A better voice for indigenous Australians The vexed issue of
indigenous representation has surfaced again with Julia
Gillard's controversial endorsement of Nova Peris as a Labor
Senate candidate for the September 14 election. Australia has an
abysmal record on indigenous representation. Only three
indigenous people have ever been elected to federal Parliament.
Of those, the Liberals' Ken Wyatt is the only candidate to ever
win a seat in the House of Representatives. In a country where
indigenous people comprise 2.5 per cent of the population and
with a federal Parliament with 226 seats, we fall way short of
the most basic standard of representative fairness that demands
legislatures reflect the societies they govern. Both the Labor
and Liberal parties identify indigenous exclusion as a matter
warranting urgent attention. Both parties have courted
indigenous people as potential representatives to demonstrate
their commitment to overcoming this injustice. But if our
mainstream parties were serious about dismant