Episode 10 - Ken Wyatt

The Deep End with Marcia Langton and Aaron Corn

Ken Wyatt, AM, is a former Australian politician. He was the Liberal member for Hasluck in the House of Representatives from 2010 to 2022. He was the first Indigenous Australian to be elected to the House of Representatives, to serve as a government minister, and to be appointed to cabinet. He was appointed Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Indigenous Health in the Turnbull government in 2017 and was elevated to cabinet in 2019 as Minister for Indigenous Australians in the Morrison government. In July 2019, he gave an address to the National Press Club in Canberra in which he said he would ‘develop and bring forward a consensus option for constitutional recognition to be put to a referendum during the current parliamentary term’. He negotiated with the designer of the Australian Aboriginal Flag, Harold Thomas, for the Australian Government to secure copyright over this important national symbol in 2022. He lost his seat to Labor in the 2022 federal election. On 6 April 2023, he resigned from the Liberal Party over its stance on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament after leader Peter Dutton announced the party’s decision to support the No campaign at the Referendum.

Producer: Patrick Telfer. Line Producer: Samuel Curkpatrick. Music composed and performed by: Cameron Deyell and Reuben Lewis. Image credit: Celeste de Clario. Director: Aaron Corn. Executive Producer: Marcia Langton.

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