Gordon Bradbery

The Reverend Gordon Alfred Bradbery (born 8 May 1951) is the former Lord Mayor of the City of Wollongong and a minister of the Uniting Church, though not active in ministry since 2011. Bradbery was re-elected for another three-year term as Lord Mayor on 4 December 2021.

Early life and background Born and initially raised in Tamworth, Bradbery moved to Sydney and was schooled at Barnardos Children's Home in Normanhurst between the ages of 10 and 16; an experience Bradbery refers to "being raised at the school of hard knocks".

Pastoral ministry After leaving school at age sixteen, Bradbery trained as a laboratory technician, and in 1971 joined the Uniting Church as a youth and children's welfare worker. After 14 years as a layman, Bradbery was ordained in 1985 into the Uniting Church ministry.

The majority of Bradbery's 25 years as an ordained minister was spent at the Wollongong Mission of the Uniting Church, known as the "Church on the Mall" in Crown St, Wollongong. In addition to his ministerial duties, Bradbery was also responsible for the Wollongong Community Care Centre that runs regular welfare programs for the disadvantaged, including a popular soup kitchen. Bradbery also worked actively with various elements of the community, adopting specialist areas in community development and social justice programs, as well as trauma and bereavement counselling. with the chairman, David Jones citing "need to undertake succession planning for Ministry Leadership given the length of time Gordon has been in this placement". There was significant uproar among parts of the Wollongong community as a result of this decision, largely due to Bradbery's extensive community service work.

Community service

Bradbery has held numerous positions outside his church ministry role, including:

In 1996 and again in 2009, Bradbery was awarded Rotary International's Paul Harris Fellowship Medal for outstanding community service.

Controversies Allegations of antisemitism During the ongoing Gaza war, Bradbery spoke at a pro-Palestinian rally in Wollongong, which was attended by a crowd of around 500. In a speech, Bradbery stated that he "understood why Hamas did what they did". Hamas was designated as a terrorist group in Australia, and Australia is a strong supporter of Israel, with the two countries having close bilateral relations. Bradbery's comments were strongly condemned by Jewish leaders, with the NSW Jewish Board of Deputies claiming that he "sought to justify" the attacks. The board released a statement, which read:

When questioned by ABC News, Bradbery defended his comments, stating:

However, Bradbery acknowledged that he "perhaps" should have made his condemnation of Hamas clearer.