1. Patrick Lionel Djargun Dodson was born on 29 January 1948 and is an Australian indigenous rights activist and former politician.
24 Facts About Pat Dodson
1. 2.
Pat Dodson was a Senator for Western Australia from 2016 to 2024, representing the Australian Labor Party.
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Pat Dodson has been chairman of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation and a Commissioner into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
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On 2 March 2016, Dodson was announced as the replacement for Joe Bullock as a Labor senator for Western Australia, following Bullock's resignation.
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On 28 November 2023, Pat Dodson announced his retirement from the Senate, which took effect on 26 January 2024.
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Pat Dodson was undergoing treatment for cancer at the time of his resignation.
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Pat Dodson's father, John "Snowy" Dodson, was born in Launceston, Tasmania, and his mother, Patricia, was an Indigenous Australian.
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The family moved to Katherine, Northern Territory, when Pat Dodson was two, to escape Western Australian laws banning race-mix families.
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The Pat Dodson children were orphaned at the deaths of both parents only three months apart in 1960.
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Pat Dodson was the first Aboriginal person to become a Catholic priest in Australia.
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Pat Dodson left the priesthood in the early 1980s due to conflicts between Catholicism and his Aboriginal spiritual beliefs.
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Pat Dodson has been involved in matters relating to Indigenous rights and culture.
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The Parliament of Western Australia appointed Pat Dodson to fill a casual vacancy in the Australian Senate on 2 May 2016, following the resignation of Labor senator Joe Bullock.
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Pat Dodson was sworn in as a senator on the same day, and sat as a Labor senator for Western Australia.
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Pat Dodson retained his seat at the 2016 federal election.
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Pat Dodson has served on a number of Senate committees, notably as joint chair of the Joint Select Committee into Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
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Pat Dodson was added to the shadow ministry in May 2016, as a shadow assistant minister.
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Pat Dodson was initially appointed shadow parliamentary secretary to the Leader of the Opposition, and in July 2016 has been shadow assistant minister for indigenous affairs and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
19.
Pat Dodson served on the "Inquiry into the destruction of 46,000 year old caves at the Juukan Gorge in the Pilbara region of Western Australia", which delivered its interim report in December 2020.
20.
On 28 November 2023 Pat Dodson announced his intention to resign as a Senator effective 26 January 2024, saying he is unable to serve further due to being treated for cancer earlier in the year.
21.
Pat Dodson's daughter Grace, whose mother is Annunciata Dartinga, is an artist based in Peppimenarti, Northern Territory.
22.
In early 2023, Pat Dodson was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, followed by an infection of the oesophagus and shingles.
23.
Pat Dodson was treated with chemotherapy and returned from medical leave to campaign for the "Yes" vote at the 2023 Australian Indigenous Voice referendum.
24.
Pat Dodson holds an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of Melbourne and an Honorary Doctor of Letters degree from the University of New South Wales.