Our Minister

Hon Mark Furner MP
© Queensland Government

Mark Furner has dedicated his adult life to serving local communities.

A husband, father of 3 and grandfather of 2, Mark started his career working in various areas of the agricultural supply chain including in a butchers, a fish and chip shop and fruit and veg store in Chermside.

Upon leaving high school his first job was in a state government run nursery.

At the time little did he realise that these different sectors of the agriculture industry would be part of his responsibilities later in life.

Mark moved from Chermside to Pine Rivers in the 1970s becoming a strong community voice in the local area and has been heavily involved in fundraising and volunteering ever since.

In 2007, Mark was elected to the Australian Senate as a Queensland Senator where he served until June 2014.

During that time Mark sat on a number of parliamentary committees including Law Enforcement, Health and Aging, Legal and Constitutional Affairs and Economics. Mark was also privileged to lead a delegation to Afghanistan as chair of the Defence Sub-Committee.

At the 2015 State election, Mark was elected to represent the people of Ferny Grove in the Queensland Parliament.

In February 2017, he was promoted to the Cabinet as Minister for Local Government and Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships.

Having retained his seat in the 2017 State election Mark has been appointed Minister for Agricultural Industry Development and Fisheries.

Since then he has travelled more 40,000km around the state listening to the stories of primary producers on the land, often around the kitchen table with a cuppa in hand.

These discussions have formed the basis of various decisions that have been and will be made during this term of government.