Peter Knott, Australian politician, Died at 59

  Politician

Peter John Knott was born on August 8, 1956, and died on October 29, 2015.
He was an Australian politician, elected as a member of the Australian House of Representatives.
Peter represented Gilmore from 1993 to 1996 for the Australian Labor Party (ALP).
Peter was a librarian and teacher before entering Parliament.
His father was New South Wales Labor MP Bill Knott, who represented the seats of Wollondilly and Kiama in state parliament from 1978 to 1986.
Peter 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, so that Keating could capitalise on confusion over opposition leader John Hewson’s proposed goods and services tax, exemplified by Hewson’s own garbled explanation during the birthday cake interview.
When they arrived at the bakery, the owner proceeded to loudly harangue the prime minister over payroll tax (a state tax) in front of the media, causing Keating to leave in embarrassment.
Peter 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 were a result of United States foreign policy.
Peter later withdrew this comment. Nevertheless, there was an 11-point swing against the ALP at the election-the largest swing to the Liberal Party in 2001.
Peter Knott passed away at age 59 in late 2015.