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The Hon Ken Wyatt AM MP - Minister for Indigenous Australians

29 May 2019
Culture and Capability
Non-Indigenous man in suit and tie at left and Indigenous man in ceremonial fur cloak and suit at right shake hands. In the background is an entrance to a building.

Read about the first Indigenous Australian to serve as Minister for Indigenous Australians and the new agency he presides over.

The Honourable Ken Wyatt AM MP was sworn in as Minister for Indigenous Australians by the Governor-General, His Excellency General the Honourable Sir Peter Cosgrove AK MC (Retd) at Government House today.

As Minister for Indigenous Australians, he replaces Senator the Hon Nigel Scullion who served as Minister for Indigenous Affairs from 2013 to 2019.

Minister Wyatt is the first Indigenous person to hold the ministry responsible for Indigenous matters and the first Indigenous person to sit in Cabinet. Minister Wyatt becomes the inaugural Minister responsible for the new Australian Government agency, the National Indigenous Australians Agency.

In 2010, he was elected to the Parliament of Australia representing the electorate of Hasluck in Western Australia, becoming the first Indigenous member of the House of Representatives. He is also the first Indigenous member of Parliament to hold a ministerial position.

Born in Bunbury, Western Australia in 1952, Minister Wyatt completed a Bachelor of Education and worked as a primary school teacher from 1973 to 1986.

Following his teaching career, he served in various roles in the Western Australian government and as Director, Aboriginal Health in both the NSW and WA Departments of Health.

Minister Wyatt was appointed Member of the Order of Australia in June 1996 and in 2000 was awarded a Centenary of Federation Medal for ‘his efforts and contribution to improving the quality of life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and mainstream Australian society in education and health’.

Find out more

For more information, see Hon Ken Wyatt AM MP at Parliament of Australia and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.