People: He’s still burning the midnight oil

The music of Peter Garrett has always been politically charged.

Now the towering, baldheaded former singer of Midnight Oil is charged with practicing politics – as Australia’s new environment minister.

Garrett founded the band when he was a law student in 1973, but the semi-punk group did not achieve global fame until its 1987 track “Beds are Burning,” a protest song about Aboriginal land rights in Australia.

With his wild dancing and strident voice, Garrett became one of Australia’s most recognizable singers until the band broke up in 2002.

A longtime environmental campaigner and advocate for Aboriginal rights, Garrett made his first foray into politics with an unsuccessful bid for the Senate as a member of the Nuclear Disarmament Party in 1984.

Alongside his singing career, Garrett also served as head of the Australian Conservation Foundation during the late 1980s and early 1990s, and sat on the international board of the environmental group Greenpeace.

The 6-foot, 6-inch singer disbanded Midnight Oil in 2002 to focus on his political career. He was elected to Parliament two years later and enjoyed a meteoric rise through the Labor Party ranks, being appointed as an opposition spokesman on the arts and Aboriginal affairs.

In December 2006, Garrett was promoted to lead Labor’s attack on then-Prime Minister John Howard‘s environment policies.

Many former colleagues in the conservation movement accused him of selling out by softening his public stance on issues such as uranium mining and old-growth logging.

Garrett replied that being a member of a major party is the best way to effect change, compromises notwithstanding.

In November, Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd appointed Garrett to be the environment minister in his new Cabinet, but appointed a second minister, Sen. Penny Wong, to take responsibility for climate change.

Rudd said the decision to split the portfolio reflected the increased importance of issues such as global warming and renewable energy.

Both Garrett and Wong accompanied Rudd to the United Nations climate change meeting in Bali, Indonesia, last month.

Nevertheless, many analysts see the decision as a rebuke to Garrett, who made a series of gaffes during the campaign – including reportedly telling a radio talk show host off-record that Labor planned to renege on a number of campaign promises once elected.

Garrett has said he was just joking.

Since being elected in 2004, he has worked hard to tone down his wild image, favoring dark suits over blue jeans and leather boots.

A self-avowed Christian, Garrett is also fiercely private about his personal life, rarely discussing his wife and three daughters.

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Musician Earl Scruggs is 84. Actress Bonnie Franklin is 64. Actor-comedian Rowan Atkinson (“Mr. Bean”) is 53. Director John Singleton is 40. “Early Show” co-host Julie Chen is 38. Actor Danny Pintauro (“Who’s The Boss”) is 32.