Former Midnight Oil frontman Peter Garrett, who became an MP for the Australian Labour Party back in October 2004, has been appointed to the party's shadow cabinet. The singer's work as part of the ALP has been relatively low-key until now, working as secretary for Reconciliation and The Arts, but according to reports he will now take on a climate change portfolio. The job will see him challenging prime minister John Howard on issues such as greenhouse gas emissions and water shortages.
Garrett quit Midnight Oil back in 2002, of course, to concentrate on environmental campaigning, before moving into party politics, claiming that was the only way he could effect any meaningful change.