Archbishop Phillip Aspinall of Brisbane was elected Primate of the Anglican Church of Australia by the board of electors of the Primate which comprises diocesan bishops, and representative clergy and lay members of the General Synod. He will hold office until the next General Synod in 2007.
Archishop Aspinall was consecrated bishop in 1998, when he went to serve as assistant bishop in the diocese of Adelaide. He was elected Archbishop of Brisbane in 2001.
Born in Hobart in 1959, he began his working life as a computer programmer for the Tasmanian Education Department on a project to develop the use of micro-computers to improve numeracy and literacy.
From 1980 to 1984 he worked with young people in the diocese of Tasmania as diocesan field officer for the Anglican Boys’ Society, and then as the diocesan youth and education officer. During that time he was also the deputy warden at Christ College in the University of Tasmania.
He was ordained deacon in Tasmania on 25 July 1988 and priest a year later.
In 1994 he was appointed Director of Anglicare Tasmania. In the last two years of that appointment he also assumed the role of Archdeacon for Church and Society and was responsible for the oversight of all chaplains and Anglican caring organizations.
He was consecrated bishop in Adelaide on 29 June 1998 where he served as Assistant Bishop until December 2001.
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