special Forces Task Group in Iraq. In the same year, he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in the military division for "dynamic leadership and consistent professional excellence".
In late 2006, after leaving the army with the rank of major, Tinley spoke out against the decision of the Howard government to support the US and British initiative to invade Iraq on the basis of purported evidence of the country's possession of weapons of mass destruction. He also called for the immediate withdrawal of Australian troops.
In the meantime, Tinley conducted strategic planning and leadership workshops. Among other clients, he worked with the West Coast Eagles Football Club coaching staff. He also ran a small business.
Political career
In 2006, former federal opposition leader Kim Beazley approached Tinley to run for the federal Division of Stirling as the Australian Labor Party's endorsed candidate at the 2007 election. The sitting member, Liberal MP Michael Keenan, retained the seat with a slightly reduced majority.
Upon the resignation of former Premier Alan Carpenter from the safe Labor state seat of Willagee, Tinley was preselected to run for Labor at the resulting by-election on 28 November 2009. He was ultimately elected as the member for Willagee with over 60% of the two-party-preferred vote against the Greens' Hsien Harper.
Upon Labor's election to government at the 2017 state election, Tinley was appointed to the McGowan Ministry as Minister for Mines and Petroleum, Veterans Issues, and Youth on 17 March. Five days later on 22 March, Tinley resigned as Mines and Petroleum minister, to avoid any claim of conflict of interest due to a family member working in the industry, and exchanged the Housing portfolio with Bill Johnston.