Background
Phelps was born at Camden District Hospital to Robert and Gwen Phelps.
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Peter Phelps
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Education
At Sydney University he obtained his Doctor of Philosophy in 1997.
Career
He has been a Liberal Party member of the New South Wales Legislative Council since March 2011. He contested the New South Wales Legislative Assembly seat of Drummoyne in the 1999 New South Wales State election. He is the current Government whip in the Legislative Council.
He spent his early years living in Bradbury, New South Wales and attending the Bradbury Infants School.
Later in life his family moved to the Sydney inner-Western suburbs of Camperdown, New South Wales and then Dulwich Hill, New South Wales. He attend Camperdown Demonstration School, Summer Hill opportunity classes, Fort Street High School, and Sydney University (Street Paul"s College).
Before entering Parliament Phelps worked as an adviser to various Liberal politicians: Ian McLachlan (1998), John Moore (1998-1999), Senator Chris Ellison 1999–2000, Senator Eric Abetz (2001-2006), Gary Nairn (2006-2007), Senator Michael Ronaldson (2009-2010) and Bronwyn Bishop 2010-2011. Phelps"s entry at the website of the NSW Parliament says: "Doctor Phelps is a libertarian with social conservative tendencies, placing him within the "fusionist" school of conservative political philosophy.
His political hero is Ronald Reagan."
Phelps was Nairn"s chief of staff during the 2007 federal election, at which Nairn lost his seat of Eden-Monaro to the Labor candidate, Doctor Mike Kelly.
During the campaign he attended a Kelly campaign meeting in Queanbeyan. From the audience he asked Kelly, a former Army officer, why he had served in the Iraq War when Labor had opposed that war. Kelly replied "I was a soldier, and I did what I was ordered to do." Phelps then said: "Oh, like the guards at Belsen, perhaps? Are you using the Nuremberg Defence?"
The following week in federal Parliament, responding to a Labor question about Phelps"s comments, Nairn said: "I would not agree with any comments that might compare the work of Australian soldiers with those in Nazi Germany." The American Broadcasting Company reported that "Peter Phelps has written to Mike Kelly, unreservedly withdrawing his inappropriate comments and regretting any offence."
In 2011, Phelps made a speech in which he compared scientists who believe in global warming to those who worked for totalitarian regimes.
He said it should not be forgotten that "some of the strongest supporters of totalitarian regimes in the last century have been scientists.
We should not be so surprised that the contemporary science debate has become so debased," he said. "At the heart of many scientists – but not all scientists – lies the heart of a totalitarian planner." This was reported as "Upper house whip under fire for Nazi slur on scientists," although Phelps did not use the word "Nazi."
In 2013, on the 40th anniversary of the military coup in Chile, Phelps, in a speech in the NSW Parliament, said that he supported the overthrow of Salvador Allende.
Phelps" comments were controversial, with the Australian Labor Party and Australian Greens calling for Premier Barry O"Farrell to reprimand or sack Phelps for his comments. He was neither sacked nor reprimanded.
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Quotations: "I was a soldier, and I did what I was ordered to do.".
Membership
He was a Member of the State Executive of the Liberal Party and the Chairman of the Constitution Standing Committee.
