Crewther was born in Mitcham and spent the first few years of his life in Kilsyth and Mooroolbark, before moving to Horsham in the Wimmera when he was four. He grew up and undertook all his schooling in the Wimmera, attending Horsham 298 Primary School, Horsham Lutheran Primary School, Murtoa Secondary College and Horsham College. He has two master's degrees from the Australian National University in international law and diplomacy, the latter in which he was awarded the James Ingram AO Prize for Excellence in Diplomatic Studies for achieving top student. He also has a law degree with honours from the University of Canberra, with a science minor. Before that, he undertook part of a Bachelor of Commerce/Bachelor of Science at the University of Melbourne. Before entering politics, Crewther ran his own small business in agriculture, was CEO of Mildura Development Corporation, was an International Lawyer through the United Nations at the Kosovo Property Agency in Kosovo, resolving property claims for those who lost possession of their property due to the 1998–99 conflict, worked in legal, policy and project management roles for the Federal Department of Agriculture and AIATSIS, was an Associate to Magistrate John Burns in the ACT Magistrates' Court, worked as a lawyer in private practice, and worked as a Political and Legislative Adviser to Senator the Hon. Michael Ronaldson. Chris has also been a non-executive director of Zoe Support Australia, helping young pregnant and parenting mothers get back into education, Global Voices, helping engage and involve young people in international diplomacy, and a number of other boards and committees. Crewther is an avid supporter of the Collingwood Football Club, having a proud family history associated with it. He is related to Tom Sherrin, who developed the modern shape of the ball used in Australian football, and was president of Collingwood, two other Collingwood presidents or vice-presidents, Syd Sherrin and Tom Sherrin Jnr, and two former Collingwood players, Norm Crewther and Bill Proudfoot.
Politics
Crewther was the Liberal candidate for the outer regional/rural seat of Mallee in 2013, which has been held by the National Party since its establishment in 1949, achieving a 17% swing to bring the seat down to a 6% margin at the time. He was subsequently elected to parliament in 2016 in the inner regional/outer metropolitan seat of Dunkley. In a speech to parliament in late 2016, Crewther revealed he has Tourette syndrome. He further discussed this during an interview on the Lateline program on 2 March 2017. He is the patron of the Tourette Syndrome Association of Australia and established the Parliamentary Friendship Group for Tourette Syndrome. In Parliament, Crewther was Chair of the Foreign and Aid Sub-Committee, under the JointStanding Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade, initiating and leading an inquiry into Australia establishing legislation to tackle modern slavery, similar to but improving upon the UK's 2015 Modern Slavery Act. The Sub-Committee handed down its final report in December 2017. Resulting from this Inquiry, a Modern Slavery Bill was introduced into Parliament in June 2018, was passed by the Australian House of Representatives on 17 September 2018, and passed the Australian Senate in December 2018. Australia's new Modern Slavery Act came into force on 1 January 2019. Crewther was recognised for his work initiating and leading the Inquiry leading to Australia's Modern Slavery Act, being named amongst the global Top 100 Corporate Social Responsibility Influence Leaders for 2018. He was also awarded a prestigious Freedom Award from Anti-Slavery Australia in October 2019. Crewther was also a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Treaties, Chair of the Government's Policy Committee for Home Affairs and Legal Affairs, and a member of the Government's Policy Committee for Infrastructure and Regional Development. Following a redistribution of boundaries, which meant that Dunkley became nominally a Labor Party seat, Crewther lost to his Labor opponent at the 2019 federal election.
