[2] According to The Canberra Times, he was also a former representative rugby league player and was known for "his legal work, his involvement in prisoner aid and black affairs, as well as for his continued administrative involvement in rugby league".
[3] Gayler was elected to parliament at the 1983 federal election, defeating the incumbent National Party member David Thomson, a minister in the Fraser government.
[2] Gayler took a keen interest in the protection of the Daintree Rainforest within his electorate, supporting the listing of the Wet Tropics of Queensland as a World Heritage Site and drawing attention to illegal logging.
[4] He supported Prime Minister Bob Hawke in the two leadership spills held in 1991, and in January 1992 publicly criticised Hawke's successor Paul Keating for his leadership style.
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