Richard’s professional career has encompassed working in the extracting industries, 9 years with the Australian Antarctic Expeditions, both as an expedition member (glaciologist), and later as the Assistant Director of Engineering and Operations.  For the last 32 years he has worked as a consulting engineer, principally as an expert witness, providing evidence in court for matters involving equipment failure, industrial accidents, causation and equipment faults, and addressing public liability matters.  Presently Richard is conducting research into the adequacy of Australia’s Environment Acts and Regulation to the extent they impact on the operations of the exploitation of coal seam gases, shale oil and gas and their recovery.