Gary was born on 30 April 1958 in Rotherham, England.
He arrived in Australia in 1966 and settled with his family in state housing in Whyalla, South Australia.
Gary got his first job after high school in the local BHP steelworks. He later worked with the Savings Bank of South Australia and in 1981 graduated from the Australian National University, Canberra with a degree in economics.
In 1983 Gary moved to Kwinana, Western Australia to study education at the University of Western Australia.
He began working for the Labor Party in the Northern Territory and then in the United Kingdom. From 1986 to 1992 Gary worked on every state election.
In 1990 Gary married Deborah Walsh, daughter of Peter and Rosalie Walsh. Peter was a Senator for Western Australia from 1974-1993 and held the portfolios of Finance and Resources and Energy.
Gary and Deborah have three sons.
In 1993 Gary was elected as National Secretary of the ALP holding this office until 2000 when he relocated back to Perth with his family.
On returning to Perth in 2000 Gary was asked by the then Chairman of Wesfarmers, to work as the Executive Director of the West Australian Institute for Medical Research.
In 2001 Shell attempted to take over Woodside Energy, Australia’s biggest independent oil and gas company, which has its head office in Perth. Gary was engaged by Woodside as an Adviser in the campaign to keep the company in Australian hands – which succeeded.
Gary was then asked to join the company, becoming the Director of Corporate Affairs and a member of the company executive team. In this position Gary represented Woodside before governments on four continents as a negotiator, advocate and leader.
In January 2007 Gary left Woodside to focus on serving the community of Brand. On 24 November 2007 Gary was elected as the Federal Member for Brand and was sworn in as the Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Northern Australia in December 2007.
In June 2009, a Cabinet reshuffle led to Gary taking on the position of Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia.
Gary was sworn in as Special Minister of State and Special Minister of State for Public Service and Integrity in September 2010.
Gary’s contribution to Australia’s democratic process was recognized in 2000 when he was invited to accept the high civil award of Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) and an Australia Medal by Prime Minister John Howard.