Maher is of Aboriginal Tasmanian descent.[1] He grew up in Mount Gambier and attended Grant High School there. He does not consider that he experienced the disadvantage and racism that is common for many Aboriginal people in Australia. He left Mount Gambier to study law and economics at the University of Adelaide.[2]
Maher was a lawyer and political staffer before becoming South Australian state secretary of the Australian Labor Party.[3] In 2006, Maher was an inaugural committee member of the Progressive Labour Education Association Inc (PLEA), a joint-venture training organisation operated by the ALP Socialist Left faction and aligned unions United Voice (then the Liquor Hospitality and Miscellaneous Union) and the Australian Services Union.[4]
In February 2015 he was appointed to cabinet and, between 2015 and the 2018 state election, Maher served as minister in the Labor Weatherill Ministry in a range of portfolios including manufacturing and innovation, automotive transformation, Aboriginal affairs and reconciliation;[6] and employment and science and information economy.[7] Maher was the first Aboriginal South Australian Minister for Aboriginal Affairs.[8]
After Labor won government at the 2022 state election, Maher was appointed Attorney-General in the Malinauskas ministry on 24 March, as well as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector.[10][11] He also became Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council for the second time. Maher was the first initiated Aboriginal man in the nation's history to be appointed in the Attorney-General position.[12]
