Hyacinth Tungutalum (Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, CLP) was the first Indigenous person elected to any state/territory parliament, in October 1974. Source: compiled by the Parliamentary Library. Indigenous state parliamentarians. I have previously considered Indigenous representation in the Australian Parliament in my article ‘Dedicated Seats in the Federal Parliament for Indigenous Australians: the theoretical case and its practical possibility’ published in Balayi: Culture, Law and Colonialism, Volume 2(1), 2001. Their numbers are increasing. This list of Indigenous Australian politicians includes Indigenous Australians who have … Below is a selection of Aboriginal politicians (for a full list check out Wikipedia). * Selected under Section 15 of the Australian Constitution in the Senate or at a by-election in the House of Representatives.. On 24 August 2010, Kenneth George Wyatt became the first Indigenous member of the House of Representatives when he narrowly won the West Australian seat of Hasluck for the Liberal Party. The speech was written with assistance from AIATSIS linguist Amanda Lissarrague. Guaranteed representation reduces the distance between policymakers and the people for whom policy is made. Increased Indigenous representation in Federal Parliament is “a significant step forward for our mob and for the nation”, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Mick Gooda, said. Mining giants BHP and Rio Tinto call for constitutional guarantee of indigenous representation in parliament. How are Aboriginal politicians different? I have previously considered Indigenous representation in the Australian Parliament in my article ‘Dedicated Seats in the Federal Parliament for Indigenous Australians: the theoretical case and its practical possibility’ published in Balayi: Culture, Law and Colonialism, Volume 2(1), 2001. Wyatt had held a position in 11 One example of a JR project currently underway is the Maranguka Justice Reinvestment Project at Bourke in NSW that, inter alia, is looking to address issues with breaches of bail, outstanding warrants and unlicensed Why guaranteed Indigenous seats in parliament could ease inequality Editions Combatting Over-representation of Indigenous Youth in the Queensland Criminal Justice System through ‘Justice Reinvestment’ goals and which are evidenced based. Indigenous Australians should have a voice to parliament and the government should consider supporting the body, a bi-partisan committee says in its report being tabled in Parliament today. They share … in Federal Parliament as a Senator for New South Wales from 1999 until 2005 and was a member of the Australian Democrats. I have previously considered Indigenous representation in the Australian Parliament in my article ‘Dedicated Seats in the Federal Parliament for Indigenous Australians: the theoretical case and its practical possibility’ published in Balayi: Culture, Law and Colonialism, Volume 2(1), 2001. This was only three words of Dhanggati, but in June 2013 Oakeshott gave the first full speech in an Indigenous language given in an Australian Parliament. Indigenous leaders and thinkers from around the world gather at Canberra's Old Parliament House for the First Nations Governance Forum. “I am delighted by the news that Professor Patrick Dodson will stand for the Senate in Western Australia. Labor Senator Pat Dodson and Liberal MP Ken Wyatt stick to party lines over which side had the better agenda for Aboriginal affairs and providing an Indigenous voice to the Parliament. Ngarrindjeri elder Major "Moogy" Sumner, who once ran for the South Australian seat of Mayo, explains why he stood for political office: "We live in two worlds, us Aboriginal people. The first Aboriginal person to use an Australian language in the House of Representatives was Linda Burney.