Ex-Olympian Nova Peris is first Aboriginal woman elected to Australian parliament

Former Olympian Nova Peris has become the first Aboriginal woman elected to Australia's national parliament, a welcome achievement for the centre-left Labor Party which lost power in the polls.

Early counts left WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange struggling for a place in the Senate, along with former anti-immigration firebrand Pauline Hanson.

Employment and workplace relations minister Bill Shorten, who is considered the front runner to become Labor's next leader, said despite the loss, there had been a range of good candidates elected to serve, including Peris.

"That's a good accomplishment," he said yesterday of her election to represent the Northern Territory in the Senate. "And it backs up our accomplishment in terms of jobs for indigenous Australians."

Olympian Peris won gold in field hockey at the 1996 Atlanta Games before switching to athletics to win gold in the 200m and 4x100m relay at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

Her pre-selection ruffled feathers though, with one conservative Aboriginal politician saying Labor had been shamed into pre-selecting an indigenous candidate and compared the politically inexperienced Peris to a "maid" inside Labor's house.