Gabrielle Chan, political correspondent

theguardian.com, Thursday 8 August 2013

Former Queensland premier parachuted in to bolster Kevin Rudd's hopes in his home state

Former Queensland premier Peter Beattie will contest the seat of Forde at the upcoming federal election. Photograph: AAP/Dave Hunt

The prime minister, Kevin Rudd, and Peter Beattie declared they would put their differences aside for the sake of the Labor Party and the good of the country as the former Queensland premier announced his decision to run for the Brisbane seat of Forde.

The two men came together in Beenleigh to launch Beattie's campaign in the south Brisbane electorate, currently held by Liberal Bert van Manen on a margin of 1.6%.

"Those of you who have been around for a bit will know Peter and I have had the occasional stoush in the past but that's OK, that's life in the Labor Party," Rudd said.

Beattie famously supported the former prime minister, Julia Gillard, during the various leadership challenges which eventually brought Rudd back to the top job. He was particularly scathing of Rudd in 2010, when he was suspected of leaking against Gillard during the election campaign.

"The ALP is no one's plaything and those who think their ego is bigger than the party seriously underestimate the movement," Beattie said of Rudd during the 2010 election campaign.

On Thursday, Beattie said he took it as a measure of Rudd's "leadership" that the prime minister put those previous comments aside.

"Frankly I was impressed that he did," Beattie said.

Rudd revealed he rang Beattie to ask him to run only "a few nights ago" because he wanted his "weight" behind the campaign. Beattie said he discussed the move with his wife Heather, who had previously vehemently opposed her husband's return to politics.

The couple were out of the country at the time and only arrived back in Australia on Thursday morning to move straight into Beattie's brother's house, which is in Forde.

Beattie claimed he was in complete agreement with Rudd's plans on productivity and the economy more generally.

He said he was not taking the electorate for granted and claimed underdog status, given the seat was held by the Coalition. He admitted that, though he had done a lot of work as premier with local government in the area, he did not know Forde well, "but I will by the end of the four weeks".

Given his rapid introduction to Forde voters, Beattie said he did not expect to be campaigning in other seats.

Forde is in the southern suburbs of Brisbane in the mortgage belt and has been held by van Manen since 2010. Before that, it was held by Labor's Brett Raguse between 2007 and 2010.

The preselected Labor candidate Des Hardman had a low profile nationally but was known for his local electorate work. As the announcement leaked out, Hardman's website and his profile on the Labor Party website was taken down.

van Manen said Beattie had no contact with the electorate and Labor was not interested in the people of Forde.

"It's interesting Mr Rudd talks about a new way but all I can see is the old way. My condolences to Des Hardman and his family.

"Mr Beattie has a record in state government and that has led to high power prices, high water prices and any number of issues."

While the Coalition holds the seat, with Rudd's return to the leadership, it was already considered winnable due to the prime minister's relative popularity in Queensland.

Rudd paid tribute to Hardman, whom he had already campaigned with in Forde. Rudd also announced a $3 million town square in Beenleigh at the same time.

Beattie was Queensland premier from 1998 to 2007, when he was succeeded by Anna Bligh.

As a self-confessed "media tart", Beattie was known for massaging his media profile with great dexterity.

Many times he ruled out a seat in federal parliament, partly because "Canberra is too cold" but mostly because his wife Heather was against the move.

"There would be a death in the family, and that would be me," he said in his retirement press conference.

At that time, in 2007, Beattie said although he thought leaders should only stay in the job for eight years, he wanted to get three major policy projects finished, including the water grid, council amalgamations and health.

Those areas arguably covered some of his government's greatest controversies.

There was a water crisis in Brisbane due to aging infrastructure.

There were the local backlashes against forced council amalgamations – 19 of which appealed for de-amalgamation and four of which are still in the process of being reversed.

There was the case of doctor Jayant Patel, who was jailed for the manslaughter of three patients and then released last year for retrial. It was discovered after his employment by Bundaberg Hospital that he had been struck off the US register for malpractice.

At his resignation, Beattie said he had made his share of mistakes but just wanted to be remembered as someone who did his best.

"Sometimes it was good enough, sometimes it wasn't good enough – but I always did my best," he said.

The opposition leader, Tony Abbott, dismissed Beattie as "another flim flam man" who would just add to the leadership instability.

"You might ask me am I worried about Peter Beattie? No I'm not, but I bet Kevin Rudd is," Abbott said.

Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne suggested Peter Beattie and Kevin Rudd despised each other "like the mongoose and the cobra".
"We've already got one narcissistic ego-maniac from Queensland in federal parliament in Kevin Rudd, Pyne said. "We hardly need two."

Fellow Coalition frontbencher Malcolm Turnbull said Queenslanders would have to have a case of "collective amnesia" to vote for Peter Beattie.

"He so neglected investment in infrastructure that Brisbane came very close to running out of water. [Beattie and Rudd] have a unity ticket in not investing."

If Beattie wins Forde, he will join another former premier, Bob Carr, the foreign minister, in the caucus.

The federal trade minister, Richard Marles, described Beattie as "one of the most formidable politicians that Labor has in this country.

"He was a great premier in Queensland, he would make an enormous contribution to a federal Labor government," Marles said.

"He is obviously a very popular figure in Queensland and you've got to think that in a seat like Forde he's going to make a real difference."

Peter Beattie to run in marginal Brisbane seat of Forde | World news | theguardian.com