Jim Turnour has a passion for the sustainable management and protection of Cape York Peninsula working in the region for 30 years. 

As a Queensland Department of Primary Industries Landcare and Property Management Planning Extension Officer, he worked to develop a sustainable grazing industry in the 1990s. In the 2000s he worked as a policy and media advisor and then represented the region in the Australian Parliament as the Member for Leichhardt between 2007 and 2010. 

Since then, he has been working with communities in Cape York Peninsula as a researcher and manager. He is currently a Principal Strategic Regional Planner with The Cairns Institute, James Cook University. Prior to this he was the Chief Executive Officer of the Jabalbina Yalanji Aboriginal Corporation and the General Manager of the Wuthathi Aboriginal Corporation, both Registered Native Body Corporates with land and sea country in Cape York Peninsula. 

Jim has a PhD (Economics) from James Cook University and undergraduate degrees in Agricultural Science and Economics from the University of Queensland.