Robert John Pyne (born 23 April 1967) is an Australian politician who currently serves as a member of

Cairns Regional Council The Cairns Region is a local government area in Far North Queensland, Queensland, Australia, centred on the regional city of Cairns. It was established in 2008 by the amalgamation of the City of Cairns and the Shires of Douglas and Mulgrave. ...

, representing Division 5. He was previously a member of the

Legislative Assembly of Queensland The Legislative Assembly of Queensland is the sole chamber of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland established under the Constitution of Queensland. Elections are held every four years and are done by full preferential voting. The Assembly ...

from 2015 until 2017, representing the electorate of

Cairns Cairns (; ) is a city in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia, on the tropical north east coast of Far North Queensland. In the , Cairns had a population of 153,181 people. The city was founded in 1876 and named after William Cairns, Sir W ...

. Pyne was elected to parliament as a member of the

Australian Labor Party The Australian Labor Party (ALP), also known as the Labor Party or simply Labor, is the major Centre-left politics, centre-left List of political parties in Australia, political party in Australia and one of two Major party, major parties in Po ...

, but resigned to sit as an independent in March 2016. He contested the 2017 election as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in Pennsylvania, United States * Independentes (English: Independents), a Portuguese artist ...

candidate, but lost his seat to Labor candidate Michael Healy. He is the first

quadriplegic Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of Motor control, motor and/or Sense, sensory function in the Cervical vertebrae, cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weak ...

member of any parliament of Australia.The Cairns Sun, 4 Feb 2015, ''Pyne makes history'', by Roz Pulley, p. 1

Early life

Pyne was born in Gordonvale, the son of former Cairns mayor

Tom Pyne Thomas Alfred Pyne (31 January 1935 – 30 October 2011) was an Australian politician. He was the shire chairman of the Shire of Mulgrave from 1979 to 1995, and following the amalgamation of Mulgrave with the City of Cairns, was Mayor of Ca ...

, and raised in the suburb of

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

. He had a

spinal cord injury A spinal cord injury (SCI) is damage to the spinal cord that causes temporary or permanent changes in its function. It is a destructive neurological and pathological state that causes major motor, sensory and autonomic dysfunctions. Symptoms of ...

in December 1991 through breaking his neck diving into shallow water when he was 23 years old, which resulted in him becoming quadriplegic. He spent nine months recovering in the Princess Alexandra Hospital's Spinal Unit in

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

before going on to gain a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

with Honours in History and Politics from

James Cook University James Cook University (JCU) is a public university in North Queensland, Australia. The second oldest university in Queensland, JCU is a teaching and research institution. The university's main campuses are located in the tropical cities of Cair ...

in 1999 and a

Bachelor of Laws A Bachelor of Laws (; LLB) is an undergraduate law degree offered in most common law countries as the primary law degree and serves as the first professional qualification for legal practitioners. This degree requires the study of core legal subje ...

degree from

Queensland University of Technology The Queensland University of Technology (QUT) is a public university, public research university located in the city of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. It has two major campuses, a modern city campus in Gardens Point, Brisbane, Gardens Point ...

in 2002. In 1997, he served as President of the James Cook University Student Association.

Career

Before his accident, Rob worked for the Public Trustee of Queensland. After attaining his degrees he worked as Regional Disability Liaison Officer at James Cook University Cairns before becoming a politician. He first ran in 2008 as Division 3 councillor in the Cairns Regional Council elections, beating the former Deputy Mayor Terry James He inspected the Cairns Regional Council head office prior to taking up his role to ensure it was wheelchair accessible. He was re-elected in 2012. Division 3 includes the suburbs of Bayview Heights, Lamb Range, Mount Sheridan, White Rock and

Woree Woree is a suburb of Cairns in the Cairns Region, Queensland, Australia. In the , Woree had a population of 5,127 people. Geography The Bruce Highway goes between Bald Hills in Brisbane to Woree and is long. The highway goes through Woree b ...

. In March 2014 a Local Government formal complaint was filed against him for breaching Cairns Regional Council's media policy rules. In September 2013, he announced that he would contest Australian Labor Party preselection for the 2015 state election in the seat of

, and in April 2014 he was nominated as the Labor candidate. He won the election in January 2015, defeating sitting Liberal National Party MP

Gavin King Gavin Ryan King (born 17 March 1979) is an Australian journalist, founder of news site ''TropicNow'' and author. He was also previously a politician, serving as a Liberal National Party member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland from 20 ...

. In March 2015, Queensland's Parliament building underwent renovations to accommodate its first quadriplegic member of parliament, including removing two seats and desks in the chamber to allow Pyne wheelchair access. In January 2016, Pyne resigned from the Labor Party's left faction. On 7 March 2016, after being publicly critical of a number of government decisions, Pyne resigned from the Labor Party, saying that he was "no longer prepared to be told how to vote by someone from Brisbane". He moved to the

crossbench A crossbencher is a minor party or independent politician, independent member of some legislatures, such as the Parliament of Australia. In the British House of Lords the term refers to members of the parliamentary group of non-political peers. ...

to sit as an

member. However, he stated he would continue to back Labor on

confidence and supply In parliamentary system, parliamentary democracies based on the Westminster system, confidence and supply is an arrangement under which a minority government (one which does not control a majority in the legislature) receives the support of one ...

matters. On 5 May 2016, Pyne submitted a private members bill to the Queensland Parliament to decriminalise

abortion in Queensland Abortion in Queensland, Australia, is available on request in the first 22 weeks of pregnancy, with the approval of two doctors usually required for Late termination of pregnancy, later terminations of pregnancy. Queensland law prohibits proteste ...

. In February 2017, he withdrew the bill after it became apparent it would not get sufficient support in its present form in Parliament. The issue of abortion was referred to the Queensland Law Reform Commission to consider a new framework for legislation in relation to the termination of pregnancy. On 19 June 2017, the Queensland Attorney-General Yvettte D'Ath officially issued the Queensland Law Reform Commission with the terms of reference for a review and investigation into modernising Queensland's laws in relation to the termination of pregnancy. In 2020, after returning to

at the local government elections, Pyne joined Socialist Alliance. In 2024, Pyne left Socialist Alliance and attempted to join the

Australian Greens The Australian Greens, commonly referred to simply as the Greens, are a Left-wing politics, left-wing green party, green Australian List of political parties in Australia, political party. As of 2025, the Greens are the third largest politica ...

Personal life

His father

was an Australian politician from 1961 until 2000. He was first elected to Mulgrave Shire Council in 1961 and served as deputy-chairman of Mulgrave Shire in 1976, chairman in 1979, 1982, 1983, 1988 and 1991 and elected Mayor of

City Council in 1995. He died in October 2011. Rob Pyne lives in the Cairns suburb of Mount Sheridan. His wife Jenny died suddenly following a fall on 30 July 2022. He has a daughter Katie.

References

External links

*
Interview Channel 7 news
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pyne, Rob 1967 births Living people People with paraplegia Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly Australian politicians with disabilities Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland Independent members of the Parliament of Queensland Queensland local councillors 21st-century Australian politicians Australian wheelchair users James Cook University alumni Queensland University of Technology alumni