Updated 11 July 2017

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Hannah Gobbett
Politics and Public Administration Section

This Quick Guide provides information about Indigenous Australian federal and state parliamentarians, from the election of the first Indigenous Australian to the Federal Parliament—former senator Neville Bonner—until September 2016.

For the purposes of this Quick Guide, ‘Indigenous parliamentarian’ refers to a parliamentarian who identifies as Indigenous or as having Indigenous ancestry. This Quick Guide lists the name, party, dates in office, chamber, state/electorate and significant firsts.

The 45th Parliament currently includes five Indigenous parliamentarians—three senators and two members of the House of Representatives. Ken Wyatt AM, MP is the Member for Hasluck (WA) and Linda Burney, MP is the Member for Barton (NSW), while the Senate includes senators Patrick (Pat) Dodson (ALP), Jacqui Lambie (IND) and Malarndirri McCarthy (ALP).

This information is compiled from a range of sources including the Commonwealth Parliamentary Handbook, The Biographical Dictionary of the Australian Senate, state parliaments, political websites and personal biographies. Where available, a hyperlink to biographies has been included.

The Parliamentary Library would appreciate receiving additional information or corrections that may assist in compiling future updates.

Abbreviations

Indigenous federal parliamentarians

• Neville Bonner (Senate, Qld, LIB; IND) was the first Indigenous member of parliament in 1971.
• Ken Wyatt (House of Representatives, WA, LIB) is the first Indigenous member of the House of Representatives, elected in 2010. He is also the first Indigenous member of parliament to hold a ministerial position as the Assistant Minister for Health from 30 September 2015.
• Linda Burney (House of Representatives, NSW, ALP) is the first Indigenous female member of the House of Representatives, elected in 2016. She was also the first and only Indigenous member of the New South Wales Parliament, having been elected in 2003.
• Nova Peris, OAM (Senate, NT, ALP) was the first female Indigenous senator, serving from 2013 to 2016.
• Joanna Lindgren (Senate, Qld, LIB), who served from 2015 to 2016, is the great-niece of Neville Bonner.
• David Kennedy was the first Indigenous individual to be elected to both a state parliament and the Federal Parliament, having served as the ALP Member for Bendigo (1969–1972) prior to entering the Victorian Parliament in 1982 (MLA, ALP). However, his Indigenous heritage was not known when he entered both parliaments nor did he self-identify as Indigenous at that time.[1] For these reasons Neville Bonner is recorded as the first Indigenous federal parliamentarian.
• Linda Burney and Malarndirri McCarthy are the first Indigenous women to be elected to both a state/territory parliament and the Federal Parliament. They served in the New South Wales and Northern Territory parliaments, respectively, prior to being elected to the Federal Parliament. For further information see the ‘Indigenous state parliamentarians’ section below.

* Selected under Section 15 of the Australian Constitution in the Senate or at a by-election in the House of Representatives.

Source: compiled by the Parliamentary Library.

Indigenous state parliamentarians

• Hyacinth Tungutalum (Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, CLP) was the first Indigenous person elected to any state/territory parliament, in October 1974.
• Adam Giles (Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, CLP), was the first Indigenous head of government as the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from 14 March 2013 to 27 August 2016.
• Ernie Bridge (Western Australian Legislative Assembly, ALP; IND) was the first Indigenous Cabinet minister in any Australian government, as Minister for Water Resources, the North-West and Aboriginal Affairs, a position he held from July 1986 until February 1989.
• Marion Scrymgour (Northern Territory Legislative Assembly) was the first female Indigenous minister in 2003; she was later appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, becoming (at that time) the highest-ranked Indigenous parliamentarian in Australian history.
• Cyril and Andrew Kennedy were the first brothers of Indigenous heritage to serve concurrently in any state parliament, having both served in the Victorian Parliament from 1982 until 1992.
• John Ah Kit and his daughter Ngaree Ah Kit are the first Indigenous father and daughter to serve in any state parliament, having both been elected to the Northern Territory Parliament.

Key

Δ First Indigenous parliamentarian in that state

Source: compiled by the Parliamentary Library.

[1].     P Biongiourno, ‘Outgoing ALP National President discusses the ALP and the ALP conference’, Meet the Press, transcript, 30 July 2000, accessed 17 October 2016.

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