Ben Wyatt (politician)

On 25 February 2020, Ben Wyatt announced his intention to retire from parliament at the next election. He would continue in his role as treasurer until then. However, in March 2020, Wyatt reversed his decision to quit and announced he would stay on to assist the McGowan government in the state's economic recovery from the COVID-19 crisis. In November 2020, he again announced his intention to retire at the March 2021 state election.

After the 2017 election, Ben Wyatt became the first indigenous treasurer for any Australian state or territory.

In the period from his election in 2006 to his resignation in 2021, Wyatt held the following portfolios:

Born in Wewak, Papua New Guinea, to Australian parents, Wyatt moved to Western Australia at an early age, where he attended Aquinas College in Perth. He went on to receive a law degree from the University of Western Australia, later attending the London School of Economics on a scholarship. Wyatt returned to Australia in 2002, where he worked as a lawyer. He was elected to parliament in 2006, at the Victoria Park by-election, replacing Geoff Gallop, a former premier. While he was the state's Aboriginal Affairs Minister, his federal counterpart the Indigenous Australians Minister, was his cousin Ken Wyatt.

After returning to Western Australia in 2002, Wyatt began working at MinterEllison, one of the "Big Six" law firms in Australia. He also worked at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions before running for parliament at the 2006 Victoria Park by-election, triggered by the resignation of Geoff Gallop, the Premier of Western Australia at the time. Wyatt won the seat with 49.38% of the direct vote and 61.18% of the two-party vote – a swing of 7.93 and 4.86 points, respectively, against the Labor Party, becoming the second-youngest sitting parliamentarian and the third Aboriginal Australian in parliament. After Labor's defeat in the 2008 state election, Wyatt was promoted to the role of treasurer in the new shadow cabinet as well as Shadow Minister for Federal–State Relations and Shadow Minister for Culture and the Arts. In January 2011, Wyatt intended to challenge Eric Ripper as Leader of the Opposition and of the Australian Labor Party in Western Australia, but withdrew after finding little support amongst caucus members. Ripper resigned from the position in January 2012, but Wyatt did not contest the leadership, with Mark McGowan being elected unopposed as Leader of the Opposition.

Benjamin Sana Wyatt (born 1 April 1974) is an Australian politician who was the Labor Party member for the seat of Victoria Park in the Legislative Assembly of Western Australia from 2006 to 2021.

Wyatt was born on 1 April 1974 in Wewak, a town on the northern coast of what was then the Territory of Papua New Guinea. His parents were both school-teachers on an exchange program—his father, Cedric Wyatt, was originally from the Pilbara, and his mother was originally from Newcastle, New South Wales. Wyatt has Yamatji heritage through his father, and his cousin, Ken Wyatt, was the first member of the Australian House of Representatives of Aboriginal Australian descent. His family returned to Perth, Western Australia, in 1976. Wyatt grew up in regional Western Australia, with his parents teaching in various locations in the Goldfields, including Laverton and Kalgoorlie. He returned to Perth to attend high school at Aquinas College, and later studied at the University of Western Australia, graduating with a Bachelor of Laws degree. He also attended the Royal Military College, Duntroon, graduating as an Australian Army Reserve officer in 1996, and later received the Australian Defence Medal. After working in law firms in Perth and Sydney, Wyatt received an Ambassadorial Scholarship in 2001 from the Rotary Foundation, allowing him to study comparative politics at the London School of Economics.