He is best known for his roles as Senior Constable Nick Schultz in Blue Heelers, as Max Connors in SeaChange, and more recently as TV boss Lindsay Cunningham in The Newsreader and Dr. Roy Penrose in NCIS: Sydney.
[2] He earned a Bachelor of Arts degree at the Rockhampton campus of the Capricornia Institute of Advanced Education (now Central Queensland University) in 1985.
[citation needed] After a recurring role in A Country Practice in 1990, McInnes appeared in series such as Bligh, Ocean Girl, Good Vibrations and Snowy before making his name as Senior Constable Nick Schultz on Blue Heelers in 1993.
In 1999, he joined the cast of SeaChange as Max Connors, the new love interest of the main character Laura Gibson (Sigrid Thornton) after Diver Dan (David Wenham) left the series.
He also had a recurring role as Rosie's sleazy ex Colin in 2003's CrashBurn; and a noted comic turn as Sandy Freckle in two episodes of Kath & Kim, under the pseudonym "Rock Hampton".
[9] His fourth book, The Making of Modern Australia, was released in 2010; it was accompanied by a television documentary series of the same name on the ABC that McInnes narrated.
On 16 February 2009, John Faulkner, then Special Minister of State and Cabinet Secretary, appointed McInnes as the new chair of the Advisory Council of the Museum of Australian Democracy at Old Parliament House.