ABOUT JARROD
Jarrod and his wife Sally have grown up on the Sunshine Coast. They are now raising three children Taylor, Madison and Jasper with their rescue dog Bobo. He is a passionate local and believes Queensland’s best days are ahead of it.
THE BEGINNING
Jarrod was born in Griffith, NSW to Pieter, a fuel tank truck driver and Christine, a full time Mum. At age 7 he and his family packed up and moved to the Sunshine Coast with his Uncle Lindsay Cooper (Coop) who owned and operated the Ettamogah Pub (Aussie World) at Palmview. Jarrod attended Caloundra State School and Caloundra State High School and served as High School Captain. When he was young, his parents were in small business and owned and operated a camping store in Caloundra. It was at this young age Jarrod got a sense of the values of hard work and personal responsibility which he saw exhibited every day in his parents, values which he holds dear to this day and which in part inspired him to run for public office. During school, Jarrod worked between his parents camping store and KFC. While studying law at university, he continued to work at KFC and also had some early morning starts at a chicken abattoir. Jarrod would meet his future wife, Sally, his rock-and-roll dance partner, a passion they both still share and which they occasionally demonstrate to raise money for charity.
EDUCATION & EARLY CAREER
During High School, when Jarrod was not helping at his parents camping store, he worked at KFC which helped pay for his first car, a little yellow Toyota Corolla. After High School, Jarrod studied at the University of the Sunshine Coast whilst working at a local chicken abattoir. He then transferred to study law. In 2007, Jarrod graduated from the Queensland University of Technology with a Bachelor of Laws and worked locally as a lawyer to provide for his young family. He worked for a local Sunshine Coast law firm where he specialised primarily in business, corporate and property law. During this time, he and Sally welcomed their first two children, Taylor and Madison.
MEMBER FOR KAWANA
Throughout his life, Jarrod has always exhibited a great love for his community, leading him to become a Justice of the Peace (Qualified) when he was 18 years old. This love continues to this day and has Jarrod involved in and supports a large number of local community groups including Rotary, Lions, Kawana Football Club, Kawana Waters Surf Lifesaving Club, Currimundi United Football Club, Sunshine Coast Jazz Club, Kawana Scouts, the Kawana Chamber of Commerce, 4 Paws Animal Rescue and many of the local school P&Cs. Jarrod has always had a particular love of volunteering and you will often see him around the electorate getting involved with many of the local groups, whether its cooking sausages at a school athletics carnivals or rocking his blue suede shoes as Elvis for a good cause, he loves it all.
Jarrod was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly as the Member for Kawana in 2009 at the age of 27. Since then, he has served in a number of Ministerial and Shadow Minister portfolios, with he and Sally also having their third child, Jasper, during this time.
DEPUTY OPPOSITION LEADER,
SHADOW MINISTER
In the LNP Government from 2012 to 2015, Jarrod served as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, seeing the introduction of what became known as the VLAD laws to combat the rising threat of criminal motorcycle gangs around Queensland. At the time, these were often referred to as the toughest laws in the country. He is also known for championing the construction of the $1.8 billon Sunshine Coast University Hospital which he was proud to turn the sod on in 2012 with then-Health Minister, Lawrence Springborg.
While serving as a Minister, Jarrod played a quintessential role in the removing unnecessary barriers to entry for small business owners, cutting red tape so that Queenslanders could realise their aspirations without government interference. Jarrod is currently serving as Deputy Leader of the Opposition; Shadow Minister for State Development, Infrastructure and Planning; Shadow Minister for Olympic and Paralympic Infrastructure and Jobs; and Shadow Minister for Industrial Relations.
HOW TO SAY ‘BLEIJIE'?
One of the biggest questions Jarrod gets is ‘how do you pronounce your surname?’
