Andrew is the Executive Director of Agriscience Consultancies Tasmania, a company he and his wife Hilda established in 2023. Andrew has 36 years of prior experience working in government in Tasmania and Victoria, Australia.

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Key Skills:  Strategic planning, legislative and policy development and implementation, government operational process, organisation leadership, project management, scientific and plant science knowledge, systems thinking and international trade. 

 

Academic qualifications and recognition: Andrew holds degrees in biological and agricultural sciences from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (BAppSc) and University of Tasmania (MAgrSc) respectively, and a Graduate Certificate in Public Sector Management from Flinders University of South Australia. He is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors, and a Fellow of Ag Institute Australia, as well as a Founding Chartered Agriculturalist under the national scheme administered by  AgInstitute Australia. 

 

Background:  Before retiring from the Tasmanian State Service, Andrew was Tasmania’s Chief Plant Protection Officer with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania.  In that role, Andrew was responsible for representation (state and national) and decision-making with the development and maintenance of the Tasmanian plant biosecurity system including plant biosecurity emergency responses. He has participated in multiple biosecurity responses (animal, plant, and invasives) in various roles and is a qualified Planning Manager and Incident Controller. ​Andrew is the past chair of the national Plant Health Committee, a sectoral subcommittee of the National Biosecurity Committee, and was the Tasmanian Government representative on Plant Health Australia and the National Fruit Fly Council.

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Previously Andrew has held senior science and policy roles in horticulture and weed management. Andrew is a Churchill Fellow receiving his Fellowship in 2002 sponsored by the Swire Group to investigate integrated pest management in horticulture in northern Europe and Scandinavia. In 2005, Andrew was made a life member of the Tasmanian Weed Society.  Andrew was made a Fellow of Ag Institute Australia for services to agriculture in 2021.  He has extensive legislative experience inclusive of drafting the former Weed Management Act 1999.  Andrew is past chair, and a former director, on the board of the Ag Institute Australia, which is the peak body representing agriculturists in Australia, and has served as a director on the board of Landcare Tasmania. He is currently a member of the Advisory Board of the ARCTraining Centre in Plant Biosecurity.

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Andrew is the lead author of both editions of the Tasmanian Biosecurity Strategy, and several other publications related to biosecurity and crop protection.