Dr Christian Andrew Carr Rowan (born 5 October 1972) is an Australian politician and specialist physician. He has been the Liberal National Party State Member for Moggill in the

Queensland Legislative Assembly 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 Assembly h ...

since 2015.

Professional career

Rowan is a specialist physician in addiction medicine and medical administration. Rowan served as President of the Rural Doctors Association of Queensland (RDAQ) from 2006 to 2007, and served as President of the Australian Medical Association of Queensland (AMAQ) from 2013 to 2014. Rowan was awarded an Australian College of Rural and Remote Medicine Distinguished Service Award in 2010. Rowan was previously the Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Uniting Care Health and Director of Medical Services at St Andrew's War Memorial Hospital. He has also worked as a Director of Medical Services and Medical Superintendent in rural and regional Queensland, predominantly in South-West Queensland but also on the Darling Downs. Rowan has also advocated about the growing public health problems of over-the-counter codeine misuse and the emergence of new synthetic drugs. Rowan has been a Medical Officer in the 2nd Health Battalion (Australia) of the

Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia. It is a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF), along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army ...

located at the

Enoggera Barracks Enoggera Barracks (also known as Gallipoli Barracks) is an Australian Army base in the northwestern Brisbane suburb of Enoggera in Queensland, Australia. It was officially established in the early 20th century when the area was used for fiel ...

in Brisbane.

Political career

At the

2004 Queensland state election The 2004 Queensland state election was held on 7 February 2004 to elect all 89 members of the state's Legislative Assembly. The Labor Party (ALP) government of premier Peter Beattie won a third term in office, with its large majority almost ...

, Rowan was a candidate for the

Queensland National Party The National Party of Australia – Queensland (NPA-Q), commonly known as the Queensland Nationals, National Party of Queensland or simply the Nationals, was the Queensland branch of the National Party of Australia (NPA) until 2008. Prior to 1974 ...

in the seat of

Gympie Gympie ( ) is a city and a Suburbs and localities (Australia), locality in the Gympie Region, Queensland, Australia. Located in the Greater Sunshine Coast, Gympie is about north of the state capital, Brisbane. The city lies on the Mary River ( ...

, finishing in third place behind Labor and incumbent Independent MP Elisa Roberts. Eleven years later, at the 2015 state election, he won the seat of Moggill for the

Liberal National Party of Queensland The Liberal National Party of Queensland (LNP) is a major conservative political party in Queensland, Australia. It was formed in 2008 by a merger of the Queensland divisions of the Liberal Party and the National Party. In most other states ...

, defeating Labor candidate Louisa Pink with 58.2 percent of the two-party preferred vote. He was a Deputy Chair of the Health, Communities, Disability Services and Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Committee in the 55th

Queensland Parliament The Parliament of Queensland is the unicameral legislative body of the Australian state of Queensland. As provided under the Constitution of Queensland, the Parliament consists of the King, represented by the Governor of Queensland, and the ...

. In 2014, Rowan was a spokesman for the

Australian Medical Association The Australian Medical Association (AMA) is an independent professional association for Australian physician, doctors and medical school#Medical students, medical students. The association is not a government authority and does not regulate or ...

when he informed doctors he supported the Newman

Government's public hospital contracts. Rowan said the contracts had the "capacity to drive productivity, efficiency, value for money and enhance transparency of outcomes for the public hospital system." The

federal president Steve Hambleton replaced Rowan as spokesman for the Queensland campaign to force the State

Government to continue negotiating with doctors over dispute resolution procedures, transfers, and dismissal procedures. Rudd reaffirmed that the Queensland division of the association fully supported the doctors' stance on the contracts. Rowan in his maiden speech to the

said "The sustainability of our health system requires productivity, efficiency, accountability, transparency and the ongoing measurement and public reporting of the effectiveness of government investment. Unfortunately, often in health-care individuals and sectional interest groups pursue conflicted agendas related to power, profit and prestige with little regard to the interests of patients, despite the public protestations of those individuals and sectional interest groups to the contrary. That was evident during the recent public sector medical contracts dispute in Queensland." In 2015, Rowan called for a debate about reinstating the

Death penalty Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty and formerly called judicial homicide, is the state-sanctioned killing of a person as punishment for actual or supposed misconduct. The sentence ordering that an offender be punished in s ...

for terrorist acts. In 2019, Rowan argued that pill testing should be considered as a harm minimisation strategy in Queensland. Following the October

2024 Queensland state election The 2024 Queensland state election was held on 26 October 2024 to elect all members to the Legislative Assembly of Queensland pursuant to the ''Constitution (Fixed Term Parliament) Amendment Act 2015''. As a result of the 2016 Queensland term l ...

, Rowan was appointed as Leader of the House (Queensland) 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 Assembly ...

as well as Assistant Minister to the Premier on Matters of State and New Citizens.

Early life and education

Rowan was born in Brisbane, Australia. He completed his secondary education at the

Anglican Church Grammar School The Anglican Church Grammar School (ACGS), formerly the Church of England Grammar School and commonly referred to as Churchie, is an independent, Anglican Church of Australia, Anglican, Day school, day and boarding school for boys, located in ...

in East Brisbane. He received his Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery from

The University of Queensland The University of Queensland is a public research university located primarily in Brisbane, the capital city of the Australian state of Queensland. Founded in 1909 by the Queensland parliament, UQ is one of the six sandstone universities, an i ...

in 1996. He attained a Master of Diplomacy & Trade from

Monash University Monash University () is a public university, public research university based in Melbourne, Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. Named after World War I general Sir John Monash, it was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the ...

in 2002, with this postgraduate tertiary qualification covering diplomacy and statecraft, economics, trade policy, international law and contemporary politics. Rowan is a Fellow of the

Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators The Royal Australasian College of Medical Administrators (RACMA) is an accredited specialist medical college comprising medical practitioners with specialist training in management and leadership of health services and systems. Fellows of the co ...

, the Australian College of Health Service Management, the Australasian Chapter of Addiction Medicine within the

Royal Australasian College of Physicians The Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP) is a not-for-profit professional organisation responsible for training and educating physicians and paediatricians across Australia and New Zealand. The RACP is responsible for training both ...

, the

Royal Australian College of General Practitioners Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Ro ...

and the Australian College of Rural & Remote Medicine.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rowan, Christian 1972 births Living people Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Liberal National Party of Queensland politicians 21st-century Australian politicians Australian addiction physicians 21st-century Australian medical doctors Monash University alumni University of Queensland alumni