Representative Linda Burney Contact information

Linda Jean Burney was an Australian politician born on April 25, 1957, in Whitton, a small town in south-west New South Wales. She is of Wiradjuri and Scottish descent. Burney is a member of the Australian Labor Party and has served as a member of the Australian House of Representatives since the 2016 federal election, representing the electorate of Barton. She is the first woman who identifies as Aboriginal to serve as the Minister for Indigenous Australians in the Albanese ministry, a position she has held since 2022.

Burney was a member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly from 2003 to 2016, representing the electorate of Canterbury. In the Keneally ministry, she was the Minister for the State Plan and Minister for Community Services. She was also the New South Wales Deputy Leader of the Opposition and was Shadow Minister for Education and Shadow Minister for Aboriginal Affairs.

Burney became the first Aboriginal person to serve in the New South Wales Parliament in 2003 and also the first Aboriginal identifying woman to be elected to the Australian House of Representatives in 2016.

Before starting her career in politics, Burney began her career teaching at Lethbridge Park public school in western Sydney from 1979 to 1981. She also worked at the Aboriginal Education Unit (Policy) of the NSW Department of Education from 1981 to 1983. Burney was involved in the New South Wales Aboriginal Education Consultative Group (NSW AECG) from 1983 to 1998, where she participated in the development and implementation of the first Aboriginal education policy in Australia. She became president of AECG in 1988.

Burney has been a member of Labor Left and served as National President of the Australian Labor Party from 2008 to 2009.

Burney received a Diploma of Teaching from the Mitchell College of Advanced Education (now known as Charles Sturt University) in 1978 and an Honorary Doctorate in Education from Charles Sturt University in 2002.