Ben Wyatt credits his parents and a quality education for his success in politics and business, and believes access to school is the key to unlock the next generation’s potential too.
“Mum was very, very good at keeping me very grounded,” he said.
“She knew that we were capable of doing good things, but would also say, never forget that ultimately you’re part of a broader community.
“We watched a lot of Monty Python, and she’d always quote that great line from Life of Brian, never forget, Ben, you’re not the Messiah you’re just a very naughty boy!”
The former Treasurer has been named an officer of the Order of Australia, for distinguished service to the people and Parliament of WA, to the Indigenous community, corporate governance and the not-for-profit sector.
“I checked the email quite closely to make sure there wasn’t a dodgy spelling in the email address,” Mr Wyatt joked.
“It’s been lovely, it’s slightly embarrassing, but also incredibly humbling to be recognised like this.”
He was the member for Victoria Park from 2006 to 2021 and considered a potential Labor Leader and Premier, but has no regrets about his political exit — which preceded Mark McGowan’s surprise early retirement.
“You can’t (wonder what might have been) because doors open, doors close all the time,” Mr Wyatt said.
“It’s not about what might have happened, it’s about what has happened, and I had a wonderful time in Parliament, and I’m really enjoying what I do now.”
A Yamatji and Noongar man, Mr Wyatt was born in Papua New Guinea and grew up in the WA Goldfields.
Father Cedric was a child of the stolen generation, separated from his Indigenous mother as a baby and taken to live at the Moore River settlement.
He became a senior public servant, head of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and a fierce campaigner for Indigenous rights.
His son has followed in those giant footsteps.
“There’s certainly more opportunity (now). I think the pathway for many (Indigenous) kids is still very difficult,” Ben Wyatt said.
“We can still do more to create, particularly, the opportunity to pursue education. In my view, education is always the great enabler.
“The more we can do to give those kids more opportunity to move further up the educational run, the more opportunities arise.”
He’s gone from the top of politics to the top rungs of WA industry.
Mr Wyatt sits on the boards of Woodside, Rio Tinto, the West Coast Eagles, APM Human Services and the Telethon Kids Institute.
He’s the chair of the Perth Festival and a member of Australian Capital Equity’s advisory committee.
But Labor’s election win in 2017 remains his proudest moment.
“It’s rare, winning from opposition, it’s a rare thing in politics, and the effort that goes into it is just so extraordinary,” he said.
“It was an iconic win, in my view, and something that I’ll always be proud of. I’ll always remember that night, and the awe in which I felt, OK, now the responsibility or the burden that you’ve now got to move on and deliver.
“That’s an incredible thing. To this day, I think back still slightly stunned to myself that I can say I was the Treasurer of Western Australia, it was an amazing thing”.
He was the first Indigenous person appointed Treasurer in any Australian State government.
Former Premier Mark McGowan described Mr Wyatt as very capable, committed and loyal.
“He has a fantastic record of turning around the State’s finances and economic reform,” Mr McGowan said.
“Ben is a joy to be around. Funny, intelligent, terrific company. A great advocate for WA and a role model for all West Australians, especially Aboriginal people.”
Current Treasurer Rita Saffioti said Mr Wyatt was always a great leader.
“He is driven, wise beyond his years and also an incredibly strategic thinker that can always see one step ahead,” she said.
“And above all, he is a thoroughly decent person who is committed to his family, to his community and to WA.”
He didn’t win every political battle, with Aboriginal cultural heritage laws that Mr Wyatt helped to design dumped by Roger Cook in 2023 amid a brutal public backlash.
Mr Wyatt believes the legislation was a victim of political circumstances.
“Ultimately Roger Cook as Premier found himself defending a piece of legislation that was friendless in the end, which was a huge disappointment to me,” he said.
“People who should have known better and did know better were pursuing other opportunities around a Voice referendum, and so it floundered on the rocks of a brutal referendum campaign.”
Cultural heritage is in the spotlight again, after the Federal Court ordered Fortescue to pay the Yindjibarndi people $150 million for the destruction of 124 sites, and spiritual distress.
Mr Wyatt, who was recruited to Rio Tinto in the wake of the scandal over the destruction of 46,000-year-old Juukan Gorge rock shelters, has called the latest case disappointing.
“I hope the Yindjibarndi feel vindicated. They should do, ultimately, they’ve been proven right,” he said.
He wouldn’t be drawn on calls for the Cook Government to act on the Glen Kelly review into native title and cultural heritage processes in mining, but said it’s clear more needs to be done.
“The Government will deal with that in due course, but the fact that Glen Kelly’s looked at this and provided government advice highlights fact that they want to do more in this space, and I look forward to that whenever they move on it,” he said.
“The heritage of the nation that we have is so ancient and something that every Australian should feel when we walk the world.”
He’s still engaged in politics. And worried by what he sees.
“I’m a classic centrist . . . I think the best our nation has achieved has always been from the centre left or centre right,” Mr Wyatt said.
“I’m a Labor guy, but I hope the Liberal Party see off this One Nation surge. Because the Liberal party, it’s a party of government, as is the Labor party, and that’s where you actually get the achievements that we’ve had in this nation.
“I just do not believe that we are a nation that’s failing, and I think that’s why the far left and right, that’s where they ultimately come unstuck.”
Proving a politician’s work is never finished.
“It was always part of the DNA,” he said.
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