Life:• Chris is married to Grace and is a proud father of a six month old daughter, Yasmin.• Chris’ family home is in Frankston, from where he manages his own small business consultancy.• Chris is 32 years old and comes from humble beginnings. He was born in Mitcham, but grew up and did his schooling in

the country in Horsham and Murtoa. He has lived, studied and worked in regional Victoria, metropolitan Australia and overseas (in Horsham, Melbourne, Canberra, Kosovo (former Yugoslavia) and Mildura).

Qualifications:• Master of Diplomacy with Distinction (ANU) - awarded the James Ingram AO Prize for dux of the course.• Master of Laws (LLM) specialising in International Law (ANU).• Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice (ANU) and admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor (ACT Supreme Court).• Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Hons) (UC), with a Science minor.• Partial B Commerce / B Science (UniMelb), completed the first year of optometry before transferring to law.• Qualified real estate agent (Certificate IV in Property Practice) (Real Estate Institute of NSW).

Professional career/experience: • Executive Director (Principal Consultant), Nineteen Consulting (own small business in Frankston).• CEO, Mildura Development Corporation (economic development of a 48,000km2, $3billion GRP region).• Liberal candidate for Mallee, 2013 Federal Election (17% swing against the incumbent Nationals, ~44% TPP).• Political and Legislative Adviser, Senator the Hon. Michael Ronaldson, then Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs.• International Lawyer, Kosovo Property Agency through the United Nations (based in Pristina, Kosovo).• Senior executive-level legal/legislative and policy roles at the Australian Department of Agriculture.• Project Consultant (Team Leader) at executive-level at AIATSIS (project for the Emergency Response).• Lawyer, Dibbs Abbott Stallman (now DibbsBarker) (in commercial, insurance, property and criminal law).• Associate to Magistrate John Burns (now Justice of the ACT Supreme Court), ACT Magistrates’ Court.

Boards/Committees/Memberships/Volunteerism (examples past and present):• Committee 4 Frankston (Steering Committee).• VECCI (Executive Council Observer and Small

Business Taskforce Member).• Global Voices (Director).• Zoe Support Australia (Director).• Crafted by Mildura (Founding Director).• Empty Spaces Project Inc (Director).• Northern Mallee Leaders Program (Committee).• NBN4Mildura-Wentworth (Committee).• NorthWest Rail Alliance (Spokesperson).

• Frankston Business Network (Greater Frankston Business Chamber) (Member).

• Advancing Country Towns (Committee).• Mildura Asia Business Council (helped establish as

Steering Committee Member).• Mildura Chamber of Commerce (helped re-establish as

Steering Committee Member).• Liberal Party: Member/Committee Member, Dunkley

FEC / Former Member, Mallee FEC.• Mensa International & Golden Key (Inducted).• Red Cross and Meals on Wheels (Volunteer).

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Chris CrewtherSummary

Proudly printed locally at Dark Horse Printing, Mornington

Chris is 32 years old and has been married to Grace for seven years. They recently celebrated the birth of their first daughter, Yasmin, who is six months old.

His home is in Frankston from where he manages his own small business, Nineteen Consulting, incorporating agricultural exports/trade, legal, research, projects, government and related work.

Prior to this, Chris was the Chief Executive Officer of Mildura Development Corporation, responsible for the economic development of a 48,000 km2 region with a gross regional product of $3 billion.

Chris has had diverse and extensive life, educational and career experience. He has lived, studied and worked in regional Victoria, metropolitan Australia and overseas.

He was born in Mitcham and lived the first few years of his life in Mooroolbark/Kilsyth, when his father Barry worked as a mechanic in Dandenong, Ringwood and surrounds. From a humble start, his father worked hard for his family, starting off in the army training as a mechanic in the Army Apprentice Scheme at Balcombe on the Mornington Peninsula. While working as a mechanic, his father then studied to enter financial planning. His parents then moved to Horsham when he was four, where his father founded the National Australia Bank's financial planning service in the Wimmera-Mallee.

EducationChris is a country lad at heart, having completed all his schooling in Horsham and Murtoa. During these years, he gained a strong interest in politics through his participation in both the Victorian and Australian YMCA Youth Parliaments based at Camp Manyung in Mount Eliza, in which he was elected a delegation leader.

Chris then started university in 2002, commencing a B Commerce / B Science at The University of Melbourne, in which he undertook the first year of optometry. In 2003, he transferred to Canberra to undertake law and then post-graduate studies at both The Australian National University and the University of Canberra. In 2005, he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) (Hons) with a science minor and, in 2006, completed a Graduate Diploma of Legal Practice. He was admitted as a Barrister and Solicitor at the ACT Supreme Court in October 2006. Chris then completed post-graduate studies, graduating in 2009 with a Master of Laws (LLM) specialising in International Law and a Master of Diplomacy. In the latter degree, which required a distinction average in the first Masters degree to enter, against that competition Chris was awarded the ANU Asia-Pacific College of Diplomacy’s prestigious James Ingram AO Prize for Excellence in Diplomatic Studies for achieving dux. In his studies, Chris joined the invitation-only Golden Key International Honour Society for the top 15% students worldwide. He qualified as a real estate agent in 2010 to expand his property expertise.

Professional CareerIn 2006, Chris started his professional career as Associate to Magistrate John Burns, now Justice of the ACT Supreme Court. These positions are competitive, giving an opportunity for high-performing law graduates for a one year period.

In 2007, Chris then worked as a lawyer at Dibbs Abbott Stillman, in commercial, property, insurance and criminal law. In 2008, in-between study commitments, he took on an executive-level contract as a Project Consultant (Team Leader) at AIATSIS, managing a team undertaking a confidential research project for the Indigenous Emergency Response.

From late 2008-10, Chris was an executive-level Senior Legislation/Senior Legal Service OfficerOfficer, as well as a contract Policy Officer, at the Federal Department of Agriculture. He managed staff, worked on cross-departmental legal and legislative matters in quarantine, export, import law and helped develop the new biosecurity legislation.

In February 2009, Chris married Grace in Canberra, who he met through common church and legal studies.

In 2010, Chris took on the opportunity to work as an international lawyer through the United Nations at the Kosovo Property Agency in Pristina, in the former Yugoslavia. This role involved resolving property claims for people who lost possession of their property due to the 1998-99 conflict, to determine the rightful property owners. Chris managed local lawyers as a coordinator and worked to resolve many of the approximate 43,000 property claims with legally complex issues, appearing and speaking before an international tribunal/commission on a regular basis.

After living apart from Grace, who was working as senior lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright in Melbourne during his two years in Kosovo, Chris rejoined his wife in Australia in mid-2012.

From this time until mid-2013, Chris then worked as Political and Legislative Adviser to Senator the Hon. Michael Ronaldson, Senator for Victoria and, at the time, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs.

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Biography

Subsequently, he was pre-selected in mid-June 2013 as the Liberal candidate for Mallee at the September 2013 Federal Election, a seat held by the National Party for 65 years with a margin of 23% prior to 2013. Despite there being only 11 weeks between the date of preselection and the election, Chris worked hard in a full-time dedicated campaign and, with the support of his wife, local members and volunteers, won 44% of the two-party preferred result. This was a swing of 17% against the incumbent National Party, bringing their margin to just 6%. The campaign gave locals the opportunity to vote Liberal for the first time in 20 years, increased Liberal brand recognition right across the Wimmera/Mallee, ensured Coalition retention of the seat, and helped garner crucial votes for the Liberal Party in the Senate. Due to the Coalition agreement, the Liberal Party cannot contest the seat again until the sitting National Party member retires.

Following the campaign, Chris was appointed CEO of Mildura Development Corporation (MDC). He managed a team and a not-for-profit business with a large mandate, along with MDC’s Board. In this role, he was responsible for infrastructure advocacy, attraction and facilitation of investment and promoting business development and innovation. Significant achievements included finalising a $103 million commitment for irrigation modernisation following an MDC business case, attracting multiple large-scale renewable energy investors, running regular small business workshops, bringing a School for Social Entrepreneurs program to North-West Victoria and $416 million announced for the Murray Basin Rail Project (upgrading and standardising the Geelong-Mildura and associated rail lines, thus increasing freight productivity and port competition, as well as paving the way for passenger rail).

Through this role, Chris helped establish the Mildura Business Chamber, Mildura Asia Business Council and Crafted by Mildura, as Founding Director and Chairman of a wine, food and destination re-branding project.

Chris returned from this Mildura-based role to rejoin his Melbourne-based wife for the birth of their first child in August 2015. He now manages his own small business consultancy from his home in Frankston, Nineteen Consulting. This consultancy work primarily involves facilitating export connections between Australian agricultural exporters and importers in the target markets of South Korea, China and Japan.

In choosing the Frankston area as a place to live and work, Chris’ story is that of many locals, who believe that this is a fantastic area to raise a family, with access to a range of amenities and schools, the coastline, inner regional areas and farms and the Mornington Peninsula, not to mention the great people and community culture. Given its location, the region combines the best of the country (where Chris grew up) with the best of the city (where his wife Grace grew up).

Volunteer Boards, Committees and Memberships Chris is or has been involved in various volunteer Boards, Committees and organisation including:• Committee 4 Frankston, as a Steering Committee Member. • Frankston Business Network (Greater Frankston Business Chamber), as a Member.• VECCI, as an Observer to the Executive Council of VECCI and a member of their Small Business Policy Taskforce (which made recommendations to Government to help small business, including Chris’ idea of flexible penalty rates).

• Global Voices, as a current Director an organisation Chaired by former Liberal Member for Aston, Chris Pearce, providing young people with an opportunity to participate in international diplomacy.

• Zoe Support Australia, as a current Director of an organisation supporting young mothers in parenting and re-engagement in education, helping tackle social isolation, stigma, and inter-generational disadvantage.

• Empty Space Project Inc, as a current Director of an organisation providing empty spaces for entrepreneurs through free 30-day rolling leases, thus promoting innovation, reviving commercial spaces and gaining long-term paid tenants.

• NorthWest Rail Alliance, as a spokesperson lobbying for passenger rail services between Maryborough and Mildura.• Mildura Business Chamber, as a Member of the Steering Committee that reestablished the Chamber.• Mildura Asia Business Council, as a Steering Committee Member that established the Council to create links and

understanding between the Mildura region and Asia.• Crafted by Mildura, as Founding Director/Chairman of a regional wine and food re-branding project.• Northern Mallee Leaders Project, as an Advisory Committee Member of a regional leadership program.• Advancing Country Towns (Mallee Track), as a Committee Member supporting investment in rural projects.• NBN4Mildura-Wentworth, as a Committee Member lobbying for the NBN in Mildura-Wentworth.• Mildura Wines, as a Member of a mutual collaboration between Mildura region wine producers.• Liberal Party: Dunkley FEC, as a Member and Committee Member. Formerly Mallee FEC/Mildura Branch in various

office bearer positions including State Council and State Assembly delegate. Chris campaigned as the Liberal candidate in Mallee at the 2013 Federal Election, helped campaign in Ripon at the 2014 State Election, helped the by-elections of South West Coast and Polwarth and has assisted seats including Corangamite, Corio, Bendigo and Ballarat. He was also a pre-selector for both the Western Victoria Region (State) and Indi (Federal).

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