Kenneth George Wyatt (born 4 August 1952) is a member of the Australian House of Representatives representing the electoral division of Hasluck in Western Australia for the Liberal Party of Australia. Wyatt has served as the Minister for Aged Care and Australia's first Minister for Indigenous Health since January 2017. He previously served as the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care between September 2015 and January 2017. He is of Aboriginal Australian (Noongar, Yamatji and Wongi), Indian, English and Irish descent, and in 2010 became the first Aboriginal member of the House of Representatives, as well as the first indigenous federal minister in 2017.
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Early life
Wyatt is an Indigenous Australian, also of part English, Irish and Indian descent. He was born at Roelands Mission farm, near Bunbury south of Perth in Western Australia, a former home for young Indigenous children removed from their families. His mother, Mona Abdullah, was one of the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal children removed from their parents and relocated to Roelands, where she met her husband Don. Wyatt's father's heritage is Yamatji and Irish ancestry. His mother's family heritage is Wongi and Noongar ancestry, while her surname, Abdullah, is from an ancestor who migrated from India to be a cameleer, helping lay the trans-Australia telegraph line.
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Career
Prior to entering Parliament, Wyatt served as senior public servant in the fields of Aboriginal health and education. He has held positions as Director of the WA Office of Aboriginal Health as well as a similar post with NSW Health. He was also previously Director of Aboriginal Education with the WA Department of Education.
Wyatt stood for the Liberal Party in the seat of Hasluck in the 2010 election, defeating Labor incumbent Sharryn Jackson. He won the seat with a 1.4-point swing, and became the first Aboriginal person to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives (if one excludes David Kennedy who was Member for Bendigo from 1969 to 1972), and the third elected to the Parliament (behind Neville Bonner and Aden Ridgeway, both Senators). Mal Brough is of Aboriginal descent but does not identify himself as such.
On 28 September 2010, Wyatt attended the opening of the 43rd Australian Parliament to take up his seat as member for Hasluck. He wore a traditional Booka - a kangaroo skin coat with feathers from a red-tailed black cockatoo, signifying a leadership role in Noongar culture. The cloak had been presented to him by Noongar elders. He made his maiden speech to the Parliament on 29 September and received a standing ovation from both the government and opposition benches as well as from the public galleries.
On 20 September 2015, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that Wyatt would become Assistant Minister for Health, making him the first Indigenous frontbencher in federal parliament. He was not sworn in with other ministers on 21 September as he was overseas, with his ceremony taking place on 30 September. On 18 February 2016, Wyatt's responsibilities were expanded to include aged care in addition to health following a rearrangement in the ministry; and were expanded further when on 24 January 2017 Wyatt was the first indigenous Australian appointed as an Australian Government Minister, with responsibility for the portfolio of Aged Care and the newly established portfolio of Indigenous Health.
Awards and honours
In 1996 Wyatt was appointed as a Member of the Order of Australia for services to Aboriginal health. He received the Centenary Medal in 2001.
Family
Wyatt's cousin, Cedric Wyatt, was a senior public servant. Cedric's son, Ben Wyatt, is Western Australia's current Treasurer for the WA Labor Party.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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