In 1994 Richard worked as a Criminal Field Officer with the North Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (NAALAS). He remained in the position for four years before moving to Perth where he was recruited as a paralegal for the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia working in family and civil law.
When Richard returned to Darwin in 2003 he worked in family violence and drug and alcohol programs across several remote communities in the Territory before becoming a Cultural Educator with the Northern Territory General Practice Education (NTGPE), a position he held for 11 years.
Over the years he trained doctors and health professionals arriving in the Territory into the complexities and challenges faced in Indigenous health, and in 2017 he presented to an audience of doctors from all around the world at a seminar in Oxford, England. During his time with NTGPE, Richard also became the Senior Cultural Education and co-chair of the Australian National Cultural Educator/Cultural Mentor Network, stepping down to take up his current role as Chairman of the Larrakia Nation Aboriginal Corporation (LNAC) in 2017.
Richard resigned from NTGPE in 2020 to become the Elder on the Flinders University campus in Darwin. That same year he became a director of the City of Darwin’s 2020-2022 International Relations Advisory Committee. He was appointed the new Darwin Waterfront Corporation chairman on 13 November 2020, and during NAIDOC Week celebrations in July 2021 was awarded the Darwin NAIDOC Ball Person of the Year.
