Kim Beazley

Kim Christian Beazley, AC (born 14 December 1948) is a former Australian politician serving as the 33rd and current Governor of Western Australia. He was previously Deputy Prime Minister (1995–1996), Leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) and Leader of the Opposition (1996–2001, 2005–2006) and Ambassador to the United States (2010–2016). Beazley was born in Subiaco, Western Australia, the son of politician Kim Beazley senior. He studied at the University of Western Australia and Balliol College, Oxford, attending the latter as a Rhodes Scholar. After a period as a lecturer at Murdoch University, Beazley was elected to parliament at the 1980 federal election, winning the Division of Swan for the Labor Party. He was added to the ministry when the party won the 1983 election, and served continuously through to the party's defeat in 1996. His longest-held portfolio during that time was Minister for Defence (1984–1990). In 1995, Beazley was elected deputy leader of the Labor Party in place of Brian Howe, thus becoming deputy prime minister. After Labor lost power in 1996, Beazley was elected unopposed as party leader in place of Paul Keating. He led Labor to the 1998 election, recording a positive swing but falling well short of victory. After a second defeat in 2001, he resigned the leadership in favour of his deputy Simon Crean. However, in 2003 Beazley made two attempts to regain his old position. He lost an initial challenge to Crean in June, and then after Crean's resignation in December lost a ballot to Mark Latham by two votes. Beazley was eventually elected to a second term as leader in January 2005 when Latham resigned in the wake of the 2004 election. Beazley was replaced by Kevin Rudd in December 2006, following a spate of poor opinion polling. He retired from politics at the 2007 election. From 2010 to 2016, Beazley served as Ambassador of Australia to the United States. In April 2018, it was announced by Premier Mark McGowan that Beazley would succeed Kerry Sanderson as Governor of Western Australia on 1 May, for a term of four years.