Nyunggai Warren Stephen Mundine is an Australian Aboriginal person and politician. He was the National President of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), but quit the party in 2012. Mundine was appointed chairman of the Coalition government's Indigenous Advisory Council by then-prime minister, Tony Abbott. Mundine was the Liberal Party's unsuccessful candidate for the marginal seat of Gilmore on the south coast of New South Wales in the 2019 Australian federal election. Early life and education Mundine was born in Grafton, New South Wales. 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. Through his mother, he is also a descendant of the Gumbaynggirr, Yuin, and Irish peoples. He is the cousin of boxer Tony Mundine and a second cousin of Anthony Mundine, the boxer and footballer. In 1963, his family settled in the western Sydney suburb of Auburn. Mundine went to the Catholic Benedict Marist Brothers College, and was a fitter and turner after leaving school. Mundine worked as a barman at night and as an office trolley boy during the day, and later attended night college to earn his Higher School Certificate. Following a job at the Australian Taxation Office, Mundine moved to Adelaide, studying at the South Australian Institute of Technology, which later became the University of South Australia. Early career After graduation, Mundine worked in the New South Wales public service, including a stint as the CEO of the New South Wales Native Title Service. Political career In 1995, Mundine began his foray into politics as an independent candidate for the City of Dubbo council in central-west New South Wales. He was the first Aboriginal person to serve on the body, and later became deputy mayor of Dubbo. ALP career At the 1999 state election, Mundine stood as the NSW Labor candidate for the seat of Dubbo. At the 2001 federal election, Mundine was placed third on the Labor Senate ticket for NSW. 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. Mundine succeeded Barry Jones as President of the ALP, beginning his term on 28 January 2006, and became the first indigenous Australian to serve as president of an