A volunteer firefighter, community advocate, and family lawyer for a decade, Rory is a lifelong Northern Beaches Local.

Rory’s family have lived on the Northern Beaches for nearly 40 years. Rory’s dad, Guy, ran a small business in Mona Vale for nearly 20 years, and he and Rory's mum, Alexe, worked hard to give their six children a good life, grounded in the values of service and sacrifice.

They modelled this to their children every day, and particularly when Rory was a teenager and they welcomed a refugee family into their home, supporting them through school and into employment.

Growing up, Rory could see he had a good life, and always felt a responsibility to give back. Later, this strong commitment to social justice and drive to help the most vulnerable led Rory to choose to practice family law, volunteer as a firefighter, and advocate for his local community on Northern Beaches Council.

Rory studied Commerce and Law at Macquarie University. Rory graduated with first class honours in Law, and was admitted as a Solicitor to the Supreme Court.

Before entering State Parliament, Rory practised as a family lawyer for many years, helping his clients navigate their way through the difficulties of family breakdown and their journey to rebuild. Often, Rory acted in matters involving victims of domestic and family violence. Being so close to the details of these lived experiences instilled in Rory a deep desire to ensure funding and appropriate government policy to prevent domestic and family violence, and to support victims.
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Ever driven to serve others, Rory has been a volunteer firefighter with the Davidson Rural Fire Brigade for over a decade. As President of the Brigade, Rory oversaw fundraising efforts to raise over $150,000 to have the Brigade’s Fire Station extended to accommodate their growing volunteer membership.

Rory is operationally active in the Brigade and has been deployed countless times over the years to live fires across NSW. During the 2019-20 bushfires that devastated our state, Rory served for several weeks on the NSW South Coast, across suburbs between Batemans Bay and Moruya, and inland as well, protecting lives, property and wildlife. In recognition of this service, Rory was awarded the NSW Premier’s Bushfire Emergency Citation in 2020 and the Governor General’s National Emergency Medal in 2022.

Imbued with a motivation to further serve the local community, in 2017 Rory successfully ran for Northern Beaches Council and was re-elected for a second term in 2021. During his time on Council, Rory’s proudest achievements were those that help those in need, preserve the natural beauty of Pittwater, and improve facilities for community use. These included: securing much-needed funds for the upgrade of community facilities, such as the Mona Vale Surf Club and the 1st Elanora Heights Scout Hall; securing $4.6 million to acquire environmentally sensitive land in Newport for incorporating into the Newport Littoral Rainforest; and donating $15,000 of his Councillor pay to local community groups in need of assistance, including to support vulnerable people.

Rory is very active in the local community. He is a member of various local Chambers of Commerce; a Director of Pittwater Business Limited; a member of the Pittwater RSL Club and affiliate member of the Pittwater RSL Sub-Branch; and Honorary Legal Counsel for NSW Rugby Referees Association.

In his spare time, Rory is an active rugby referee and keen runner.

Rory is on the Roll of Solicitors of the Supreme Court of NSW and the High Court of Australia.
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