Career
During that time he held the positions of. Deputy Premier, Attorney General, Minister for Justice, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Consumer Affairs and Minister for Education and the Arts. He resigned from parliament in 2002.
His qualifications before entering parliament included a Bachelor of Law from the University of Tasmania and a Diploma of Criminology from Cambridge University.
He received a Doctor of Philosophy in Political Science in 2000. He is a barrister and solicitor, admitted to practice in the Supreme Court of Tasmania and the Federal Court of Australia in 1980.
As of 2010, Patmore lectures in law at the University of Tasmania. Patmore is Chairman, Poppy Advisory and Control Board and from 2002 an Australian delegate to the United Nation Commission for Narcotic Drugs.