MPs pay respects to Billy
FORMER Cook MP Billy Gordon has been remembered as a trailblazing “improbable politician” who left behind a complex legacy.
Billy Gordon served in parliament for a single, though tumultuous, term between 2015 and 2017 - first as the Labor MP for Cook then as an independent. He died on November 25, 2022. He was 49 years old.
This week, parliamentarians paid tribute to Mr Gordon, a Bar-barrum man from the Western tableland of Far North Queensland who became one of the first Indigenous state MPs in a generation.
Deputy Premier Steven Miles said Mr Gordon’s time in parliament may have been short, but his contribution was “historic”.
“Billy leaves a complex legacy. Of being a champion for the working class and for First Nations people, as a Bar-barrum man and an improbable politician,” he said.
Mr Gordon was expelled from caucus by Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk just two months into his term because of a previously undisclosed criminal record. His remaining time as a parliamentarian was dogged by controversy, including allegations of sending lewd photographs of his genitalia to at least two women and a drink driving conviction in 2016.
The embattled MP chose not to recontest his seat at the 2017 election but stated he was still proud of his advocacy efforts on behalf of Cape York communities.
Labor MP Cynthia Lui, who succeeded Mr Gordon in the seat of Cook, said he had broken the glass ceiling and his election was an achievement for all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
“He managed to grasp his own destiny to stride onto the floor of Parliament. It is an extraordinary, extraordinary achievement that no one can take from him.”