Read about Ken Wyatt net worth, age, wife, children, height, family, parents, salary, and party as well as other information you need to know.
Introduction
Ken Wyatt is a former Australian politician who was a member of the House of Representatives from 2010 to 2022, representing the Division of Hasluck for the Liberal Party. He is the first Indigenous Australian elected to the House of Representatives, the first to serve as a government minister, and the first appointed to cabinet.
Wyatt was appointed Minister for Aged Care and Minister for Indigenous Health in the Turnbull Government in January 2017, after previously serving as an assistant minister since September 2015. He was elevated to cabinet in May 2019 as Minister for Indigenous Australians in the Morrison government. At the 2022 federal election, Wyatt lost his seat to the Labor candidate Tania Lawrence.
Early life
| Name | Ken Wyatt |
| Net Worth | $5 million |
| Occupation | Politician |
| Age | 70 years |
| Height | 1.75m |
Kenneth George Wyatt AM was born on August 4, 1952 (age 70 years) in Bunbury, Western Australia. He is of English, Irish, Indian and Indigenous Australian descent. He was born at Roelands Aboriginal Mission, a former home for young Indigenous children removed from their families.
Wyatt’s mother, Mona Abdullah, was one of the Stolen Generations of Aboriginal children removed from their parents and relocated to Roelands, where she met her husband Don. Wyatt’s father has Yamatji and Irish ancestry. His mother has Wongi and Noongar ancestry, while her surname, Abdullah, is from an ancestor who migrated from India to be a cameleer, helping lay the trans-Australia telegraph line.
His cousin Cedric Wyatt was a senior public servant and unsuccessful Liberal candidate for federal parliament. Cedric’s son Ben Wyatt is a former Labor politician who served as the Treasurer of Western Australia from 2017 until March 2021. Ben was also Western Australia’s Aboriginal Affairs Minister which at the time made Ken, as Indigenous Australians Minister, his federal portfolio counterpart.
Career
Ken Wyatt served as a senior public servant in the fields of Aboriginal health and education prior to entering Parliament. He has held positions as Director of the WA Office of Aboriginal Health as well as a similar post with NSW Health. He was also previously Director of Aboriginal Education with the WA Department of Education.
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Wyatt stood for the Liberal Party in the seat of Hasluck in the 2010 election, defeating Labor incumbent Sharryn Jackson. He won the seat with a 1.4-point swing and became the first Aboriginal person to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives, and the third elected to the Parliament (behind Neville Bonner and Aden Ridgeway, both Senators).
On 28 September 2010, Wyatt attended the opening of the 43rd Australian Parliament to take up his seat as a member for Hasluck. He wore a traditional Booka – a kangaroo skin coat with feathers from a red-tailed black cockatoo, signifying a leadership role in Noongar culture. The cloak had been presented to him by Noongar elders. He made his maiden speech to the Parliament on 29 September and received a standing ovation from both the government and opposition benches as well as from the public galleries.
He is a member of the Moderate/Modern Liberal faction of the Liberal Party. On 20 September 2015, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that Wyatt would become Assistant Minister for Health, making him the first Indigenous frontbencher in the federal parliament. Although his term commenced on 21 September, he was not sworn in with the other ministers as he was overseas, with his ceremony taking place on 30 September.
On 18 February 2016, Wyatt’s responsibilities were expanded to include aged care in addition to health following a rearrangement in the ministry; and were expanded further when on 24 January 2017 Wyatt was the first indigenous Australian appointed as an Australian Government Minister, with responsibility for the portfolio of Aged Care and the newly established portfolio of Indigenous Health.
Ken Wyatt retained his marginal seat at the May 2019 federal election with an increased majority. After the election, he was appointed Minister for Indigenous Australians in the Second Morrison Ministry. He is the first Indigenous person to hold the position and was also elevated to the cabinet.
Wyatt gave an address to the National Press Club in July 2019, in which he spoke of the theme of NAIDOC Week 2019: “Voice. Treaty. Truth.”. He said that he would “develop and bring forward a consensus option for constitutional recognition to be put to a referendum during the current parliamentary term”.
He spoke of the development of a local, regional and national voice, and said “with respect to [Indigenous] Treaty, it’s important that states and territory jurisdictions take the lead. When you consider the constitution, they are better placed to undertake that work”, and with regard to truth-telling, he would “work on approaches to work on how we progress towards truth-telling”.
In January 2022, Ken Wyatt announced that the federal government had secured copyright over the Australian Aboriginal Flag, following negotiations with the flag’s designer Harold Thomas. At the 2022 federal election, Wyatt lost his seat to the Labor candidate Tania Lawrence.
On 30 October 2019, Wyatt announced the commencement of a “co-design process” aimed at providing an “Indigenous voice to government”. The Senior Advisory Group (SAG) is co-chaired by Professor Tom Calma AO, Chancellor of the University of Canberra, and Professor Dr Marcia Langton, Associate Provost at the University of Melbourne, and comprises a total of 20 leaders and experts from across the country.
The models for the Voice are being developed in two stages: First, two groups, one local and regional and the other a national group, will create models aimed at improving local and regional decision-making, and identifying how the best federal government can record Indigenous peoples’ views and ideas. The groups consist mainly of Indigenous members.
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Consultations will be held with Indigenous leaders, communities and stakeholders to refine the models developed in the first stage.
The first meeting of the group was held in Canberra on 13 November 2019. In 2019, Ken Wyatt delivered the Frank Archibald Memorial Lecture at the University of New England on the topic “Teaching Indigenous Australia – Understanding our past and unlocking our future”.
Wife
Ken Wyatt is currently married to Anna-Maria Palermo, they had their wedding in Australia. His wife Anna is a second-generation Italian-Australian. The couple has children together. However, as of April 2023, Ken Wyatt and his wife Anna-Maria Palermo are still married and living a happy life with each other.
Ken Wyatt net worth
How much is Ken Wyatt worth? Ken Wyatt net worth is estimated at around $5 million. His main source of income is from his primary work as a former politician. His average salary per month and other career earnings are over $400,000 dollars annually. His remarkable achievements have earned him some luxurious lifestyles and some fancy car trips. He is one of the richest and most influential former politicians in Australia. Ken Wyatt stands at an appealing height of 1.75m and has a good body weight which suits his personality.