Meet Labor candidate for Rockhampton Craig Marshall
A foster father and dad to a teenager, Labor’s candidate for the seat of Rockhampton shares what he believes youth offenders need.
Rockhampton
Don't miss out on the headlines from Rockhampton. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Rockhampton Labor candidate Craig Marshall is a husband, father and foster carer who has worked in the healthcare sector for 18 years and was motivated to join the party after the LNP Newman government made 14,000 workers redundant.
Mr Marshall says he was always “Labor leaning” and joined the party in 2014.
The 44-year-old said his interest grew from there to actively wanting to represent the regional community.
Mr Marshall was announced as the Labor candidate for Rockhampton in January while Premier Steven Miles and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese toured the billion-dollar Rockhampton Ring Road project at Pink Lily.
He will run in place of Labor MP Barry O’Rourke, who is set to resign at this election after seven years since he was first elected in 2017.
“I was Barry’s campaign manager for both of his campaigns and when Barry indicated he was retiring I indicated my interest and we worked on that from there,” Mr Marshall said.
Mr Marshall was born in Brisbane in 1979 to mum Gayle and dad Nigel, with older brother Brad making up the family of four.
The family moved to Rockhampton in 1991 when Mr Marshall was 11 years old after his dad Nigel secured work in the mines in Central Queensland.
Mr Marshall went to school locally at Berserker Street State School and North Rockhampton State High School.
He started an apprenticeship straight out of school in electronics, landing his first job at Rockhampton Business Machines repairing office equipment.
After 10 years of working with office equipment, and even starting his own business CQ Digital Solutions, Mr Marshall said he needed a change and made a move into the healthcare sector working on medical equipment.
Mr Marshall said he started with a contractor called Chemtronics and did training in the United States of America.
He said he worked as a contractor at the Hillcrest Rockhampton Private Hospital, as well as in the mining sector in Central Queensland.
He said he was eventually offered a role at the Hillcrest Rockhampton Private Hospital, where he started the biomedical department.
Mr Marshall continues to work at the hospital as a biomedical engineer to this day.
He said his priorities were focused heavily on the healthcare sector and programs for children to keep them on track and give them the best opportunities moving forward.
Mr Marshall said he fought hard for the Premier’s recently promised a $78.3m satellite hospital in Rockhampton.
“It is something that’s really needed in the community,” he said.
“We’ve got a lot of people presenting at our emergency ward because they can’t get in to see a GP or they can’t afford to go to a GP because we’ve seen a lot of our bulk billing clinics close.
“We’ve really only got the two major options for many people at the moment which is our urgent care clinic and our emergency ward.
“The good thing about the satellite hospital is it is a bridge between those two areas.”
Mr Marshall said he would do more acute cases than the urgent care clinic but less than the emergency department.
“It will do all your sporting injuries, fractures, broken bones,” he said.
“Having that hospital away from the emergency department I believe will encourage more people to either try the urgent care clinic or the satellite hospital before going to the emergency department which will clear it for those more urgent cases.”
Mr Marshall married his wife Amanda in 2011.
He has a 19-year-old daughter to a previous marriage and he and Amanda are the foster carers for two children.
Mr Marshall said he and Amanda became foster carers after trying to have children of their own and being unsuccessful with IVF.
He said having experience in foster care he had seen where a lot of at risk youth had come from.
“The experts are telling us we need to have these support programs in place to get these kids back on track,” he said.
“A lot of these repeat offenders we see that go into detention, they’re the ones that need the support programs.
“They’re the ones that detention isn’t working for and if we keep trying to do the same thing over and over again we’re going to get the same results.
“Having a variety of programs in place for those sorts of kids is certainly what’s needed in the community and I am very proud that the Labor Party is intent on getting those programs for these kids and getting them back on track.”
He said there also needed to be a plan in place to improve the Bruce Highway.
“I’ve thought that for many years now,” he said.
“I am very aware we need to do more in that space and that is something I will certainly fight for.”
Mr Marshall will go up against LNP candidate Donna Kirkland, One Nation candidate David Bond and Independent candidate Margaret Strelow in the October ballot.
While Mr Marshall thinks there is an “extremely good chance” Labor will keep the seat of Rockhampton at the upcoming state election, he is ‘not counting his chickens before they hatch’.
“I want to make sure we have all the things in place that our community needs. The health facilities, the education facilities, the programs for our kids, the infrastructure,” he said.
“I will fight hard to make sure we continue to build on what Labor has delivered for the community under Barry O’Rourke and I think I have a lot of good experience to offer the community with my background.
“I want to make this place better for our kids.”
Tributes flow for businessman killed in alleged hit-and-run
Tributes are flowing for a beloved businessman who was tragically killed in an alleged hit-and-run near Bundaberg over the weekend.
Basketball trio suits up for First Nations Championships
Three Rockhampton basketballers will hit the court on the Gold Coast next month in an annual tournament celebrating Indigenous culture and talent. Read how a passionate mum made their team a reality.