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Andrew was born in Maryborough and moved to Brisbane to obtain his law degree at the University of Queensland
Andrew was admitted to the Queensland Bar in May 1989 while he was working at the Director of Prosecutions. He was later engaged on the Fitzgerald Inquiry. Later still he worked as a Crown Prosecutor at the Special Prosecutors Office. Andrew acted as Junior Counsel Assisting His Honour Mr Justice Carter’s royal commission into Operation Trident.
He then spent 10 years at the Bar as a founding member of Trinity Chambers in Cairns practicing mainly in the area of Criminal Law including murder, attempted murder, rape, armed robbery and other serious offences. He was the founding President of the Environmental Defenders Office of Northern Queensland and volunteer contributor to the Cairns Community Legal Centre. He later taught law at James Cook University before returning to Brisbane and working reviewing and drafting legislation. Andrew later conducted investigations and reviews into many aspects of State and Local Government practices while engaged by the Crime and Misconduct Commission.
Andrew practices mainly in the areas of Planning and Environment, Local Government, and Commerical Litigation. He has a strong interest in good government having worked on the administration of justice within government and on helping to ensure the public's right to decent, open, honest, fair and accountable decisions and practices while in private practice. Andrew is a Vice President of the Queensland Council for Civil Liberties. He is a volunteer presenter for the Suncoast Community Legal Service and the Queensland EDO on matters of environmental law.
Andrew is also a tree farmer and a regular contributor to policy debates on natural resource management especially in relation to vegetation management and water. He is the Chair of Private Forest Service Queensland and the President of the South East Queensland Branch of the Australian Forest Growers.
Andrew is the Chairman of Fraser Island Holiday Lodges which owns and manages properties on Fraser Island for private rental. He is also a steering committee member for Re-veg.net.au, one of Caring for our Country's biggest and most diverse projects running from north of Cairns to the NSW border.
Andrew has established his practice as a low-emissions one and he personally offsets over 100% of his annual GHG emissions by tree planting in riparian restoration projects on his rural property.
Andrew has travelled widely around Australia and the world. He has a long association with information technology (dating back to when they were just called ‘computers’) including owning and running a large Internet Service Provider in the hey-day of the Internet and is naturally our WebMaster and Mr FixIT. He is a keen photographer and cyclist in his spare time.