Peter Cook (Australian politician)

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This article is about the Australian politician Peter Cook. For other people called Peter Cook, see Peter Cook (disambiguation).

Peter Francis Salmon Cook (8 November 1943 - 3 December 2005), Australian politician, was an Australian Labor Party member of the Senate from 1983 to 2005, representing the state of Western Australia. Cook was born in Melbourne, Victoria, and was an active trade unionist before entering politics. He was Secretary of the Western Australian Trades and Labour Council 1975-83 and Vice-President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions 1981-83. He was also a member of the Labor Party's National Executive.

In the Hawke and Keating Labor government he was Minister for Resources 1988-90, Minister for Industrial Relations 1990-93, Minister of Shipping and Aviation Support 1992-93, Minister for Trade 1993-94 and Minister for Industry, Science and Technology 1994-96.

After the defeat of the Keating government in 1996, Cook became Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, and was a member of the Opposition Shadow Ministry 1996-2001. He was defeated by union organiser Glenn Sterle in an ALP preselection ballot before the 2004 election, and subsequently did not contest the election. His term expired on 30 June 2005.

Cook died on 3 December 2005 after being diagnosed with melanoma cancer in July 2004.