His father was a Sydney barrister who was appointed to the Supreme Court of New South Wales in the 1970s.

After leaving school he worked as a stockbroker in Sydney for a period and later was a sheep farmer near Goulburn, New South Wales.

In April 1974, aged 28, he won preselection for the New South Wales seat of Hume against ten other candidates.

[3] He defeated the incumbent Australian Labor Party MP Frank Olley in Hume at the 1974 federal election,[1] becoming the new parliament's youngest member.

Following the Coalition's defeat at the 1983 election, Lusher was given the transport portfolio in Andrew Peacock's shadow ministry.