Barry Leonard O'Rourke (born 17 November 1963) is an Australian politician. He has been the
Labor
Labour or labor may refer to:
* Childbirth, the delivery of a baby
* Labour (human activity), or work
** Manual labour, physical work
** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer
** Organized labour and the la ...
member for
Rockhampton in the
Queensland Legislative Assembly
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 h ...
since 2017.
Career
Following the unexpected retirement of Labor MP
Bill Byrne for health reasons, O'Rourke contested Labor preselection for Byrne's seat of
Rockhampton. His main opponent was Margaret Strelow, the mayor of Rockhampton, who was endorsed by the Premier,
Annastacia Palaszczuk
Annastacia Palaszczuk ( , Polish: Annastacia Pałaszczuk, ; born 25 July 1969) is an Australian politician who has been the 39th premier of Queensland since 2015 and the leader of the Queensland branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since ...
. On 27 October 2017, O'Rourke defeated Strelow, who subsequently announced she would contest the 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 the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
.
At the
November state election, O'Rourke was elected to succeed Byrne as the member for Rockhampton. Strelow recorded 23.5% of the vote and was second on the initial count, but
Liberal National preferences pushed the
One Nation candidate ahead of her and O'Rourke was elected on Strelow's preferences.
Election victor rookie lays out his plans for Rocky
''The Morning Bulletin'', 30 November 2017. Retrieved 5 December 2017.
References
Parliamentary Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:ORourke, Barry
1963 births
Living people
Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly
Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of Queensland
21st-century Australian politicians