Charlie King OAM

Decades spent working in community development, juvenile justice, child protection and family violence across the Northern Territory gives Charlie King OAM unique perspective on the strengths and challenges that face our community.

A Gurindji man whose mother was born in Limbunya Station and grew up in Khalin Compound, Charlie carries the legacy of the stolen generation.

Charlie has been a sports commentator on the ABC since 1990, hosting Grandstand and has commentated on various sports including Australian Rules football and cricket. As a broadcaster, Charlie was the first Indigenous Australian to commentate at an Olympic Games, in Beijing 2008. Charlie was the Chair of the Bonner Committee for 6 years, advising the ABC on Indigenous matters and was inducted into AFL Northern Territory Hall of Fame in 2019.

Charlie has been working in partnership with CatholicCare NT since 2006 developing men’s programs and the No More Campaign, targeting sporting codes to address violence in their clubs and with their supporters.

His work has been recognized through a range of awards over the years including NAIDOC person of the year and elder of the year, Darwin City Council citizen of the year and more recently an Order of Australia Medal in 2015, the NT Senior Australian of the Year 2019 and was awarded the member of the Order of Australia in 2021 for significant service to the Indigenous community of the NT.