Peter John Knott (8 August 1956 – 29 October 2015) was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the

Australian House of Representatives The House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameralism, bicameral Parliament of Australia, the upper house being the Australian Senate, Senate. Its composition and powers are set out in Chapter I of the Constitution of Australia. ...

. He represented

Gilmore Gilmore or Gillmore may refer to: *Gilmore (surname) Places Australia *Gilmore, Australian Capital Territory, a suburb in the Canberra district of Tuggeranong * Gilmore Avenue, a road in southern Perth, Western Australia *Division of Gilmore, a ...

from 1993 to 1996 for the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

(ALP). Knott was a librarian and teacher before entering Parliament. His father was New South Wales Labor MP Bill Knott, who represented the seats of

Wollondilly Wollondilly Shire is a periurban local government area that is located on the far southwest fringe of the Greater Sydney area in New South Wales, Australia. The local government area is part of the Macarthur and Blue Mountains regions. The Wol ...

and

Kiama Kiama may refer to: * Electoral district of Kiama, a seat in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly * Kiama, New South Wales, a town * Kiama (spider), a genus of spiders *Municipality of Kiama The Municipality of Kiama is a local government ar ...

in state parliament from 1978 to 1986. Knott was considered an eccentric character by his colleagues and the media, with a number of colourful stories to his name. During the 1993 election campaign, he was asked to organise a visit to a local bakery for prime minister

Paul Keating Paul John Keating (born 18 January 1944) is an Australian former politician and trade unionist who served as the 24th prime minister of Australia from 1991 to 1996. He held office as the leader of the Labor Party (ALP), having previously ser ...

, so that Keating could capitalise on confusion over opposition leader

John Hewson John Robert Hewson AM (born 28 October 1946) is an Australian former politician who served as leader of the Liberal Party from 1990 to 1994. He led the Liberal-National Coalition to defeat at the 1993 Australian federal election. Hewson w ...

's proposed goods and services tax, exemplified by Hewson's own garbled explanation during the

birthday cake interview The birthday cake interview was a live interview on Australian television in March 1993 in which Liberal Party Opposition Leader John Hewson was unable to clearly explain to reporter Mike Willesee whether a birthday cake would cost more or ...

. When they arrived at the bakery, the owner proceeded to loudly harangue the prime minister over

payroll tax Payroll taxes are taxes imposed on employers or employees. They are usually calculated as a percentage of the salaries that employers pay their employees. By law, some payroll taxes are the responsibility of the employee and others fall on the ...

(a state tax) in front of the media, causing Keating to leave in embarrassment. Knott was defeated at the 1996 election, but contested the 2001 election for the ALP. In the 2001 campaign he caused controversy by suggesting that the

11 September 2001 attacks The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

were a result of United States foreign policy. He later withdrew this comment. Nevertheless, there was an 11-point swing against the ALP at the election—the largest swing to the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. For example, while the political systems ...

in 2001. Knott died in late 2015, aged 59.

References

1956 births 2015 deaths Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Gilmore Australian schoolteachers University of Wollongong alumni Members of the Australian House of Representatives Australian MPs 1993–1996 {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub