Peter Garrett

The band ‘Midnight Oil’ performed two gigs to earn money to help the survivors of the ‘Tsunami’ disaster which occurred on 26th December 2004.

In a bid to raise funds for the Victorian Bushfire Appeal, Peter performed along with the other members of the band ‘Midnight Oil’ in 2009.

Peter Garrett was born in the Wahroonga region of New South Wales, Australia on the 16th of April, 1953. He pursued his primary education at the ‘Gordon West Public School’, Pymble, an area located in the upper north shore of Sydney.

Peter later moved to institutions like ‘Barker College’ as well as the ‘Australian National University’ to study further. He finally went to the prestigious ‘University of New South Wales’, where he enrolled for a degree in law.

Garrett joined the Australia based rock band ‘Midnight Oil’, which was previously known as ‘Farm’, during the year 1973, as its lead vocalist. The young lawyer grabbed the opportunity after responding to an advertisement placed by the band’s drummer Rob Hurst.

Peter, along with the other members of the band, went on a musical tour in 1975, but he returned to studies the very next year to complete his degree in law.

After being associated with ‘Midnight Oil’ for quite a few years, the vocalist grabbed the attention of Australia’s political circles. His growing popularity helped him get an invitation from the political outfit ‘Nuclear Disarmament Party’, to contest for one of the many seats during the Federal Elections of 1984.

Although he refused initially, this singer did compete, but ended up losing the contest by a small margin. One of the reasons behind this loss was the refusal of the ‘Labor Party’ to join hands with the ‘Nuclear Disarmament Party’ to form a majority.

However, Garrett entered the field of administration in 1989, when he was appointed the president of the environmental organization ‘Australian Conservation Foundation’. This initiative was aimed at working towards a better environment and addressing the issues concerning the same.

After a four-year long tenure with the organization, Peter started working with the non-governmental initiative ‘Greenpeace’, which also worked towards the betterment of the environment. The singer was then associated with other initiatives like the ‘Jubilee Debt Relief’ as well as ‘Surfrider Foundation’.

Peter took a break from his non-musical commitments in 2000 and performed along with his ‘Midnight Oil’ band mates during the closing ceremony of the ‘Olympic Games’, held in Sydney that year.

One of the most unusual reforms which Garrett introduced during his tenure was that of ‘Improvement School Enrolment and Attendance Through Welfare Reform Measure’. According to this reform, parents who did not let their children complete their education were prohibited from being eligible to enjoy the benefits of the government’s ‘Centrelink’ scheme’. Although, this move was criticised by many, the policy helped in the increase in attendance at schools.