[1] Cunningham was born in Clayfield in Brisbane and arrived in Western Australia in 1971.
In 1988 he was elected to the Western Australian Legislative Assembly in a by-election as the Labor member for Balga; he moved to the new seat of Marangaroo in 1989 and to Girrawheen in 1996.
Although he never held a front bench position, he was President of the Parliamentary Labor Party from 1994 to 1997 and Opposition Whip from 1997 to 2001, when he retired.
[2] Cunningham died on 2 November 2003 at the age of 65 after a short illness.
This article about an Australian Labor Party member of the Parliament of Western Australia is a stub.