He became a public servant with the Commonwealth Department of Defence (1996–2000) before spending a year as a short-term missionary in Fiji and New Zealand.

[2] After retaining his seat with an increased majority at the 2012 Queensland state election, Powell was sworn in as Minister for the Environment and Heritage Protection in the Newman ministry on 3 April 2012.

[3] In 2014 as the environment minister, he advised Australians to boycott the American ice-cream company Ben & Jerry's, saying they had damaged the reputation of the Great Barrier Reef and jeopardised jobs and tourism dollars.

[4] Land clearing, although on a downward trend under the previous Bligh Ministry, increased substantially during Powell's tenure as Environment Minister.

Data from the Queensland Government's Statewide Landcover and Trees Study (SLATS) shows a grand total of nearly 1.2 million hectares of land was cleared.