Minister for Aboriginal Affairs (New South Wales)
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs | |
---|---|
| |
Aboriginal Affairs NSW | |
Style | The Honourable |
Nominator | Premier of New South Wales |
Appointer | Governor of New South Wales |
Inaugural holder | Frank Walker |
Formation | 2 October 1981 |
The New South Wales Minister for Aboriginal Affairs is a minister in the Government of New South Wales with responsibility for administering legislation and policy in relation to that state's indigenous Australians in New South Wales, Australia.
The current minister is Sarah Mitchell who also serves as the Minister for Early Childhood Education and as the Assistant Minister for Education, appointed with effect from 30 January 2017. The minister assists the lead portfolio minister, the Minister for Education, currently Rob Stokes who was also appointed with effect from 30 January 2017.[1] Together the ministers administers the portfolio through Aboriginal Affairs NSW, an agency of the Department of Education, as well as a range of additional government agencies.
Office history
The first Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Frank Walker, was appointed by the Labor Government of Neville Wran on 2 October 1981 and a "Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs" was established on 1 January 1982.[2] This role replaced the Aboriginal Affairs responsibilities of the Minister for Youth and Community Services (the last being Kevin Stewart). Prior to 1969 Aboriginal Affairs was within the purview of the Chief Secretary. The new ministry had responsibilities for advising the Government on "how and where land rights for Aboriginal people might be granted" and for the provision of services to Aboriginal communities.[2]
On 15 April 1988, the Ministry was abolished and its responsibilities were transferred to the new "Bureau of Aboriginal Affairs" within the Premier’s Department. The Bureau was renamed to the "Office of Aboriginal Affairs" by June 1988 and was charged with the administration of the Aboriginal Land Rights Act, 1983 (NSW) and the administration of Aboriginal Land Councils.[3] On 1 July 1993, the Office of Aboriginal Affairs was established as an administrative office independent of the Premier's Department responsible to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs.[4]
On 6 April 1995 the Office was abolished and was transferred to the "Department of Aboriginal Affairs". On 1 July 2009 the Department was abolished as an independent body and was subordinated to the new Department of Human Services. On 4 April 2011, the Department was renamed "Aboriginal Affairs NSW" and was transferred to the Department of Education and Communities within the Office of Communities. In July 2015 the Office of Communities was abolished but Aboriginal Affairs remained within the parent Department of Education.[5]
List of ministers
Aboriginal Affairs
The following individuals have been appointed Minister for Aboriginal Affairs.[6]
Minister | Party affiliation | Ministerial title | Term start | Term end | Time in office | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Frank Walker | Labor | Minister for Aboriginal Affairs | 2 October 1981 | 10 February 1984 | 2 years, 131 days | |||
Paul Whelan | 10 February 1984 | 5 April 1984 | 55 days | |||||
George Paciullo | 5 April 1984 | 6 February 1986 | 1 year, 307 days | |||||
Peter Anderson | 6 February 1986 | 4 July 1986 | 148 days | |||||
Ken Gabb | 4 July 1986 | 21 March 1988 | 1 year, 261 days | |||||
Jim Longley | Liberal | Minister for Aboriginal Affairs | 26 May 1993 | 4 April 1995 | 1 year, 313 days | |||
Andrew Refshauge | Labor | 4 April 1995 | 3 August 2005 | 10 years, 121 days | ||||
Carmel Tebbutt | 3 August 2005 | 10 August 2005 | 7 days | |||||
Milton Orkopoulos | 10 August 2005 | 8 November 2006 | 1 year, 90 days | |||||
Reba Meagher | 8 November 2006 | 2 April 2007 | 145 days | |||||
Paul Lynch | 2 April 2007 | 28 March 2011 | 4 years, 1 day | |||||
Victor Dominello | Liberal | 3 April 2011 | 2 April 2015 | 3 years, 364 days | ||||
Leslie Williams | Nationals | 2 April 2015 | 30 January 2017 | 1 year, 303 days | ||||
Sarah Mitchell | 30 January 2017 | incumbent | 1 year, 256 days |
References
- ↑ Vukovic, Dom; Gerathy, Sarah; McDonald, Philippa (29 January 2017). "NSW Cabinet reshuffle: Premier Gladys Berejiklian announces big changes to front bench". ABC News. Australia. Retrieved 29 January 2017.
- 1 2 "Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs". NSW State Records. NSW Government. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ↑ "Bureau of Aboriginal Affairs (1988) Office of Aboriginal Affairs[I] (1988 - 1993)". NSW State Records. NSW Government. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ↑ "Office of Aboriginal Affairs [II]". NSW State Records. NSW Government. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ↑ "Department of Aboriginal Affairs". NSW State Records. NSW Government. Retrieved 26 September 2015.
- ↑ "NSW Parliamentary Record (11 August 1824 - November 2007)" (PDF). Legislative Council and Legislative Assembly. Parliament of New South Wales. VIII. November 2007. Retrieved 25 April 2014.