Outgoing NSW Labor MP Linda Burney has expressed distress at what she says is an increasingly paternalistic approach to Aboriginal affairs in her valedictory speech.
The member for Canterbury, who started her speech in the Wiradjuri language, is leaving state politics after 13 years to contest the federal seat of Barton.
During the emotional address, Ms Burney said she was proud to be have been part of a government that recognised Australia's first people in the state's constitution.
She also called for conflicts between Aboriginal people and settlers to be recognised at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra.
"My time in this place has been shaped, though not defined, by my Aboriginality," she said in the lower house on Wednesday night.
"I am proud of this fact."
Ms Burney recalled stressing the importance of working with Aboriginal people and education in her first speech to the NSW parliament.
"The current state of Aboriginal affairs has been particularly distressing," she said.
"Paternalism seems increasingly to be today's approach."
In 2003 Ms Burney became the first indigenous Australian to serve in state parliament when she was elected in Canterbury, which she called a "shining example of modern multicultural Australia".
She remembered the parliament's passing of same-sex adoption laws with fondness and said she stood by her controversial opposition to overseas commercial surrogacy.
Ms Burney said she will push for same-sex marriage if elected to federal parliament.
"It is inevitable and it must happen," she said.
Ms Burney held numerous roles, including community services minister and deputy opposition leader during her career in NSW politics.
Senior federal MP Anthony Albanese and long-serving premier Bob Carr were among the politicians she thanked in her speech.
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