'Humble' Peter Beattie confirms his Labor candidacy for federal seat

Officially launching Mr Beattie as Labor's star candidate on Thursday afternoon in Forde, Mr Rudd praised the former Queensland premier as "rolled gold Queensland".

The Liberal National Party currently holds the seat on a margin of just 1.6 per cent.

Mr Rudd also dismissed Mr Beattie's former criticisms of him - which include jibes about Mr Rudd's media and political manoeuvrings.

"That's OK, that's life in the Labor party," Mr Rudd said. "Guess what, for me, it's water off a duck's back. It doesn't really matter."

Mr Beattie told reporters that if he was elected to Forde he would buy and move into a home in the area immediately.

"I believe in being part of the electorate," he said.

He said he was running because he wanted to see the Labor Party in Queensland get a "fair go" - pointing to Labor's seven seats in State Parliament and eight in Federal Parliament.

Mr Beattie told reporters that he was happy to be a "humble backbencher" if he was elected.

Mr Beattie's star candidacy has pushed out Labor's previous candidate in Forde, Des Hardman.

Earlier on Thursday, Mr Hardman released a statement saying he was standing aside "in the interest of ensuring a Labor victory".

Mr Rudd said he had telephoned Mr Beattie several days ago, asking him to add his "weight" to the federal campaign in Queensland.

He said the specific seat was left up to the Labor Party's organisation wing.

Mr Beattie's has previously said his wife Heather would kill him if he returned to politics.

But on Thursday, Mrs Beattie said she was "very happy" to support her husband and Mr Rudd.

"I agreed with Peter that we needed to put Australia first," she said.

Mr Beattie said he had a tough fight ahead of him in Forde, where he will take on the Liberal National Party's Bert van Manen. Mr van Manen won the seat in 2010 after working in banking.

The former Queensland premier said he was the "underdog" in the seat and would have to prove himself.

Mr Beattie said it was a measure of the Prime Minister's leadership that he was prepared to put their differences aside to call him up to Forde. "Frankly, I was impressed that he did," he said.

Mr Beattie said that he would not be harking back to his former stunt-like ways in the campaign.

Voters could expect him to be "boring", "hardworking" and "trying to win the support of the people of Forde", he said.

In his statement, Mr Hardman, a radiographer at Logan Hospital, said he was "personally disappointed'' to lose the opportunity to stand as Labor's candidate in Queensland marginal seat south of Brisbane.

"When I started this campaign 12 months ago I said that my main concern was ensuring a Labor victory in Forde and to ensure a Labor government was returned,'' he said in a statement issued through Queensland Labor headquarters.

"I am standing aside as a candidate in the interest of ensuring a Labor victory.''

Former Queensland Labor president Andrew Dettmer said Mr Beattie was still a popular figure in the state and would give the seat a good shake-up.

''Peter Beattie has always been a politician first and foremost,'' he said.

''Having a go at Forde, which is marginal, is great. There is no guarantee he’s going to win, which is a big call for anybody. It's a great opportunity for Labor to win that seat back.''

Mr Dettmer said he, like most in the country's political circles, was caught off guard by the surprise announcement.

''Peter doing that is what Peter does best, running but providing a little bit of surprise,'' he said.

''I don't think there's any doubt Peter Beattie resigned as a popular premier. I don't think there’s any doubt that it's something that will give this seat a very, very good shake.''

In Tasmania on Thursday morning, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said he was not worried about the news of Mr Beattie's candidacy, but Mr Rudd would be.

"[Mr Beattie is] another flim-flam man who hit people with record debt and deficit, who’s just going to add to the leadership intstability inside the Labor Party," Mr Abbott said.

"You might say to me, am I worried about Peter Beattie? Of course not. But I bet Kevin Rudd is, I bet Kevin Rudd is."

The Coalition quickly put out a media backgrounder on Thursday, entitled ''Peter Beattie's Record'' on his time as Queensland premier and negative quotes about Kevin Rudd.

Coalition frontbencher Christopher Pyne told Sky News on Thursday that Mr van Manen was not an "ego maniac" or a "narcissist".

"He doesn't want to go into Parliament for himself, he wants to go into Parliament to support the people in Forde," Mr Pyne said.

Labor Party national secretary George Wright said that the ALP national executive would meet later on Thursday to "set out a timely process to finalise the preselection of Labor’s new candidate in Forde."

Mr van Manen said he had a simple message for the people of Forde on Thursday afternoon: "I wasn't parachuted in".

Mr van Manen said he grew up in the electorate and had his work and family life there.

"I’ll commit to the people of Ford that I’ll be their local voice," he said.

He also said that the election was always going to be difficult, even before the arrival of Mr Beattie.

With Brisbane Times

Peter Beattie: timeline