Cr Yvonne Weldon AM

Labor Councillor for the City of Sydney

Yvonne is the first Aboriginal councillor in the City of Sydney's more than 180-year history.

A proud Wiradjuri woman, Yvonne was born and raised in inner Sydney and keeps strong ties to her homelands of Cowra and the Riverina. She follows a proud tradition of activists and change-makers, including her great-aunt Mum Shirl and her uncle Paul Coe. Her family helped establish the Aboriginal Children’s Service, Aboriginal Medical Service and Aboriginal Legal Service in Redfern.

Before Council, Yvonne held senior roles across NSW Government, non-government and Aboriginal community-controlled organisations in health, human services, housing and child protection. She has chaired the Metropolitan Local Aboriginal Land Council, served as Deputy Chair of the NSW Australia Day Council, and sat on the boards of Domestic Violence NSW and Redfern Jarjum College.

In 2022 she was named NSW Aboriginal Woman of the Year and appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her service to the Aboriginal community. She is also the author of the novel Sixty-Seven Days, whose manuscript was shortlisted for the Queensland Literary Awards David Unaipon Award.

In 2026 Yvonne joined the Australian Labor Party, following in the footsteps of her late mother, a lifelong unionist and Labor supporter. Read her announcement.

What Yvonne stands for

A home for everyone. Everyone in this city deserves a safe place to live. That comes before monuments.

People the city forgets. A city is only as good as how it treats the people it's easiest to overlook.

Backing small business and the people who work in them. Small business is the heartbeat of every street in this city. Council should make their lives easier, not harder.

Honest about the money. It's the community's money. They deserve to know what it's spent on, what it costs, and who decided.