Preceded by Kevin Prince Name Peter Watson Occupation Postal worker | Citizenship Australian Party Australian Labor Party | |
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Full Name Peter Bruce Watson Born 30 May 1947 (age 76)
Reservoir, Victoria ( 1947-05-30 ) Website www.peterwatson.walabor.org.au Role Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly Office Member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since 2001 Books The Organization and Economics of Distribution | ||
Political party Australian Labor Party | ||
Peter Bruce Watson (born 30 May 1947 in Reservoir, Victoria) is an Australian politician. He has been an Australian Labor Party member of the Western Australian Legislative Assembly since February 2001, representing the electorate of Albany.
After arriving in Western Australia in 1961, Watson attended Perth Modern School and took up athletics. He excelled at the 1500m event and won the Australian title in 1968 and again in 1973. Watson was the third West Australian after Herb Elliott and Keith Wheeler to break the four minute mile. He represented Australia at the 1968 Summer Olympics and the 1974 Commonwealth Games.
Employed at Australia Post, Watson held various positions, including postal manager, before entering politics. He was elected in February 2001, defeating the standing member, Kevin Prince, and he was reelected in 2005, 2008 and 2013.
In the 2008 election following the introduction of one-vote one-value electoral boundary change meant that substantial rural areas were introduced into the electorate and the seat became notionally Liberal. Watson managed to win the seat by 89 votes.
In both the 2008 and 2013 elections, Watson accomplished the feat of winning in the face of swings against the Australian Labor Party in the state as a whole.
Watson retained the seat again in 2017 with a swing toward him of 1.8% winning the seat by 4.1% after preferences. Watson was appointed Speaker of the Legislative Assembly on 11 May 2017.