Kerala-born Jinson Charls appointed minister in Australia

Kerala-born Jinson Charls, who defeated a sitting Labour minister in Australia's Northern Territory (NT) elections, will become the new minister for disability, arts, veterans and multicultural affairs in the regional government, according to a media report on Monday.

Charls was among the two India-born politicians elected to the regional assembly last month. Khoda Patel of Gujarat descent also won a seat.

Their Country Liberal Party (CLP) secured a landslide victory in elections in the Northern Territory on August 24, claiming 17 of the Legislative Assembly's 25 seats.

Charls, who worked as a registered nurse and in health leadership roles, will become the new minister for disability, arts, veterans and multicultural affairs. He will also manage the portfolios of youth, seniors and equality, as well as people, sport and culture, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported on Monday.

"His appointment marks a historic occasion for the NT parliament, with the new government featuring the highest-ever representation of politicians of South Asian and South-East Asian heritage," it said in an earlier report.

Charls and the new Casuarina MLA, Khoda Patel, were born in India, while the new Fong Lim MLA, Tanzil Rahman, has Bangladeshi roots, and the new Wanguri MLA, Oly Carlson, is of Indonesian heritage.

"I have been getting phone calls, messages, for the last few days, including the media back in India - they are excited as well," Charls, who toppled a sitting Labour environment minister, was quoted as saying by the ABC.

"A first-generation migrant coming over to a different country, to a different culture, and people up here supporting, because it's for the people's mandate."

The first and only prior Indian-born Northern Territory MLA was Labour member June D'Rozario, who held the seat of Sanderson between 1977 and 1983.

Born in Kerala, Charls studied Bachelor of Science in Nursing and Midwifery before migrating to Australia in 2011, according to his profile on the party website.

Moving to Darwin, the capital of the Northern Territory, in 2015, he worked as a Registered Nurse in the Alcohol Mandatory Treatment program, which was then scrapped by Labour in 2017 - despite the real, positive outcomes that the program delivered, it said.

Charls has held senior leadership positions in health, delivering mental health care to Territorians, working as a team manager and operations manager. His passion for delivering quality health care services led to him being appointed the Director of Acute Services, Top End Mental Health Alcohol and Other Drug Services (NT Health).

He is married to Anu. They have two daughters - Aimie (10) and Anna (4). He currently serves as the president of the Darwin Malayalee Association.

His party colleague Patel moved to Cyprus before shifting to Australia and starting a family. Patel is married to Nilam. They have two kids - Anika (7) and Krishna who just turned one.