I rise today with a heavy heart on behalf of a community that has waited seven long years for justice.
I rise for a young woman whose name has become synonymous with heartbreak across Far North Queensland Toyah Cordingley.
Toyah was just 24. A gentle, humble, loving young woman who dedicated her life to caring for others. She volunteered at an animal shelter, worked in a local health food store, and adored her family, friends, and her dog, Indi. She lived quietly and kindly, with a generosity of spirit that touched everyone who knew her.
But on one devastating afternoon in October 2018, Toyah’s life was stolen in one of the most horrific crimes our region has ever endured. She went for a simple walk on Wangetti Beach- a walk any one of us could take and she never came home.
Speaker, the shock of that loss did not fade. The violent nature of this crime sickened us to our core. This pain rippled outward from her family to friends, to our entire community, to people who never met Toyah but felt the injustice of her absence.
The Cordingley family has endured the unimaginable. Their strength, dignity, and unwavering determination in the face of unthinkable pain has been a testament to who Toyah was and the love she inspired.
Today, after years of delays, obstacles, and uncertainty, the Cairns community finally heard the words they prayed for: a guilty verdict and life in jail for the offender, with a minimum non-parole period of 25 years.
I want to acknowledge the dedication of the Queensland Police Service, investigative teams, prosecutors, and volunteers who worked tirelessly to achieve this result.
This verdict does not heal the wound. It cannot bring back the beautiful young woman whose life was taken so senselessly.
But it does bring something the community has yearned for – a measure of justice, a recognition that Toyah mattered, and that someone will finally be held accountable.
Speaker, our community has been hurting for a very long time. You could feel it in the vigils, in sunflower stickers on cars and shop windows, in conversations at local markets, and in quiet moments on that beach where people stop and remember her.
Toyah’s name became a symbol — of grief, yes, but also of unity, resilience, and a collective determination to see justice done.
Today, we honour Toyah’s memory. We honour the light she brought into the world. We honour the years of pain her family has endured. And we honour the strength of a community that refused to give up or let Toyah be forgotten.
Far North Queensland stands with Toyah’s family. We stand with every woman who deserves to feel safe. We stand against violence that steals daughters, sisters, friends, and futures.
And today, as her killer begins a life sentence behind bars, those who loved Toyah continue their own life sentence a lifetime of grief, of questions, of memories that should have been future moments, not fading photographs.
There is no justice that can balance that scale. But there is something we can honour- the legacy of a young woman who met the world with compassion and kindness.
Let Toyah’s legacy be love, not the cruelty that ended her life, but the humanity she gave so freely. Let her name remind us of our duty to protect the vulnerable, to stand against violence, and to ensure no family walks this path alone.
Toyah, your community carried you in our hearts for seven years while waiting for justice. And though nothing can erase the pain borne by those who loved you, we will ensure your memory endures — not as a victim of cruelty, but as a beacon of compassion that drives us to build a safer, kinder future in your name.
