List of Indigenous Australians in politics and public service facts for kids

Numerous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia have been notable for their contributions to politics, including participation in governments, and activism. Others are noted for their public service, generally and in specific areas like law and education. The lists of Indigenous Australians in public service, activism, law, education and humanities on this page, can never be complete and are fluid, but serve as a primer.

Politics and government

By 1962–65 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders were granted universal suffrage. Specifically, the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1962 gave all Aboriginal people the option of enrolling to vote in federal elections, whereas the previous Commonwealth Electoral Act 1949 gave Aboriginal people the right to vote in federal elections only if they were able to vote in their state elections. Even with the 1962 ruling, it was not until the Commonwealth Electoral Amendment Act 1983 that voting became compulsory for Aboriginal people, as it was for other Australians.

Vice-regal

Sir Douglas Nicholls was the first and so far the only Indigenous Australian Governor of an Australian state (Governor of South Australia, 1976–1977).

Politicians

There have been 52 Indigenous members of the ten Australian legislatures. Of these, 23 have been elected to the Northern Territory assembly, ten to the Australian Federal Parliament, six to the parliament of Western Australia, five to the parliament of Queensland, two each to the parliaments of Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales, and one each to the parliament of South Australia and the Australian Capital Territory assembly. Three have served in multiple parliaments.

As of 2023^[update], Indigenous Australian members of the Senate represented 10.5% of the 76 Senate seats, and 1.9% in the House. The total representation is, at 4.8%, proportionally far above the national population of 3.3%.

Of the 52 Indigenous Australians elected to any Australian parliament, 23 have been women.

No-one of acknowledged Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ancestry has yet been a member of the Norfolk Island Legislative Assembly. Norfolk Island is a part of Australia, formerly occupied briefly by Polynesian seafarers.

Ernie Bridge was the first Indigenous Australian to become a minister in a government. Neville Bonner was the first Indigenous man to become a member of the Federal Parliament, when he was appointed to fill a casual Senate vacancy in 1971. In 1972 he was the first Indigenous man to (successfully) run for an election. Pat Eatock was the first known Indigenous woman to (unsuccessfully) run for a federal election, in 1972.

Neville Perkins was the first Indigenous Leader of the Opposition in the Northern Territory, as the leader of the Labour Party from 1977–1981. Aden Ridgeway was elected to the Australian Senate in 1998 and served until 2005, and was the only First Nations person serving in Federal Parliament during this time, serving on a number of parliamentary and Senate committees. He was the first Aboriginal person to be selected as deputy leader of the Australian Democrats, and was in this role from April 2001 – October 2002. Ridgeway was the first Indigenous person to use an Indigenous language in Federal Parliament. On 25 August in 1999 in his first speech to the Senate, he stated:

"On this special occasion, I make my presence known as an Aborigine and to this chamber I say, perhaps for the first time: Nyandi baaliga Jaingatti. Nyandi mimiga Gumbayynggir. Nya jawgar yaam Gumbayynggir. Translated, it means: My father is Dhunghutti. My mother is Gumbayynggir. And, therefore, I am Gumbayynggir."

Marion Scrymgour was the first Indigenous woman to become a minister and has to date been the highest ranked Indigenous woman in a government, when she became Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 2007 until 2009. Adam Giles was the first Indigenous Australian to lead a government as Chief Minister of the Northern Territory in 2013. Indigenous minister Kyam Maher was appointed Attorney General of South Australia in March 2022.

Pat Dixon was the first Aboriginal woman elected to local government in Australia.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price was elected Senator for NT in May 2022 and appointed Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians on 18 April 2023.

Party leaders

This section only includes those who held party leadership positions outside of a parliament.

Warren Mundine was the first Indigenous Australian to become National President of the Australian Labor Party.

There have been various leaders of the Australia's First Nations Political Party, however no candidate from this party has been successful in an election.

Public servants

Activists

Educators

Lawyers and judges

Humanities

See also

• List of Indigenous Australian politicians
• Māori politics