Selena Uibo
Selena Jane Malijarri Uibo is an Aboriginal Australian politician. She has served as leader of the Labor Party and Leader of the Opposition in the Northern Territory since 3 September 2024, the first Aboriginal woman to lead a major political party in Australia.
She is a Labor member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since 2016, representing the electorate of Arnhem.
Early life and career
Uibo was born in the Northern Territory. Her mother is a Nunggubuyu woman from Numbulwar and Wanindilyakwa from Groote Eylandt, both located in south-east Arnhem Land. Her father was born in Sydney and is of Estonian, Irish and South African descent.Uibo went to school in Batchelor and Darwin and participated in many youth programs including the Aboriginal Islander Tertiary Aspirations Program, YMCA Youth Parliament and the National Youth Round Table.
Uibo graduated valedictorian from the University of Queensland with a Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Education in 2010. She began her teaching career at the Casuarina Senior College before moving to Numbulwar in 2012, where she was acting senior teacher.
In 2013 she won a Commonwealth Bank Foundation award for teaching financial literacy to her secondary students. Uibo also won the NT Award for Excellence in Teaching or Leadership in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education in both the Arnhem region and the Northern Territory.