David Byrne

Who is David Byrne?

David Edward Byrne is an Australian activist and politician. A former Augustinian monk and Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly of Queensland, he later moved to Cape York, became an advocate for Aboriginal land rights and co-founded the Cape York Land Council with Noel Pearson.

Byrne was born in Sydney and was educated at St Martin's Catholic Primary School and Villanova College in Brisbane. He initially entered the Augustinian seminary and became a monk for a time, but later studied teaching at the University of Queensland. A member of the state executive of the Young Liberals, he was elected to the Queensland Legislative Assembly at the 1974 state election amidst the National-Liberal landslide of that year. At 22, he was at that time the state's youngest ever MLA, and he graduated from university during his term.

He caused particular controversy when, in 1974, he made questionable allegations of arson against then-Labor Senate nominee Mal Colston, which Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen then used as a basis on which to appoint Albert Field instead, thus sparking the 1975 constitutional crisis. Rae Wear notes in her biography of Bjelke-Petersen that Byrne received 'very bad publicity' over the incident. His electorate was abolished at the 1977 election; he ran for re-election but was defeated.