Patrick Dodson is a Yawuru man from Broome, and a Senator for Western Australia from the Australian Labor Party from March 2016 to January 2024.
He was appointed Shadow Assistant Minister for Reconciliation and Shadow Assistant Minister for Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians under Anthony Albanese's Shadow Cabinet in 2019. Following the ALP's victory at the 2022 federal election, Mr Dodson became the special envoy for reconciliation and the implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart under the Albanese government. Mr Dodson stepped down from politics on 26 January 2024, to focus on recovering from treatment for non-Hodgkin's lymphoma.
Mr Dodson is an advocate for constructive relationships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people based on mutual respect, understanding and dialogue. He has extensive experience in Aboriginal Affairs, previously as director of the Central and Kimberley Land Councils and as a Commissioner in the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. He was the inaugural chair of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and co-chair of the Expert Panel for Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians.
Prior to his endorsement by the Australian Labor Party as a Western Australian Senator in March 2016, Mr Dodson was a member of the ANU Council, Adjunct Professor at the University of Notre Dame (Broome), and co-chair of the National Referendum Council.
He is a recipient of the 2008 Sydney Peace Prize and the 2009 John Curtin Medallist.
