Peter Duncan (Australian politician)

The Honourable Peter Duncan
Minister for Employment and Education Services
In office 19 January 1988 – 4 April 1990
Prime Minister	Bob Hawke
Preceded by	Clyde Holding
Succeeded by	Peter Baldwin
Minister for Land Transport and Infrastructure Support
In office 24 July 1987 – 19 January 1988
Prime Minister	Bob Hawke
Preceded by	office established
Succeeded by	Clyde Holding
Member of the Australian Parliament for Makin
In office 1 December 1984 – 2 March 1996
Preceded by	New seat
Succeeded by	Trish Draper
Minister for Health
In office 15 March 1979 – 18 September 1979
Premier	Des Corcoran
Preceded by	Jennifer Cashmore
Succeeded by	Don Banfield
Attorney-General of South Australia
In office 9 October 1975 – 15 March 1979
Premier	Don Dunstan
Preceded by	Don Dunstan
Succeeded by	Don Banfield
Member of the South Australian House of Assembly for Elizabeth
In office 10 March 1973 – 25 October 1984
Preceded by	John Clark
Succeeded by	Martyn Evans
Personal details
Born	(1945-01-01) 1 January 1945 Melbourne, Victoria
Nationality	Australian
Political party	Australian Labor Party
Alma mater	University of Adelaide

Peter Duncan (born 1 January 1945) is an Australian Labor Party politician and one of the relatively few members of parliament to have served not only in both a state and national parliament but also as a minister in both cases.

Peter Duncan was born in Melbourne and went to the University of Adelaide, where he studied law and was co-editor of the student newspaper On Dit in 1968. He was elected to the South Australian House of Assembly from the electorate of Elizabeth in the 1973 South Australian election, when he was 28.

In state parliament Duncan served as 41st Attorney-General of South Australia from 1975 until 1979, and then as Minister for Health until the defeat of the Corcoran Labor government at the 1979 election. He resigned from state politics in 1984, sparking an Elizabeth by-election, to contest the seat of Makin in the 1984 Australian election, which he held at every election until defeated when Labor lost office federally in 1996.

Duncan was Minister for Land Transport and Infrastructure Support for the last half of 1987 and Minister for Employment and Education Services for over three years from 1988 to 1990. After leaving the ministry in 1990, he became Parliamentary Secretary to the Attorney-General in December 1991, a post he held until Labor lost office.

Duncan had a business career after politics, which became a source of controversy when he was charged in September 2007 with 'making an untrue statement in application for a Commonwealth grant and with dishonestly causing loss to a Commonwealth entity'. It was reported that this had occurred in the wake of the failure of his plastic recycling business Omnipol. He was subsequently ordered to stand trial on three counts in the South Australian District Court. Duncan went on trial on 3 November 2008, pleading not guilty. On 11 November, he was acquitted on all charges.