Peter Cleeland

{{Short description|Australian politician}}

{{Use Australian English|date=August 2021}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix =

| name = Peter Cleeland

| honorific-suffix =

| image = Petercleeland.jpg

| constituency_MP = McEwen

| parliament = Australian

| majority =

| predecessor1 = New seat

| successor1 = Fran Bailey

| term_start1 = 1 December 1984

| term_end1 = 24 March 1990

| predecessor2 = Fran Bailey

| successor2 = Fran Bailey

| term_start2 = 13 March 1993

| term_end2 = 2 March 1996

| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1938|5|31}}

| birth_place = Preston, Victoria

| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|2007|9|16|1938|5|31}}

| death_place =

| nationality = Australian

| spouse =

| party = Australian Labor Party

| relations =

| children =

| residence =

| alma_mater =

| occupation = Policeman

| profession =

| religion =

| signature =

| website =

| footnotes =

}}

Peter Robert Cleeland (31 May 1938{{spaced ndash}}16 September 2007), Australian politician, was a Labor member of the Australian House of Representatives, representing the electorate of McEwen in Victoria between 1984 and 1990, and subsequently between 1993 and 1996.

Cleeland was raised in the Melbourne suburb of Preston, earning a trade as a fitter and turner before joining the Victorian Police Force from 1961 to 1969.{{Cite journal

| title=Auspol

| year=2003

| issue=3

| url=http://www.afpa.org.au/get/402.pdf

| accessdate=2007-09-25

| journal=

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060820084115/http://www.afpa.org.au/get/402.pdf

| archive-date=20 August 2006

| url-status=dead

}} p23 While a police officer, he studied and graduated in law at Monash University. He worked as a solicitor for a number of years, eventually establishing his own practice. He was elected as a local councillor for the Central Ward in the Shire of Diamond Valley from 1978 to 1985 and was Shire President from 1982 to 1983.{{Cite web

| title =Biography for Cleeland, Peter Robert

| publisher =Parliament of Australia

| work=ParlInfo Web

| url =http://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;adv=yes;db=;group=;holdingType=;id=;orderBy=customrank;page=0;query=Peter%20Cleeland;querytype=;rec=4;resCount=Default

| accessdate = 2007-09-25 }}

In 1982 Cleeland unsuccessfully stood for election in the Victorian Legislative Assembly seat of Doncaster. He achieved Labor Party preselection for the newly formed federal House of Representatives seat of McEwen, which he won in 1984.{{Cite web

| title =1984-Victoria

| work=House of Representative Results by State

| publisher =University of Melbourne

| url =http://www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/~blair/elections/vic84.html

| accessdate = 2007-09-25 }} Cleeland won the subsequent election in 1987,{{Cite web

| title =1987-Victoria

| work=House of Representative Results by State

| publisher =University of Melbourne

| url =http://www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/~blair/elections/vic87.html

| accessdate = 2007-09-25 }} before losing the seat to Liberal candidate Fran Bailey in the 1990 general election.{{Cite web

| title =1990-Victoria

| work=House of Representative Results by State

| publisher =University of Melbourne

| url =http://www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/~blair/elections/vic90.html

| accessdate = 2007-09-25 }} He stood once again in 1993{{Cite web

| title =1993-Victoria

| work=House of Representative Results by State

| publisher =University of Melbourne

| url =http://www.earthsci.unimelb.edu.au/~blair/elections/vic93.html

| accessdate = 2007-09-25 }} and won the seat back, serving for a further 3 years before once again losing the seat to Bailey in the 1996 election, when the Keating Labor government was swept from power by John Howard.

Cleeland served as Chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Crime Authority between 1987 and 1990, producing during that time the much cited report "Drugs, Crime and Society". The report recommended harm minimisation rather than criminalisation as a technique for managing illicit drug use.{{Cite web

| title =Drugs, Crime and Society

| publisher =Parliament of Australia

| work=Report by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on the National Crime Authority

| url =http://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/acc_ctte/completed_inquiries/pre1996/dcs89/report/report.pdf

| year=1989

| accessdate = 2007-09-25 }}

Cleeland died on 16 September 2007 from motor neurone disease.{{Cite web

| title =Community servant dies

| publisher =Diamond Valley Leader

| url =http://www.diamondvalleyleader.com.au/article/2007/09/26/22742_dvv_news.html

| date=26 September 2007

| accessdate = 2007-11-25 }}