Peter McCallum Dowding SC (born 6 October 1943) is an Australian lawyer and former politician who served as the 24th Premier of Western Australia, from 25 February 1988 until his forced resignation on 12 February 1990. He was a member of parliament from 1980 to 1990. Dowding graduated from the University of Western Australia with a Bachelor of Laws, and he subsequently worked as a solicitor and barrister. In 1980, he was elected to the North Province of the Western Australian Legislative Council, representing the Labor Party. He entered cabinet when Labor won the 1983 state election, and changed ministries several times over the ensuing years due to cabinet reshuffles. At the 1986 state election, Dowding transferred to the Legislative Assembly, winning the safe seat of Maylands. In December 1987, Premier Brian Burke announced that he would resign on 25 February 1988. Burke picked Dowding as his preferred replacement, with a secret opinion poll showing that he was the best candidate for the party to choose. After several other contenders dropped out of the contest, Dowding was voted in unanimously as the party's leader on 30 December. He was sworn in as the premier as scheduled on 25 February 1988. Following controversy caused by WA Inc, Dowding's government was losing popularity. On 12 February 1990, Dowding resigned as premier and leader of the Labor Party ahead of almost certainly losing a leadership spill. His replacement was Carmen Lawrence. Dowding soon resigned from parliament, and went back to practising law. The royal commission into WA Inc was scathing of Dowding, saying that he "presided over a disastrous series of decisions". Early life and career Dowding was born on 6 October 1943 in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. His parents were Keith McCallum Dowding, a high-profile Presbyterian minister and far-left political activist, and Marjorie Stuart D'Arcey, who died of suicide when Peter was eight. He was educated at various schools in Australia and the United Kingdom, including Caulfield Grammar School in Melbourne, Kelvinside Academy in Glasgow, The Scots College in Sydney, and Hale School in Perth, Western Australia. As a teenager, he joined the Australian Labor Party. Keith was also a member of the Labor Party, and had attempted to enter Federal Parliament several times, but he was expelled in the early 1960s for his opposition to the White Australia policy. Dowding earned a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Western Australia