Chairman, Australian National Council on Drugs

Dr Herron entered Federal Parliament in 1990 and served as Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs (1996-01).  He was also Chairman of the Senate Community Affairs Committee and Parliamentary Secretary to the Shadow Minister for Health (1994-96).

Most recently Dr Herron was Australia’s Ambassador to Ireland & the Holy See.  Dr Herron has also served as President of the Queensland Liberal Party (1980-83 and 2001-02).  He was Queensland Branch President of the Australian Medical Association (1989) and served as Queensland Chairman of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons and the Australian Association of Surgeons.

Educated at the University of Queensland, Dr Herron holds a Bachelor of Medicine and a Bachelor of Surgery.  After Registrar training at Royal Brisbane and Princess Alexandra Hospitals, Dr Herron obtained his Edinburgh and London Surgical Fellowships.

He was appointed Research Fellow to the Queensland Melanoma Project at Princess Alexandra Hospital and became a Fellow of the Royal Australasian College of Surgeons. He was senior surgeon at the Mater Hospital prior to entering the Senate.