Ngaree Jane Ah Kit (born 4 June 1981) is an Australian politician, who was elected to the

Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Legislative Assembly of the Northern Territory is the unicameral legislature of the Northern Territory of Australia. The Legislative Assembly has 25 members, each elected in single-member electorates for four-year terms. The voting method f ...

at the 2016 general election, representing the

electoral division of Karama Karama is an electoral division of the Legislative Assembly in Australia's Northern Territory. It was first created in 1987, and derives its name from the suburb of the same name. It is an urban electorate, covering 8 km2 and taking in the ...

, Darwin, for the Labor Party. Ah Kit is currently a minister since May 2022 holding a number of portfolios in the

Fyles ministry The Fyles Ministry is the current ministry of the 12th Chief Minister of the Northern Territory, Natasha Fyles. It came into operation on 13 May 2022 and succeeded the Gunner ministry. Current ministry A full ministerial reshuffle was undert ...

. She was previously the 13th

Speaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly The Speaker of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly is the presiding officer in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly. Though the office had existed since the creation of the Assembly in 1974, it was given greater legislative force wh ...

after being elected on 20 October 2020 following the resignation of

Chansey Paech Chanston James "Chansey" Paech (pronounced "CHAN-see PAKE"; born 1987) is an Australian politician. He is a Labor Party member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since 2016, representing the electorate of Namatjira until 2020 and E ...

. Before that, she was Assistant Minister for Suicide Prevention, Mental Health, Disability, Youth and Seniors. Ah Kit was born in Katherine, Northern Territory, and was raised in both Katherine and Darwin. She is of Aboriginal,

Torres Strait Islander Torres Strait Islanders () are the Indigenous Melanesian people of the Torres Strait Islands, which are part of the state of Queensland, Australia. Ethnically distinct from the Aboriginal people of the rest of Australia, they are often groupe ...

and Chinese descent, and is the daughter of

Jack Ah Kit John Leonard Ah Kit (22 July 1950 – 12 July 2020) was an Australian politician. He was the Labor member for Arnhem in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly from 1995 to 2005. Early life Ah Kit was born on 22 July 1950 in Alice Springs, ...

, the former Labor member for

Arnhem Arnhem ( or ; german: Arnheim; South Guelderish: ''Èrnem'') is a city and municipality situated in the eastern part of the Netherlands about 55 km south east of Utrecht. It is the capital of the province of Gelderland, located on both ban ...

, who was the first indigenous minister in the Northern Territory from 1995 to 2005. Following her brother's death in 2007, Ah Kit became a suicide prevention advocate, forming a survivors' group in 2007 and the Darwin Region Indigenous Suicide Prevention Network in 2010, and working for the Northern Territory Department of Health. She was a territory finalist for the Young Australian of the Year awards in 2009 for her work organising

NAIDOC Week NAIDOC Week ( ) is an Australian observance lasting from the first Sunday in July until the following Sunday. The acronym NAIDOC stands for National Aborigines and Islanders Day Observance Committee, which was originally National Aborigines Day ...

in the Top End, and a finalist for

Australia's Local Hero The Local Hero AwardAustralian of the Year awardees
, accessed 23 January 2012 is a p ...

in 2016 for her suicide prevention work.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ah Kit, Ngaree 1981 births Living people Members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Speakers of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Australian Labor Party members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Indigenous Australian politicians Women members of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly Australian politicians of Chinese descent 21st-century Australian politicians 21st-century Australian women politicians