Warren Mundine

Nyunggai Warren Stephen Mundine AO (born 11 August 1956) is an Australian businessman, political strategist, advocate for Indigenous affairs, and former politician.

Starting his political career in 1995, Mundine became the first Indigenous person to serve on the City Council of Dubbo in New South Wales.

In 2013, Mundine was appointed chairman of the Coalition government's Indigenous Advisory Council by then-prime minister, Tony Abbott.

He holds various roles in Indigenous initiatives, including Andrew Forrest's Generation One, and received the Officer of the Order of Australia in 2016.

[2] A member of the Bundjalung people, the traditional owners of much of coastal northern New South Wales, Mundine was the ninth of eleven children of a family consisting of eight boys and three girls.

[9] In 1995, Mundine began his foray into politics as an independent candidate for the City of Dubbo council in central-west New South Wales.

In 2004, he sought to stand as the ALP candidate for the Division of Fowler in the House of Representatives, but lost the preselection battle to sitting Labor MP, Julia Irwin.

[citation needed] After the selection of former Premier of New South Wales Bob Carr to replace Arbib, Mundine left the Labor Party.

[15] Following the election of the Tony Abbott-led Liberal-National coalition in 2013, Abbott appointed Mundine as chairman of the Australian government's Indigenous Advisory Council.

Mundine wrote in an opinion piece published in The Australian Financial Review in 2012:"By looking after the full life cycle of the uranium, with the support of the traditional owners of the lands on which it is mined and stored, not only will we play a responsible role within the global community, but we can ensure that Australian uranium is not sold to states seeking to produce weapons.

The committee included four Indigenous members: Mundine; Price (who later left the group); founder of the Kings Creek Station Ian Conway; and Bob Liddle, owner of Kemara enterprises.

[11][1] Riley, a lecturer in Aboriginal education at Sydney University, remained largely silent about the disintegration of her marriage with Mundine but, in 2013 she gave a rare interview on the subject.