Kyam Maher

Kyam Joseph Maher is an Australian politician and lawyer who has been Deputy Premier of South Australia since 19 September 2025. He has also been Attorney-General of South Australia, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, and the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council since March 2022, and continues to hold these roles after promotion to deputy premier in the September 2025 Cabinet reshuffle. He is also Special Minister of State (holding responsibility for electoral services) since January 2025. Maher is the first ever Indigenous Australian person to serve as Attorney-General, and also the first as Deputy Premier in South Australia.

He was appointed to a casual vacancy in the South Australian Legislative Council for the South Australian Branch of the Australian Labor Party on 17 October 2012. He previously served in the Cabinet of South Australia between 2015 and 2018 and was the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council between 2016 and 2018.

Early life and education Kyam Joseph Maher is of Aboriginal Tasmanian descent.

He spent his early years in Littlehampton, a small country town in the Adelaide Hills, before moving to Mount Gambier, where he attended Grant High School.

Career Maher practised as a lawyer in the Crown Solicitor's Office in South Australia.

Maher was appointed to the South Australian Legislative Council in 2012 to replace outgoing MLC Bob Sneath. Maher was re-elected from fourth position on the Labor ticket at the 2014 election, and was appointed parliamentary secretary to the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries. and employment and science and information economy. Maher was the first Aboriginal South Australian Minister for Aboriginal Affairs.

On 18 January 2016 Maher was appointed as the Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council in the Weatherill government.

After Labor won government at the 2022 state election, Maher was appointed Attorney-General in the Malinauskas ministry on 24 March, as well as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs and Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector. He also became Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council for the second time. Maher was the first Aboriginal man in the nation's history to be appointed Attorney-General.

Following Deputy Premier Susan Close's decision to step down from politics, on 19 September 2025, Maher was elected by the party to be its deputy leader and he became the state's Deputy Premier, in addition to his existing ministerial roles as Attorney-General and Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. He is the first Indigenous Australian person to serve as Deputy Premier in the history of South Australia. he is also Leader of the Government in the Legislative Council, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, and Special Minister of State.

Personal life Maher married Carmel, and they have three boys.