Peter Beattie, a man who's never lost a state election, will run for Labor to revive the party's hope in Queensland.
The former Queensland premier is still well regarded and his come back would fill any opponent with dread.
A self-confessed media tart, Mr Beattie has always been keen to portray himself as an ordinary bloke while fronting cameras with his watermelon grin.
Winning four state elections from 1998 put him in the Labor pantheon, alongside Bob Hawke and Neville Wran.
And with federal campaign dollars behind him, Mr Beattie could well take the seat of Forde off the LNP, held by a slim 1.6 per cent margin.
It's hard to argue the former student activist, solicitor and Queensland ALP secretary had not lived up to the title of his autobiography: Making a Difference.
He rolled out a broad, ambitious program, which included overhauls in education, juvenile justice, native title reform, prostitution and industrial relations.
Mr Beattie dubbed Queensland the "Smart State" as he pushed for a renewed emphasis on education and industry and still uses the label as his Twitter handle.
He cut class sizes, vastly improved retention rates, banned broadscale tree clearing and set aside more national parks.
The former premier started a multi-billion dollar public infrastructure program and helped bring the unemployment rate to a three decade low.
But his last term was marred by a string of calamities - notably the jailing of Merri Rose for blackmail, corruption charges against former minister Gordon Nuttall, assault charges against former minister Pat Purcell and a minister's guilty plea to drink-driving.
And he oversaw one of the biggest scandals in Queensland - that surrounding surgeon Jayant Patel who was convicted on three counts of manslaughter and one of grievous bodily harm that in 2012 were quashed by the High Court which ordered a retrial.
Mr Beattie stood down as Queensland premier in September 2007 and handed over to Queensland's first female premier, Anna Bligh.
"The king is dead, long live the queen," he said at the time.
"You get to a stage in your life when you get over it and I'm well and truly over it," he said, with wife Heather and son Matthew at his side.
Mr Beattie was soon appointed Queensland trade commissioner to the Americas and when he retired in 2010 one year early from that post, he again ruled out a tile at federal politics.
He said at the time he didn't want to kill himself with 20 hour working days.
Mr Beattie will replace Des Hardman, the pre-selected candidate for the marginal seat.
