After completing a law degree at the University of Western Sydney he held various parliamentary positions including being an electorate officer and later an adviser in the Howard Government. Rowell has worked in both the state and federal parliaments. In 2004, he was elected as a Councillor and Liberal Leader and served eight and a half years including serving terms on the Local Government Association of NSW. Rowell was the first Liberal Indigenous member of the NSW Legislative Assembly for the Liberal Party and was the first Indigenous Local Councillor elected to Campbelltown City Council. Rowell grew up in South West Sydney including the Macarthur and Southern Highlands areas. He is the father of three boys and is married to Belinda.
Political career
On 29 October 2009, Rowell was pre-selected by the Liberal Party as their candidate in Wollondilly for the 2011 state election. During his campaign for election, Angry Anderson actively supported Rowell; who was elected with a swing of 18.6 points and won the seat with 64.7 per cent of the two-party vote. Rowell won every booth in the electorate. His main opponent was the incumbent sitting member and Minister for Water, Phil Costa, representing Labor. In 2015 Rowell recontested the seat and increased his primary vote from 49.9% to 58% and increased his two party preferred vote to 67.3%. Rowell again achieved a win at every single booth. Rowell was appointed as deputy government whip on 13 August 2013. Mr Rowell was further promoted to government whip on 25 February 2014. Due to the resignation of Barry O'Farrell as Premier, and the subsequent ministerial reshuffle by Mike Baird, the new Liberal Leader, Rowell was appointed as Minister for Mental Health and Assistant Minister for Health and appointed as a member of Cabinet. Under new Premier Gladys Berejiklian, whom Rowell is close to, Rowell was appointed as Special Adviser to the Premier and the NSW Government on Science, Industry and Innovation, a first of its kind. He was also the Chair of the Legislative Committee on Environment and Planning and Deputy Chair of the Legislative Committee on Law and Safety and Chair of the Committee on Parliamentary Privileges and Ethics. In February 2018, Rowell announced he would not re-contest the 2019 election, and he resigned as Member for Wollondilly on 17 December 2018.
