[3] In 1961, Cross was elected to the Australian House of Representatives as the Labor member for the federal parliamentary seat of Brisbane.

In the same election, his colleague Bill Hayden, later Leader of the Federal Labor Party and Governor-General, unexpectedly won the nearby seat of Oxley in Ipswich.

However, he narrowly failed to win election to the Ministry and his colleague from Victoria, Gordon Bryant, became Minister for Aboriginal Affairs in the government.

Cross, along with colleagues such as Peter Beattie, Di Fingleton, Kev Hooper and Denis Murphy, was one of the activists who supported moves for change.

He narrowly lost to Peter Johnson in a 1977 rematch but succeeded in regaining the seat in 1980 when there was a nation-wide swing towards Labor with Hayden as leader.

[8] He was also awarded the Centenary Medal, for long service as federal member for Brisbane, to local history and to Indigenous rights.