Rodney Jon (Rod) Welford (born 30 September 1958) is an Australian former politician from

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

. He served as a Labor Party Member of Parliament in the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembl ...

from 1989 to 2009.

Early life

Welford was born in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

. He was a prominent solicitor of the Supreme Court of Queensland and barrister of the

High Court of Australia The High Court of Australia is Australia's apex court. It exercises Original jurisdiction, original and appellate jurisdiction on matters specified within Constitution of Australia, Australia's Constitution. The High Court was established fol ...

prior to entering parliament. His qualifications are Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours), Bachelor of Laws, Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Graduate Diploma in Industrial Relations and a Master of Science (Environmental Management) and Certificate in Permaculture Design. Welford has been active in his community as a member of the

Royal Life Saving Society Australia The Royal Life Saving Society of Australia (RLSSA) is a water safety, swimming and lifesaving education organisation in Australia. RLSSA provides courses in water safety, lifesaving and resuscitation. See also *Royal Life Saving Society UK *Roya ...

and a branch, state and national medal winner for his Surf Life Saving Club Burleigh Heads Mowbray Park on the Gold Coast. He was the first honorary State Education Officer of the Surf Life Saving Association and Technical Director of the Royal Life Saving Society in the early 1980s. He also worked as a professional lifeguard for the Gold Coast City Council while completing university studies. Also during his university studies Welford served on the student union of the

University of Queensland , mottoeng = By means of knowledge and hard work , established = , endowment = A$224.3 million , budget = A$2.1 billion , type = Public research university , chancellor = Peter Varghese , vice_chancellor = Deborah Terry , city = B ...

.Steven Wardill (14 May 2010)
Student union meeting minutes reveal change in Anna Bligh
''The Courier Mail''. News Queensland.

Political career

Welford entered state parliament as the member for

Stafford Stafford () is a market town and the county town of Staffordshire, in the West Midlands region of England. It lies about north of Wolverhampton, south of Stoke-on-Trent and northwest of Birmingham. The town had a population of 70,145 in t ...

at the 1989 state election. He switched to the district of Everton at the 1992 state election, which he held until his decision not to stand for re-election at the State election in 2009. Welford served in a number of portfolios in the Labor governments of Premiers

Peter Beattie Peter Douglas Beattie (born 18 November 1952) is an Australian former politician who served as the 36th Premier of Queensland, in office from 1998 to 2007. He was the state leader of the Australian Labor Party (Queensland Branch), Labor Party ...

and

Anna Bligh Anna Maria Bligh (born 14 July 1960) is a lobbyist and former Australian politician who served as the 37th Premier of Queensland, in office from 2007 to 2012 as leader of the Labor Party. She was the first woman to hold either position. In 2 ...

. He was the Minister for Environment & Heritage and Minister for Natural Resources from 1998 to 2001. He was the

Attorney-General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

and Minister for Justice from 2001 to 2005. He was the Minister for Education and Minister for the Arts from 2005 to 2009, as well as the Minister for Training from 2006 to 2009. Before serving as a State Minister, he had led a Ministerial Review of Sports Funding (1990–91) leading to the creation of the

Queensland Academy of Sport The Queensland Academy of Sport (QAS) is an elite sports institute set up in 1991 by the Queensland Government to support athletes in the state of Queensland. Its headquarters are currently located at the Queensland Sport and Athletics Centre in ...

and chaired the Government Sustainable Energy Advisory Group (1994–95), a joint government-industry committee, which undertook projects providing the foundation for subsequent government grants programs to subsidise the installation of household solar water heaters and remote area solar power systems. As a minister, his focus on active policy development attracted recognition for innovative policy initiatives. For example, while responsible for the environment and natural resources portfolio, he established the Queensland Environmental Protection Agency, took action to protect biodiversity and reduce

greenhouse emissions Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and la ...

by introducing ground-breaking legislation to stem broadscale land clearing, created the first large scale water efficiency program in the nation, legislated to protect environmental health of river systems and forged a historic

Regional Forest Agreement The Regional Forest Agreements (RFA) are 20 year plans for the conservation and sustainable management of Australia's native forests, and are intended to provide certainty to commercial forestry operations while protecting environmental values. The ...

between the government, timber industry and conservation movement which secured sustainable timber production while expanding the national park estate by more than 400,000 hectares. He was the Australian State Government representative at the United Nations

Commission for Sustainable Development The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Rio Conference or the Earth Summit (Portuguese: ECO92), was a major United Nations diplomatic conference, conference held in Rio de Janeiro from June 3 to J ...

in 2000.

Post politics

Since leaving Parliament, Welford has been chief executive of the Australian Council of Recycling Inc (ACOR), the national peak industry body for the recycling industry in Australia (2009-2013). While in this role, he held positions as a company director on ASX-listed public companies, including deputy chairman of the board of directors of AstiVita Renewables Limited, a non-executive director of Excela Limited, and board member of State power company, Stanwell Corporation Limited. He was also an honorary member of the board of the International River Foundation, honorary interim board member of the National Centre of Excellence for Desalination at Murdoch University and patron of the Centre for Research, Innovation and Future Development at St Paul's School, his former high school. He also the chairman and CEO of Ensight, a specialist energy system design firm based in Brisbane. He now works in the fields of

energy efficiency Energy efficiency may refer to: * Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process ** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed ** Mechanical efficiency, a ra ...

renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

and

recycling Recycling is the process of converting waste materials into new materials and objects. The recovery of energy from waste materials is often included in this concept. The recyclability of a material depends on its ability to reacquire the p ...

. He is also board chairman of the Electrogroup group of companies, a non-profit enterprise that operates a group training and apprenticeship service for the electrotechnology industry and chairman of the Energy Management Institute, a non-profit company established to train and accredit electrical contractors with skills in energy efficiency design and retrofitting. He was subsequently the patron of the Albany Creek Junior Rugby League Football Club, the Pine Hills Sports Club and the Mitchelton Senior Citizens Association.

Personal life

He is the sole parent of a daughter who has

Down's Syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual disa ...

. His personal interests include philosophy,

permaculture Permaculture is an approach to land management and settlement design that adopts arrangements observed in flourishing natural ecosystems. It includes a set of design principles derived using whole-systems thinking. It applies these principle ...

environmental design Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environm ...

, swimming, surfing and the performing arts.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Welford, Rod 1958 births Living people Attorneys-General of Queensland Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Australian barristers Australian solicitors University of Queensland alumni Australian surf lifesavers 21st-century Australian politicians