Peter Staples (born 15 October 1947 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian former politician 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 ...

. He was first elected to

Parliament In modern politics and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

in 1983 as the Member for Diamond Valley, defeating

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * Generally, a supporter of the political philosophy liberalism. Liberals may be politically left or right but tend to be centrist. * An adherent of a Liberal Party (See also Liberal parties by country ...

incumbent Neil Brown. When Diamond Valley was abolished in 1984, Staples transferred to the newly created

Jagajaga The Division of Jagajaga is an Divisions of the Australian House of Representatives, Australian Electoral Division in the States and territories of Australia, state of Victoria (Australia), Victoria. It is located in the north-eastern suburbs o ...

, essentially the more Labor-friendly western half of his old electorate. The eastern portion became

Menzies Menzies is a Scottish surname, with Gaelic forms being Méinnearach and Méinn, and other variant forms being Menigees, Mennes, Mengzes, Menzeys, Mengies, and Minges. Derivation and history The name and its Gaelic form are probably derived f ...

and was taken by Brown. In 1987, he was appointed Consumer Affairs Minister by Prime Minister

Bob Hawke Robert James Lee Hawke (9 December 1929 – 16 May 2019) was an Australian politician and trade unionist who served as the 23rd prime minister of Australia from 1983 to 1991. He held office as the Australian Labor Party, leader of the La ...

in his third ministry. Staples would remain a junior minister for nearly six years, serving as Minister for Housing and Aged Care and later Aged, Family and Health Services in the Hawke and Keating Ministries. Staples lost his spot in the ministry to Frank Walker after the party's victory at the 1993 election. He spent the remainder of his career on the

backbench In Westminster and other parliamentary systems, a backbencher is a member of parliament (MP) or a legislator who occupies no governmental office and is not a frontbench spokesperson in the Opposition, being instead simply a member of t ...

until his retirement from politics in 1996, as stated in his documentary, ''The Dance of a Thousand Summers''."Parliamentary Warriors No More", ''

The Sun Herald The ''Sun Herald'' is a U.S. newspaper based in Biloxi, Mississippi, that serves readers along the Mississippi Gulf Coast. The paper's current executive editor and general manager is Blake Kaplan, and its headquarters is in the city of Gulfpor ...

'', 3 March 1996

References

1947 births Living people Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Australia Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Diamond Valley Members of the Australian House of Representatives for Jagajaga Members of the Australian House of Representatives Australian MPs 1983–1984 Australian MPs 1984–1987 Australian MPs 1987–1990 Australian MPs 1990–1993 Australian MPs 1993–1996 {{Australia-Labor-representative-stub