He was a Liberal Party member of the South Australian House of Assembly between 1989 and 2002, representing the electorate of Adelaide.
Armitage was educated at St. Ignatius College and the University of Adelaide, where he studied medicine.
Armitage won the seat of Adelaide the 1989 state election, becoming the first non-Labor member to win it in its single-member incarnation.
[2] Rann immediately criticised Armitage for his use of the word,[3] and a number of aboriginal groups demanded his removal from the ministry.
[5][6] In 2005 he was appointed as CEO of Private Healthcare Australia (formerly the Australian Health Insurance Association) and remained in that role until October 2015.