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Indigenous Political Representation

Date	Indigenous Australian Political Representatives	Party	Details
1971	Neville Bonner		The first Indigenous Australian to be appointed to Federal Parliament in Australia
1974	Hyacinth Tungutalum Eric Deeral	Country Liberal Party National Party	(Tungutalum) From Bathurst Island was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, representing the electorate of Arafura, and Deeral became the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to the Queensland Parliament, representing the electorate of Cook.
1977	Neville Perkins	Australian Labour Party	Was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. He became the first Indigenous Australian to hold a shadow portfolio, and was appointed deputy leader of the Northern Territory Australian Labor Party
1979	Cyril Kennedy	Australian Labour Party	Was the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to the Victorian Legislative Council, representing the electorate of Waverley
1980	Ernie Bridge	Australian Labour Party	Became the first Indigenous member of the Parliament of Western Australian when he won the seat of Kimberley. He later became the first Indigenous Australian to hold a Ministerial office. Mobile polling first used in remote Northern Territory and Western Australia for state/territory election.
1983	Wesley Lanhupuy	Australian Labour Party	From central coastal Arnhem land was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Arnhem
1987	Stanley Tipiloura	Australian Labour Party	From central coastal Arnhem land was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Arnhem
1992	Maurice Rioli	Australian Labour Party	From Bathurst Island, was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, representing the electorate of Arafura.
1995	John Ah Kit	Australian Labour Party	From Darwin was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorate of Arnhem
1998	Aden Ridgeway	Australian Labour Party	The second Indigenous Australian elected to the Australian Federal Parliament. He was born in 1962 at Macksville, New South Wales. Aden Ridgeway took his seat in the Senate as an Australian Democrat for New South Wales on 1 July 1999 following his election at the October 3, 1998 federal election. His term expired on 30 June 2005
2001	Carol Martin Matthew Bonson Elliot McAdam	Australian Labour Party	Carol Martin became the first Indigenous female to be elected to a State Parliament when she won the seat of Kimberley in the Parliament of Western Australia. Matthew Bonson (Darwin), Elliot McAdam (Tennant Creek) and Marion Scrymgour (Melville Island), were elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly representing the electorates of Millner, Barkly and Arafura respectively. They join John Ah Kit as members of the first Labor Government in the Northern Territory
2002	Kathryn Hay Marion Scrymgour	Australian Labour Party	Elected to the Tasmanian House of Assembly representing the electorate of Bass. Marion Scrymgour (Australian Labor Party) in the Northern Territory Assembly became the first Indigenous female minister in any government in the history of Australia
2003	Linda Burney	Australian Labour Party	Is the first Indigenous Australian elected to the New South Wales Parliament. She represents the electorate of Canterbury
2005	Barbara McCarthey Alison Anderson	Territory Labour	Following the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly election, Barbara McCarthy was elected to represent the electorate of Arnhem, and Alison Anderson (Territory Labor) was elected to represent the electorate of Macdonnell. Barbara McCarthey and Alison Anderson join Matthew Bonson, Elliot McAdam and Marion Scrymgour in the Northern Territory Government. One fifth of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly electorates are represented by Indigenous Australians. Legislation was enacted to dissolve the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and Regional Councils at the end of the 2005 financial year
2006	Ben Wyatt	Australian Labour Party	Elected in a by-election to the Western Australian parliament for the electorate of Victoria Park. He was re-elected in 2008
2008	Marion Scrymgour Adam Giles	Australian Labour Party County Liberal Party	In the Northern Territory Assembly, Marion Scrymgour became the first Indigenous female deputy chief minister. Adam Giles (Country Liberal Party) was elected to represent the electorate of Braitling in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
2010	Ken Wyatt	Liberal Party of Australia	Was elected as the first Indigenous member of the House of Representatives, representing the electorate of Hasluck in Western Australia. The Australian Electoral Commission established the Indigenous Electoral Participation Program (IEPP) in 2010 to close the gap in Indigenous disadvantage in electoral participation. The objectives of the program are to increase enrolment, voter turnout, formality and knowledge of electoral processes for Indigenous Australians
2011	Chris Bourke	ACT Labour	Was the first Indigenous Australian elected to the ACT Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Ginninderra in Australian Capital Territory
2012	Bess Price Francis Kurrupuwu Larisa Lee Ken Vowles	County Liberal Party Territory Labour	Bess Price was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Stuart. Francis Kurrupuwu (Country Liberal Party) was also elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Arafura. Larisa Lee (Country Liberal Party) was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Arnhem. Ken Vowles (Territory Labor) was elected to the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly, representing the seat of Johnston

Indigenous Voting History

Prior to the Commonwealth of Australian Constitution Act, each state within Australia existed as a sovereign colony with the ability to pass legislation concerning the enfranchisement of indigenous Australians. Inter-state differences were therefore visible between each territory, meaning Indigenous Australians' right to vote depended on the area in which they resided. The voting system in Australia underwent major reforms as a result of the 1901 Commonwealth of Australian Constitution Act which united the states of New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, Western Australia and Queensland. This Constitution established the Commonwealth of Australia and these previously self-governing colonies were merged to establish the Commonwealth of Australia. Section 127 of the Commonwealth of Australian Constitution Act constitutionally excluded Indigenous Australians from voting; "In reckoning the numbers of the people of the Commonwealth, or of a state or of another part of the Commonwealth, aboriginal natives shall not be counted". Indigenous Australians were granted the universal right to vote in federal elections in 1962 under the Commonwealth Election Act.

Timeline of Indigenous Australians' Right to Vote

Date	Event
Pre-federation
1829	British sovereignty extended to cover the whole of Australia – everyone born in Australia, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, became a British subject by birth.
1850+	The Australian colonies become self governing – all adult (21 years) male British subjects were entitled to vote in South Australia from 1856, in Victoria from 1857, New South Wales from 1858, and Tasmania from 1896  including Indigenous people. Queensland gained self-government in 1859 and Western Australia in 1890, but these colonies denied Indigenous people the vote.
1885	Queensland Elections Act excluded all Indigenous people from voting
1893	Western Australian law denied the vote to Indigenous people.
1895	All adult females in South Australia, including Indigenous females, won the right to vote.
1901	Commonwealth Constitution came into effect, giving the newly-created Commonwealth Parliament the authority to pass federal voting laws. Section 41 prohibited the Commonwealth Parliament from denying federal voting rights to any individual who, at the time of the Commonwealth Parliament’s first law on federal voting (passed the following year), was entitled to vote in a state election.
Post-federation
1902	The Commonwealth Parliament passed its first law on federal voting (the Commonwealth Franchise Act 1902), granting men and women in all states the right to vote in federal elections. The Act did, however, specifically deny federal voting rights to every ‘aboriginal native’ of Australia, Asia, Africa, or the Islands of the Pacific (except New Zealand) who, at the time of the Act, did not already have the right to vote in state elections.
1915	Queensland introduced compulsory voting. This was later extended to other regions.
1922	Regulations in the Northern Territory excluded Indigenous people from voting. Officials had the power to decide who was Indigenous.
1940's	Professor AP Elkin, the Aborigines Friends Association, and others agitated for better conditions for Indigenous people and their right to vote.
1949	The right to vote in federal elections was extended to Indigenous people who had served in the armed forces, or were enrolled to vote in state elections. Indigenous people in Queensland, Western Australia, and the Northern Territory still could not vote in their own state/territory elections.
1957	Under the Northern Territory Welfare Ordinance, almost all Indigenous people in the Northern Territory were declared to be "wards of the state" and denied the vote.
1962	Commonwealth Electoral Act provided that Indigenous Australians should have the right to enrol and vote at federal elections, including Northern Territory elections, but enrolment was not compulsory. It was an offence for anyone to use undue influence or bribery to induce Indigenous people to enrol or to refrain from enrolling to vote. Western Australia extended the State vote to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Voter education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people began in the Northern Territory. 1,338 Indigenous Australians enrolled to vote in Northern Territory elections.
1965	Queensland allowed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to vote in State elections. Queensland was the last State to grant this right.
1967	A Referendum approved Commonwealth Constitutional change. Section 127 of the Constitution was struck out in its entirety. This amendment allowed Indigenous Australians to be counted in the Commonwealth Census. Section 51 of the Constitution was amended to allow the Commonwealth to make special laws for Indigenous people. Both Houses of the Parliament passed the proposed Act unanimously; consequently a 'No' case was not submitted. More than 90% of Australians registered a YES vote with all six states voting in favour.