Stuart resides in Albury and has a background in business and local government, having served a lengthy term on Albury City Council including a stint as Mayor.

Stuart has been involved in a number of committees across a broad range of areas, most recently chairing the Albury Wodonga Cancer Centre Consortium throughout the development of the Albury Wodonga Regional Cancer Centre.​

In 2011, Stuart’s daughter and youngest child Mary took her life after battling an eating disorder and depression - Mary was aged 15.

In 2012 Stuart and wife, Annette shared their story with Fairfax Media’s the Border Mail during their campaign to ‘end the suicide silence’ - a local journalism initiative following changes to media guidelines for reporting deaths by suicide. The campaign was far reaching and culminated in the newspaper being awarded a Walkley award for leading Journalism, also playing an integral role in initiating a grassroots campaign for a regional headspace facility.

In 2013 Annette and Stuart founded an event that has since run annually - the Winter Solstice Evening for survivors of suicide and friends. Held on 21 June the event provides the community with a time of comfort and reflection during the longest night of the calendar.

Now in its sixth year, the event has attracted thousands of attendees and featured keynote speakers such as Patrick McGorry, Sue Murray, Brad McEwan, Stan Grant and Joe Williams and Tracey Spicer.