List of Indigenous Australian politicians


This list of Indigenous Australian politicians includes Indigenous Australians who have been members of Australian legislaturesfederal, state or territory. It does not include those elected to local councils, Governors/Governors-General, leaders of political parties, Indigenous Australians actively involved in political institutions and those who have run unsuccessfully for office.
There have been 40 Indigenous members of the ten Australian legislatures, beginning when Neville Bonner entered the Australian Senate on 15 August 1971. Of these, 22 have been elected to the Northern Territory assembly, eight to the Australian Federal Parliament, four to the parliaments of Queensland and Western Australia, and one each to the parliaments of Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales and one to the Australian Capital Territory assembly.
Out of the 40 Indigenous Australians elected to any Australian Parliament, 16 have been women.
Nobody of acknowledged Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ancestry has yet been a member of the parliament of South Australia or of the Norfolk Island assembly.
Note: There is considerable debate surrounding the complexity of Indigenous identity. Therefore, this list only includes those who identify themselves as Indigenous Australian. Also note that "origin" or "ancestry" refers to the Indigenous groups, communities, countries, place names or languages which that person identifies with. Some individuals do not have any specific Indigenous group identity and some have multiple identities.

Federal Parliament

Eight Indigenous Australian people have been members of the Parliament of Australia, six in the Senate and two in the House of Representatives. Four of them are in it today.
At least four other members of the Federal Parliament have acknowledged Indigenous ancestry, but are or were not generally regarded as Indigenous themselves.

Timeline


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AlignBars = late
DateFormat = dd/mm/yyyy
Period = from:1971 till:01/01/2019
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ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:2 start:1971
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id:LIB value:blue legend: Liberal
id:ALP value:red legend: Labor
id:DEM value:orange legend: Democrats
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bar:Bonner
bar:Ridgeway
bar:Wyatt
bar:Peris
bar:Lindgren
bar:Dodson
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bar:McCarthy
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width:5 align:left fontsize:9 shift: anchor:till
bar:Bonner
from: 15/08/1971 till: 04/02/1983 color:LIB text:"Senator Neville Bonner"
bar:Ridgeway
from: 01/07/1999 till: 30/06/2005 color:DEM text:"Senator Aden Ridgeway"
bar:Wyatt
from: 21/08/2010 till: end color:LIB text:"Ken Wyatt MP"
bar:Peris
from: 07/09/2013 till: 09/05/2016 color:ALP text:"Senator Nova Peris"
bar:Lindgren
from: 21/05/2015 till: 02/07/2016 color:LIB text:"Senator Joanna Lindgren"
bar:Dodson
from: 28/04/2016 till: end color:ALP text:"Senator Pat Dodson"
bar:Burney
from: 02/07/2016 till: end color:ALP text:"Linda Burney MP"
bar:McCarthy
from: 02/07/2016 till: end color:ALP text:"Senator McCarthy"

Parliament of the Australian Capital Territory

One Indigenous Australian person has been a member of the unicameral Australian Capital Territory Legislative Assembly.

Parliament of New South Wales

One Indigenous Australian person has been a member of the Parliament of New South Wales.

Parliament of the Northern Territory

Twenty-two Indigenous Australian people have been members of the unicameral Parliament of the Northern Territory.

Parliament of Queensland

Four Indigenous Australian people have been members of the unicameral Parliament of Queensland.

Parliament of Tasmania

Two Indigenous Australian people have been a member of the Parliament of Tasmania.
At least one other member of the Parliament of Tasmania has acknowledged Indigenous ancestry, but is not generally regarded as Indigenous themself.

Parliament of Victoria

One Indigenous Australian person has been a member of the Parliament of Victoria.
At least two members have had acknowledged Indigenous ancestry, but were not generally regarded as Indigenous themselves.

Parliament of Western Australia

Five Indigenous Australian people have been members of the Parliament of Western Australia, all of whom were elected to the Legislative Assembly.