In 1992, he worked as a gym manager and rigger in South Africa[3] as well as three months in Afghanistan clearing land mines with the British charity Halo Trust[6] and doing basic war surgery with the International Council of the Red Cross in Kabul.
[5] Laming worked in the Northern Territory community of Lajamanu in 1995, combining ophthalmic surgery training and public health.
[9] As part of a Master of Philosophy in Public Health, he was the principal researcher in evaluating single dose azithromycin for mass treatment of trachoma.
[12][3] He co-authored Let's Go Turkey in 2001 before joining the World Bank Group's Health Nutrition and Population section in Washington DC.
[9][17] Laming was one of seven Liberal MPs in the 46th Parliament of Australia who had obtained degrees at an Oxbridge or Ivy League university, the others being Alan Tudge, Angus Taylor, Josh Frydenberg, Dave Sharma, Greg Hunt and Paul Fletcher.
He said that while undergoing post-graduate training in obstetrics and gynaecology in London, he was required to perform late-term abortions which he found "harrowing".
[21] He introduced an amendment to the bill, which would give Parliament a right of veto over the quasi-autonomous government drug regulator – the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
[34] The attempt to prioritise white South African farmers, who are sometimes targets of attacks, above other humanitarian crises at the time was labelled as "'dog-whistling' to racist voters" by opponents of the bill.
[36] In 2007, Laming and fellow Queensland Liberal MPs Gary Hardgrave and Ross Vasta were investigated and subsequently cleared of breaches relating to parliamentary entitlements.
This included A$67,000 for printing campaign material and Laming's five-day employment of a staff member who worked in the office of Hardgrave.
[37] On 2 March 2007, the Australian Federal Police conducted a search on the three MPs' electoral offices as well as those of a printing company and a graphic artist.
[41] On 28 September 2007, the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions announced that there were not "reasonable prospects of conviction for a criminal offence against Dr Laming", effectively clearing him.
[44] On Australia Day in 2014, at a barbecue in his electorate of Bowman, Laming sculled a beer while performing a handstand, attracting significant media attention.
[45] The stunt was criticised as attention seeking, prompting then-Prime Minister Tony Abbott to comment that "it wouldn't be how I would choose to celebrate Australia Day",[46] while a witness at the barbecue stated that they were "a little bit surprised when he did it, but in the context of the party it was OK".
Earlier that week, Laming voiced opposition to reduced licensing hours for drinking establishments, using Facebook to post: "Why should idiots remove my right to stay out late celebrating a special occasion?
[48][49][50] He gained notoriety in December 2016 when he spent eleven hours on the comment section of Facebook page 'The Simpsons Against the Liberals' after they published a meme making fun of his proposal to stop hiring PE teachers.
[54] As part of his apology Laming stated that the women are "highly regarded individuals within our Redland community",[55] though in a subsequent exchange he reportedly said that "In this climate – I willingly apologise – I didn't even know what for at 4pm when I did it.