Mr Miller joined the Queensland Department of Primary Industries (DPI) in 1961 as a State Scholarship holder and left 33 years later as the Department's inaugural Director-General. This was the most prestigious appointment available in Queensland to a professional in agriculture. From 1990 to 1994, he had headed the State Government agency responsible for Agriculture, Water Resources, Forestry and Fisheries, with responsibility for a staff of 6000 and an annual budget of about $540 million.
The appointment represented the culmination of a wide-ranging career encompassing a variety of technical and managerial posts. For the previous five years, Mr Miller held senior positions as Assistant Director General, then Deputy Director-General and Acting Director-General of the Department as it was then constituted. His earlier vocational achievements included leadership of research and technological developments in Queensland's dairy industry during a period of immense change at all levels.
After resigning as Director-General of the DPI, Mr Miller chaired the Queensland Abbatoir Corporation from 1994 to 1995 and was part-time chairman of the Queensland Fisheries Management Authority from 1997 to 1999.
His career has included service on dozens of state and national committees, councils and boards responsible for setting future directions for Australia's primary industries. These activities have included chairing the Sugar Experiment Stations Board, the Queensland Fish Board, the Review Panel for Australian Animal Health Laboratory at Geelong and the Review Panel of CSIRO Institute of Natural Resources Climate Change Research Program. Mr Miller is also a Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management and a former member of the Australian Institute of Agricultural Science.
Mr Miller's widespread contributions to primary industries and the profession of agriculture centred on policy and leadership during times of great change when drought, economic pressures and other critical factors often characterised struggles for survival. His work has also had flow-on benefits for the community. For example, his recent commitments include contributing to recreational fisheries policy as chair of the Queensland Fisheries Management Authority, chairing the National Greenhouse Advisory Committee, and serving on the Queensland Committee of the Crawford Fund and of the Australia Prize Selection Panel.
