I’ve only spoken to Ken Wyatt for the 12 minutes we chatted in 2GB and MTR’s Wake Up Australia, but he seems an impressive man and hopefully his presence in Federal Parliament can help bridge the gap between white and Aboriginal Australia.
He has just taken the Western Australian seat of Hasluck for the Liberal Party after a close contest in the Federal Election.
While not technically the first Aboriginal MP, that honour goes to Senator Neville Bonner in the 1970s and later the Democrats Senator Aiden Ridgeway, he is the first indigenous politician in the House of Representatives where, after all, laws are initated.
Wyatt is softly spoken, but that demeanour serves him well given the racist emails and approaches he has endured since winning the election – ironically those attacks have come from both white and Aboriginal Australians. A small minority of indigenous people have called him a coconut – meaning brown on the outside but white inside – while some non-indigenous people unbelievably in 2010 still have a problem with being represented by a black man.
Ken Wyatt told me racism is nothing new to him and he faced it regularly as he grew up. He has worked in the health sector and sees bridging the gap between health and educational standard of Aboriginal people and the general community as a priority.
What impressed me most is his readiness to tackle direct action and not symbolism. How many official ceremonies in this country begin with the “thanking of the … people for this taking place on their land” – all talk no action.
While he welcomed former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd’s 2007 apology to the Stolen Generations, when it comes to other gestures often talked about, such as including a reference to Aboriginal Australians in the preamble to the constitution he prefers to focus on real issues that will make a difference. I only hope he has the opportunity and the drive to make that difference.
Hear the full interview with Ken Wyatt
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