Chisholm was born in Brisbane.[1] He is the youngest of five children born to Marion (née Leary) and Neville Chisholm, who moved from Tasmania to Queensland shortly before he was born.[2] He grew up in the city's northern suburbs and attended Wavell State High School.[3] He later graduated from Griffith University with a Bachelor of Arts majoring in politics and international relations.[4]
Politics
Chisholm joined the ALP in 1995. He was the party's candidate in Warrego at the 2001 Queensland state election, aged 22. He worked as an organiser from 2004 to 2007, initially with the national secretariat and then with the state branch. He then joined the staff of opposition leader Kevin Rudd as an advisor.[1]
Chisholm served as state secretary of the ALP in Queensland from 2008 to 2014.[1][5] He directed the party's successful campaign at the 2015 state election.[3] Immediately prior to his election to parliament he work for Santos Limited, "providing advice on maintaining mainstream political support amid an ongoing campaign against the coal seam gas (CSG) industry by environmental and landholder groups".[6]
He has served on a number of committees, and in February 2020 was made chair of the Select Committee on Administration of Sports Grants.[1] He was Deputy Chair on the "Inquiry into the destruction of 46,000 year old caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia", which delivered its interim report in December 2020.[9]