Wikipedia

Malarndirri McCarthy

Malarndirri Barbara Anne McCarthy (born 1970) is an Indigenous Australian politician and former journalist who has been a Senator for the Northern Territory since 2016. She is the Minister for Indigenous Australians in the Albanese Government since 29 July 2024. She previously served in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly.

Senator The Honourable
Malarndirri McCarthy
McCarthy in 2022
Minister for Indigenous Australians
Incumbent
Assumed office
29 July 2024
Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese
Preceded byLinda Burney
Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians
In office
1 June 2022 – 28 July 2024
Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese
Preceded byPosition established
Succeeded byPosition abolished
Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health
In office
1 June 2022 – 28 July 2024
Prime MinisterAnthony Albanese
Preceded by(position established)
Succeeded byGed Kearney
Senator for the Northern Territory
Incumbent
Assumed office
2 July 2016
Preceded byNova Peris
Member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
for Arnhem
In office
18 June 2005 – 24 August 2012
Preceded byJack Ah Kit
Succeeded byLarisa Lee
Personal details
Born
Barbara Anne McCarthy

1970 (age 53–54)
Katherine, Northern Territory, Australia
Political partyLabor
Alma materSt Scholastica's College
OccupationPolitician
Websitemalarndirrimccarthy.com.au

After working for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation as a reporter and newsreader for 16 years, in 2005, McCarthy was elected to the NT Legislative Assembly for the division of Arnhem. She was re-elected unopposed in 2008, and was subsequently appointed to the ministry by Paul Henderson. She held a number of portfolios over the following four years, but lost her seat in Labor's landslide defeat at the 2012 election. McCarthy subsequently returned to the media as a presenter for NITV and SBS News. She re-entered politics as Labor's lead Senate candidate in the Northern Territory at the 2016 federal election. She was appointed Minister for Indigenous Australians in July 2024 after Linda Burney announced her retirement from parliament.

Early life and education

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Barbara Anne McCarthy[1] was born in 1970 in Katherine, Northern Territory,[2] the daughter of Limandabina Charlie and John McCarthy. She embraces her Aboriginal identity, being descended through her mother from the Garrwa and Yanyuwa peoples, whose traditional lands straddle the McArthur River and the Gulf of Carpentaria. Her father, originally from Sydney, is descended from an Irishman who arrived in Australia in 1842.[3] Being of Catholic faith, his daughter was baptised in the Catholic church.[4] She grew up "with a deep respect both traditional Indigenous and Catholic values".[5] McCarthy was raised mainly by her father, but was always encouraged to stay connected to her Aboriginal culture; she later said she was brought up on two-way learning, although it was not so named at the time.[6]

McCarthy attended school first in Borroloola, on the McArthur River,[7] and then at a Catholic primary school in Alice Springs. Following this she spent six years of boarding school[5] at St Scholastica's College, Sydney, where she was school captain in 1988.[7]

Career

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Early career in journalism

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After her Year 12 English teacher suggested that she apply for it,[8] McCarthy wrote an application[5] and then began her cadetship as a journalist in 1989 at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. She worked across Australia as a news and current affairs television and radio reporter. In 1993, after a trial run at presenting the late news from Sydney, she was appointed as weeknight newsreader for ABC News in Darwin.[7] She also presented the current affairs programme Stateline.[9]

Returning to Borroloola in 1977,[9] she co-established its first community radio station, B102.9FM-The Voice of the Gulf, in 1998, with assistance from the ABC, and also set up the Lijakarda Cultural Festivals & Media, Arts & Training Centre for Yanyuwa, Kudanji, Garrawa and Mara people from Borroloola.[7][9]

She spent 16 years working for the ABC, first as a reporter behind the camera, and then as newsreader.[5] She then set up her own media consultancy,[6] called Malarndirri Media.[2]

Early political career in the NT

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In 2005, McCarthy was preselected as the Labor candidate in Arnhem to replace the retiring member Jack Ah Kit. She received 73.9% of the two-party preferred vote, a 12.5% increase on Ah Kit's result.[10] As a result of her election, McCarthy became one of ten women in the 25-seat assembly, considered at the time to be in the top 10 in the world in male-to-female ratio in a parliament.[11]

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Years Term Electoral division Party
2005–2008 10th Arnhem Labor
2008–2012 11th Arnhem Labor

McCarthy was one of five Indigenous candidates elected, properly reflecting the population ratio of Indigenous people in the Territory. Her first term was highlighted by crossing the floor with two other ALP members to vote against the government's decision to divert the McArthur River to allow more mining developments on spiritual, cultural, and environmental grounds in her Country, of Borroloola.[12][13][8]

In August 2007, on the sudden death of her mother, who had been a strong advocate for the Borroloola people's struggle for land rights, linguistic, and cultural parity, and who despaired at the river diversion, McCarthy added her Yanyuwa name of Malarndirri, out of cultural respect for her mother.[14]

She was re-elected unopposed in the 2008 election. Immediately following her re-election, McCarthy was promoted to the ministry and, from August 2008 to November 2009, was the Minister for Children and Families, Child Protection, Statehood, Women's Policy, Senior Territorians, Young Territorians, and the Minister Assisting the Chief Minister on Multicultural Affairs.[15] She called for a public inquiry into the NT's child protection system,[13] and drove reform in this area as well as the homelands policy.[9]

In December 2009, a Cabinet reshuffle took place as a result of a Labor Cabinet Minister leaving the NT Labor government and was not replaced in the Cabinet. McCarthy's portfolios then doubled, and she was tasked to implement major reforms in the areas of Local Government, Regional Economic Development and Indigenous Development, while keeping the Women's and statehood portfolio, Tourism was also added to her brief. At the 2012 election, McCarthy was defeated by Country Liberal Party challenger Larisa Lee amid Labor's collapse in the remote portions of the Territory.[13]

Back to journalism

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McCarthy then returned to journalism, working for National Indigenous Television (NITV) and SBS until 2016.[8]

She won the 2013 Journalism Story of the Year Deadly Award for her story on two Perth Noongar brothers, the Thorne Brothers, who were in Saudi Arabia. Shayden Thorne had been arrested on terrorism charges in Riyadh, while his brother Junaid was in hiding after protesting his brother's innocence. Both Shayden and Junaid returned to their families in Perth.[16][17]

In 2013, McCarthy write a story on Mercedes-Benz, which filmed its advertisement at Wave Rock in Western Australia, a place of deep cultural significance to Aboriginal custodians. The general manager of Mercedes-Benz flew to Wave Rock to personally apologise to the traditional custodians.[18]

McCarthy was a journalist and presenter at NITV and SBS News. She headed a team of journalists as executive producer of NITV National News, until the program was cut in 2015.[19] She was presenting NITV News Week in Review later that year.[20]

Federal politics

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Following the resignation of Nova Peris, McCarthy was invited by Labor to nominate as a candidate for the Senate at the 2016 federal election, representing the Northern Territory,[21] including Christmas and Cocos (Keeling) Islands.[22] She was subsequently endorsed as the Labor candidate despite not being enrolled to vote in the Northern Territory.[23] McCarthy went on to win a Senate seat at the 2 July 2016 federal election, bringing a much higher primary vote and a swing of nearly 7 points to the Australian Labor Party.[24][25]

McCarthy was the first federal politician to list ownership of traditional Indigenous lands as part of her declaration of interests.[9] She was Temporary Chair of Committees from October 2017 until July 2019, when she was appointed as Opposition Deputy Whip in the Senate.[2]

Before the 2017 same-sex marriage, she advocated strongly for a change in the laws.[6] She has been vocal on issues such as domestic violence and alcohol abuse in the NT, and has fought for better representation in the Senate for all territories.[8] She has opposed the permanent introduction of the cashless debit card to the NT, and believes that the territory needs a remote program that creates jobs with proper wages and conditions.[22]

Following the 2022 federal election in July 2022 McCarthy was appointed the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians and the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health.[26] She was unable to attend the first swearing-in ceremony of the Albanese ministry owing to having COVID-19, but was sworn in separately on 16 June 2022.[27] She has maintained a focus on Indigenous health, including the high incidence of kidney disease among Aboriginal Australians, especially in the NT.[28]

In the lead-up to the 2023 Indigenous Voice to Paraliament referendum, McCarthy was a staunch supporter of the Yes vote.[29][30][31]

McCarthy has been very active in parliamentary committees,[2] including:

  • Joint Select: Constitutional Recognition Relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples
  • Joint Standing: National Disability Insurance Scheme, National Capital and External Territories, Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade
  • Joint Statutory: Law Enforcement
  • Senate Legislative and General Purpose Standing: Finance and Public Administration, Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport (Legislation), Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport (References), Community Affairs (Legislation), Community Affairs (References), Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport (Legislation), Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport (References), Environment and Communications (References)
  • Senate Select: Stillbirth Research and Education, Chair of the Stillbirth Research and Education, Effectiveness of the Australian Government's Northern Australia Agenda, Chair of the Aboriginal Flag

Minister for Indigenous Australians

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In the July 2024 reshuffle, she was appointed Minister for Indigenous Australians and elevated to cabinet.[32][33] This is the first time that both the positions of minister and shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, which is held by Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, are both held by Aboriginal women from the Northern Territory.[8]

Shortly after her appointment, the latest Closing the Gap report was published, showing that only five of the 19 Closing the Gap targets were on track, and several had slipped further. She said that she would be focused on these targets, and hoped to work on Indigenous affairs in a bipartisan manner.[34][35]

She attended the Garma Festival in Arnhem Land with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese within a week of being sworn in as minister, and while there also gave her first television interview since her appointment.[36]

Other activities

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During her time working as a journalist for SBS and NITV, McCarthy also worked part-time at her sons' school Saint Ignatius' College at Riverview, New South Wales, assisting in developing the First Nations Unit program and teaching a cross-cultural program at the Catholic school, including teaching year 7 students about Indigenous landcare.[37] She would also take boys to stay in the NT, which she described as a "deeply spiritual experience for [her]".[5]

In 2017, she gave a speech at the National Indigenous Human Rights Awards at Parliament House, in which, citing the example of trailblazing land rights campaigner Eddie Koiki Mabo, said "Believing in the impossible is really what leads us to where we get to in life".[38]

In 2018, McCarthy was invited to give the Kerferd Oration,[39] which is held in Beechworth, Victoria each year since 2003.[40]

She gave the Venerable Mary Aikenhead Oration 2024[4] (named after Mary Aikenhead, founder of Sisters of Charity of Australia) at the Australian Catholic University in Sydney on 25 July 2025. Her topic was "Improving health and education outcomes for Indigenous Australians".[22]

She has participated in the Community Development Fund run by the Arts Council, and was a patron for SIDS & Kids NT for 12 years. She has also been a member of Emily's List and Women's Network NT.[13]

Media appearances

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McCarthy has been a guest on ABC Television's Q+A panel show several times.[29][41][30][31]

Recognition and awards

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A photographic portrait of McCarthy by British photojournalist Penny Tweedie hangs in the National Portrait Gallery of Australia.[9]

Awards and nominations during her career as a journalist include:

Personal life

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McCarthy raised three sons as a single mother.[5][6][a] One of them CJ,[3] has lived with a physical disability since birth, and works with young people.[4] He won a scholarship to play wheelchair basketball for the University of Texas.[5]

After announcing her engagement in January 2021, McCarthy married Richard Bryant on 2 July 2022 in Darwin. Senator Don Farrell attended the wedding.[43]

She has also spoken of her kinship responsibilities towards four young women: the two daughters of her "cousin–sister", and twin daughters of her "cousin-brother". She and her husband also act as parents to these children.[4]

In the remote area in Northern Territory where she grew up, she is known simply as "Mal" or "Barb" or "yapa".[8]

McCarthy was diagnosed in 2015 as suffering from polycystic kidney disease, which she inherited from her mother. An acute kidney infection saw her having to be rushed out of Parliament to a hospital in 2019.[28]

Footnotes

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  1. ^ She has also been cited as having two adult sons:[42]

References

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  1. ^ "Instruments of appointment of ministers of state: 29 July 2024". Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. 29 July 2024. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i "Senator the Hon Malarndirri McCarthy". Commonwealth of Australia. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  3. ^ a b "Sen. Malarndirri McCarthy (ALP-NT)". AustralianPolitics.com. 14 September 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  4. ^ a b c d "Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health, speech - 25 July 2024". Australian Government Department of Health and Aged Care. 26 July 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024. Read Assistant Minister McCarthy's speech at the Venerable Mary Aikenhead Ministries Oration.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g Bowling, Mark (25 August 2016). "Faith woman Malarndirri McCarthy primed for Senate role". The Catholic Leader. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  6. ^ a b c d Thorpe, Nakari (31 October 2017). "Malarndirri McCarthy: From Borroloola to the Bush Capital". NITV. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  7. ^ a b c d "Northern Territory ALP : Malarndirri McCarthy - Member for Arnhem". Archived from the original on 7 September 2008. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Garrick, Matt; Morgan, Thomas (28 July 2024). "Malarndirri McCarthy's rise from TV journalist to federal Indigenous Australians minister". ABC News. Retrieved 3 August 2024.
  9. ^ a b c d e f g "Malarndirri Barbara McCarthy" (photo (c.2000) + text (updated 2021)). National Portrait Gallery of Australia. 2021. Archived from the original on 29 February 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  10. ^ "2005 Northern Territory Election. Electorate Results. Election Results. Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 24 January 2017.
  11. ^ Hinde, S. (22 June 2005). "Women hit top 10". Northern Territory News. p. 5.
  12. ^ [1][dead link‍]
  13. ^ a b c d e "Malarndirri McCarthy". Celebrity Speakers. 24 September 2020. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  14. ^ "ParlInfo – FIRST SPEECH". parlinfo.aph.gov.au.
  15. ^ "New ministry named - Northern Territory News". Archived from the original on 26 September 2009. Retrieved 28 December 2008.
  16. ^ a b "ABC, NITV win at Deadly Awards". TV Tonight. 12 September 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  17. ^ McCarthy, Malarndirri (8 March 2013). "NITV News interview mother of Shayden Jamil Thorne" (streaming video). NITV News. SBS News. Retrieved 18 March 2015.[self-published source?]
  18. ^ a b c "Malarndirri McCarthy". Business News. Retrieved 1 September 2023.
  19. ^ Matilda, New (25 February 2015). "NITV National News To Be Spiked By June, Say Insiders". New Matilda. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  20. ^ "Malarndirri McCarthy: Live chat with Jenny Munro on 'the Block' (NITV)". NITV News Week In Review. 27 January 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  21. ^ "Malarndirri McCarthy puts hat in the ring for Nova Peris Senate seat". ABC News. Australia. 25 May 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  22. ^ a b c "Venerable Mary Aikenhead Oration 2024". Mary Aikenhead Ministries. 16 May 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  23. ^ "Election 2016: Peris replacement Malarndirri McCarthy not enrolled to vote in NT". ABC News. Australia. 1 June 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2016.
  24. ^ "Malarndirri McCarthy welcomes immigrants in maiden speech". www.abc.net.au. 15 September 2016.
  25. ^ "Senator the Hon Malarndirri McCarthy". Senators and Members of the Parliament of Australia. Retrieved 20 August 2022.
  26. ^ Shiloh Payne (1 June 2022). "Federal election live: New Labor ministry sworn in as vote counting winds down". ABC News.
  27. ^ "Malarndirri McCarthy sworn in after recovering from COVID-19". NITV. 16 June 2022. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  28. ^ a b Lyons, Gabrielle (8 August 2019). "Senator reveals personal story of kidney disease and its impact on Indigenous communities". ABC News. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  29. ^ a b McIntyre, Angus (2 October 2023). "'Traumatised': Yes voter's emotional speech". news. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  30. ^ a b Green, Eli (27 March 2023). "Teen sparks clash over Voice to Parliament". news. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  31. ^ a b Nicol, Em (31 January 2023). "'No way': Malarndirri McCarthy says Voice won't cede sovereignty as Thorpe maintains criticism". NITV. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  32. ^ "Commissioner Katie Kiss welcomes Malarndirri McCarthy as new Minister for Indigenous Australians". Australian Human Rights Commission. 29 July 2024. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  33. ^ Maxwell, Rudi; Charles, Bronte (29 July 2024). "Malarndirri McCarthy steps up as new minister for Indigenous Australians". NITV. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  34. ^ Brennan, Dechlan (1 August 2024). "Malarndirri McCarthy calls for a bi-partisan approach to Closing the Gap in wake of 'deeply troubling' numbers". National Indigenous Times. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  35. ^ McCarthy, Malarndirri (31 July 2024). "ABC NewsRadio interview, Alice Springs". Ministers Media Centre (Interview). Interviewed by Brash, Stewart. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  36. ^ McCarthy, Malarndirri (2 August 2024). "INTERVIEW: Senator Malarndirri McCarthy" (audio). SBS News (Interview). Interviewed by Janke, John Paul. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  37. ^ "Science Week 2015" (PDF). Ignatian. 24. St Ignatius College Riverview: 50. December 2015. Retrieved 14 July 2020.
  38. ^ McCarthy, Malarndirri (11 May 2017). "Senator Malarndirri McCarthy 'believing in the impossible'". NITV. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  39. ^ "2018 / Senator Malarndirri McCarthy". The Kerferd Oration. 1 April 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  40. ^ "About the Kerferd Oration". The Kerferd Oration. 20 July 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  41. ^ "Malarndirri McCarthy". Q+A. 29 January 2023. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  42. ^ "Malarndirri McCarthy". Territory Labor. Archived from the original on 31 July 2016. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  43. ^ Morgan, Thomas (1 July 2022). "Senator to tie the knot in coming days" (PDF). NT News.
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Northern Territory Legislative Assembly
Preceded by Member for Arnhem
2005–2012 		Succeeded by
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