Wilkie served on the
South Perth City Council from 1993 to 1998. He was elected to the
House of Representatives at the
1998 federal election, winning the seat of
Swan for the
Australian Labor Party (ALP) from the incumbent
Liberal MP
Don Randall. He was also a member of the
speaker's panel from 2002 to 2007. In September 2006 he and
Warren Snowdon were suspended from parliament in a heated debate on the Liberal government's proposed abolition of the permit system used by remote Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. Wilkie's seat was
marginal throughout his time in parliament. He won Swan by just over 100 votes at the
2004 election. The losing Liberal candidate Andrew Murfin had a request for a recount denied by the
Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). Wilkie was in turn defeated by Liberal candidate
Steve Irons by just over 150 votes at the
2007 election. He was the only incumbent Labor MP defeated at the election. ==Later life==