About Susan
Susan grew up on her family’s cattle property, 70km south of Cloncurry. She was educated by Correspondence School and Mt Isa School of the Air before boarding school in Brisbane. Her first job was cooking for a stock camp and working at Expo ’88 in Brisbane before going to the University of Queensland to study accounting with the idea she would go back to the family station to handle the bookkeeping.
But circumstances changed and she ended up in Brisbane working in different businesses as an Accountant before going in as Chief of Staff for then Natural Resources and Mines Minister, Andrew Cripps.
Her family had bought a chain of butcher shops in Brisbane and the Gold Coast and Susan ran them for 6 years before being elected to the Australian Senate for Queensland.
She has three kids and is now based in Townsville.
Parliamentary Service:
Susan was elected to the Senate in May, 2019 after securing the No.2 spot on Queensland’s Liberal National Party ticket. She is the former Special Envoy for Northern Australia, and current chairman of the Federal Government’s Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport committee.
In June 2022, she was named Shadow Minister for Resources and for Northern Australia.
About Townsville:
Townsville is about 1100km north of Brisbane, with a population of 180,000, making it the largest Australian city north of the Sunshine Coast. It is a garrison city with a strong Army and Air Force presence.
With its large port, Townsville is also the main gateway for the resources and agricultural regions of North Queensland.