Australia's indigenous political hopes
Thanks for all your comments on what impact President Obama will likely have on Australia. But I fear that I may have shied away from asking the more interesting and provocative question: will Australia ever have a black prime minister, or even a black president?
If the history of indigenous representation in Australia offers any guide, it is a long way off - a long, long way off. Here's a startling fact to back that statement up. No seat in the Australian House of Representatives has ever been occupied by an indigenous politician. None.
The Senate has seen just two. The first was Neville Bonnor, who was appointed by the Queensland parliament in 1971 to serve in the upper house, and stood successfully as a candidate the following year. The other was Aden Ridgeway, an Australian Democrat (remember them?), who served as a senator for New South Wales from 1999-2005.
The state and territory parliaments have a marginally better record, but it is still terrible. It was not until 2003, for instance, that New South Wales saw an indigenous state member: Linda Burney.
offers a more complete list.
In 2006, Warren Mundine became the president of the Australian Labor Party, the first time an Aboriginal politician had served as the president of any Australian political party. Aden Ridgeway served as the deputy leader of the Australian Democrats. But Australia's political elite remains predominantly white.
Some will argue that Australia needs to look over the ditch to New Zealand. Passed in 1867, the Maori Representation Act created four Maori parliamentary seats. Now there are 7 out of the 69 seats.
Others might point out that Australia can already boast a charismatic 40-something black lawyer, with an elegant turn of phrase, a post-partisan approach to politics, a history of community activism and a compelling life story. His name is Noel Pearson and he is presently the director of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership. But though a frequent contributor to political debates, Mr Pearson has operated outside the realm of narrow party politics.
Though clearly less well-known, Noel Pearson is sometimes favourably compared with Dr Martin Luther King Jr. In August 2000, for instance, he delivered his own landmark speech: The Light on the Hill.
It took over 45 years from King's "I Have a Dream Speech" to the election of a black American president. Are we looking at a similar timeline for an indigenous Australian national leader? Or is that way too optimistic?
I'm 
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