Shaun has been riding bikes since he got his learner permit on his 16th birthday– remember the days when that was possible?

He has been involved with motorcycle clubs and organisations since first becoming a flag marshal at Hobart’s Baskerville Raceway, also at 16. That escalated quickly – within 8 years he was president of the Sidecar Racing Club of Tasmania (now the Sports Riders Club of Tasmania), and event director of rounds of the Australian Superbike Championship held at Baskerville in the 1980s and ‘90s.

Shaun was a national-level steward, president of Motorcycling Tasmania and a member of the national council of Motorcycling Australia (MA) for 15 years. During that time, he was involved with the fracas between the Victorian and New South Wales governments over location of the Australian Motorcycle Grand Prix.

In 2003, Shaun became vice-president of the newly-formed Tasmanian Motorcycle Council (TMC). In 2005, as TMC president, Shaun developed and led a successful political campaign that stopped the introduction of a Victorian-style motorcycle safety levy in Tasmania.

Shaun was then first elected chair of the AMC in 2006, and has been chair for all but two years since.

Working with the late Greg Hirst, Shaun has worked to increase awareness and understanding of motorcycling in federal political circles. He has organised and hosted a number of events at Parliament House in Canberra aimed at promoting motorcycling, which one year included a media “stunt” where he took then-Senator Bronwyn Bishop as a pillion passenger.