List of Indigenous Australian politicians

This list of Indigenous Australian politicians includes Indigenous Australians who have been members of Australian legislatures—federal, state or territory. It does not include those elected to local councils (including mayors), Governors/Governors-General, leaders of political parties (outside of parliament), Indigenous Australians actively involved in political institutions and those who have run unsuccessfully for office.

 

The Coalition's Ken Wyatt (left) and the ALP's Linda Burney (right) are the first and only Indigenous Australian members of the Australian House of Representatives.

There have been 42 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, South Australia, Victoria and New South Wales and one to the Australian Capital Territory assembly.

Out of the 42 Indigenous Australians elected to any Australian Parliament, 17 have been women.

Nobody of acknowledged Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ancestry has yet been a member 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.