Linda Burney

With her trademark passion, empathy, and strong moral compass, Linda has brought humanity to politics and dedicated her career and life to advancing social justice and Indigenous rights in Australia.

A proud Wiradjuri woman, Linda was the first Aboriginal person elected to the NSW Parliament in 2003. She served over 13 years as Member for Canterbury, where she drove crucial policy and reform across an array of high-profile ministerial portfolios including Community Services, Youth, and Women. She then spent five years as Deputy Leader of the Opposition before winning the culturally diverse Federal seat of Barton in 2016, making history again as the first Indigenous woman elected to Australia’s House of Representatives.

Linda used her maiden speech – the opening delivered in her native Wiradjuri language – to promise Australians that she would push for education, reduced juvenile imprisonment, and an end to domestic violence. She also wore a traditional cloak displaying her personal totem, the white cockatoo; fittingly, this noisy messenger bird is also the Charles Sturt mascot, representing unity, a sense of community, and pride. Linda brings her lived experience to the political arena, driven to ensure that the struggles of disadvantaged communities aren’t forgotten in the decision-making process.

As Minister for Indigenous Australians at a pivotal point in our nation’s history, Linda has approached the important task of implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart and establishing a First Nations Voice to Parliament with clarity and care. She is a robust voice urging us to embrace this one-in-a-generation opportunity to create a stronger and more unified nation for all and help close the gaps in health, education, and opportunities for First Nations peoples.

Though she has spent the last two decades working to drive genuine change through politics, Linda’s impact stretches much further back. The first Aboriginal student to complete a teaching degree at Mitchell College (an antecedent to Charles Sturt) in 1979, after graduating she taught at Lethbridge Park Public School in western Sydney. Within two years she had been tapped by the NSW Department of Education to join its Aboriginal Education Unit and develop and implement the NSW Department of Education Aboriginal Education Policy – the first of its kind in Australia.

Linda became Executive Officer and then President of the NSW Aboriginal Education Consultative Group, where she led a paradigm shift in Aboriginal education and seeded a long overdue transformation in how Australian history is taught in schools. She also spent four years leading the NSW Department of Aboriginal Affairs, first as Deputy Director General then Director General, before transitioning to politics.

A natural leader, Linda is widely respected in the community and on all sides of politics and has served on the NSW Anti-Discrimination Board, the NSW Board of Studies, the ATSIC National Social Justice Task Force, the National Council for Aboriginal Recognition, the SBS Board, and numerous advisory committees. She was awarded a Doctor of Education (honoris causa) by Charles Sturt in 2002 in recognition of her immense contribution to Aboriginal education and counts the NAIDOC Lifetime Achievement Award (2014), Meritorious Service to Public Education and Training Award (2010), and the Centenary Medal (2001) among her many honours. She is also founding Director of the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre.

With over three decades of sustained social impact, Linda is a shining inspiration to others – and young Indigenous Australians in particular – showing just what can be achieved by rejecting limitations and rising to your own potential.