WHEN he became the first indigenous member of Australia’s House of Representatives in 2010, Ken Wyatt donned a kangaroo-skin cloak and spoke of improving opportunities for aboriginals and Torres Strait islanders. This week he put on the same outfit again to become Australia’s first aboriginal minister. His new job puts him in charge of health care for the elderly and for indigenous Australians, giving him a chance to make good on his lofty rhetoric.
Mr Wyatt’s mother was a member of the “stolen generation”—aboriginal and mixed-race children taken from their families to be raised in orphanages. He worked in the state bureaucracies of both Western Australia and New South Wales, focusing on aboriginal health and education. In 2008 a panel which he co-chaired successfully demanded A$1.6bn ($1bn at the time) of public funding for aboriginal health. This background gives him more authority than his predecessors have had, and will help to insulate him from complaints about paternalism.
Yet Mr Wyatt faces a huge challenge in trying to unpick the “industry” of indigenous aid....Continue reading
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