Now that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has shut the door on giving out overseas ambassadors’ postings to former ALP notables, some of them have announced their moves into academia.

Today former Queensland premier Peter Beattie reveals that he has accepted a six-month appointment at the University of South Carolina lecturing on politics, tourism, trade and investment. All those smiles, all those teeth, all those handshakes – more fun than a Democrat primary debate.

In the coming days, former Labor Leader Kim Beazley will confirm his appointment as a senior academic at the Australian National University in Canberra. The ANU position has been in the works since late last year following delicate negotiations between Beazley, who turns 60 next month, and Vice Chancellor Professor Ian Chubb.

Established in 1946, the ANU is the nation’s premier research university with a major graduate training program, a status which Chubb has defended resolutely from the philistine hordes of the Howard era. Beazley, who holds a masters degree in arts and philosophy and is a former Murdoch University lecturer in social and political history, will be a key player in developing the Canberra campus and its international prestige.

After 27 years in parliament and two terms as Opposition leader (1996-2001 and 2004-2006), most of Beazley’s friends thought he would be glad to see the back of Canberra, its foul weather and barren night life. But the lure of the city of his dreams – fulfilled and broken – has proven too strong. If nothing else, his private running commentary on the fortunes of the Rudd Government will make him a welcome guest at Press Gallery lunches.