Noel Pearson

This article is about the Australian lawyer. For the Irish producer, see Noel Pearson (producer).

Noel Pearson
Pearson in February 2010
Born (1965-06-25) 25 June 1965 (age 59)
Cooktown, Queensland, Australia
Alma materUniversity of Sydney
OccupationLawyer
Known forFounder of the Cape York Partnership and Good to Great Schools Australia

Noel Pearson (born 25 June 1965) is an Australian lawyer and founder of the Cape York Partnership, an organisation promoting the economic and social development of Cape York. He is also the Founder of Good to Great Schools Australia an organisation dedicated to lifting education outcomes for all Australian students.

Pearson came to prominence as an advocate for Indigenous Australians' rights to land – a position he maintains.[1] Since the end of the 1990s his focus has encompassed a range of additional issues: he has strongly argued that Indigenous policy needs to change direction, notably in relation to welfare, substance abuse, child protection, education and economic development. Pearson criticises approaches to these problems which, while claiming to be "progressive", in his opinion merely keep Indigenous people dependent on welfare and out of the "real economy". He outlined this position in 2000 in his speech, The light on the hill.[2]

In the first decade of the 2000s, Pearson began outlining an alternative to traditional left-wing politics that he called radical centrism.[3][4] One part of his selected writings is entitled "The Quest for a Radical Centre".[5]

In November 2019, it was announced that Pearson would be one of 20 members of the Senior Advisory Group set up to help co-design the Indigenous voice to government.[6]

  1. ^ Pearson, N (29 May 2010). "Promise of Mabo not yet realised" (Opinion). The Australian.[self-published source?]
  2. ^ Pearson, Noel (12 August 2000). The Light on the Hill: Ben Chifley Memorial Lecture (Extract; transcript) (Speech). Bathurst, NSW: Australianpolitics.com. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  3. ^ Pearson, Noel (21 April 2007). "Hunt for the Radical Centre" (Opinion). The Australian. Retrieved 27 February 2013.[self-published source?]
  4. ^ Pearson, Noel (7 September 2010). Nights When I Dream of a Better World: Moving from the Centre-Left to the Radical Centre of Australian Politics (PDF) (Speech). Swinburne Institute for Social Research. Archived from the original (PDF) on 28 March 2014. Retrieved 27 February 2013.[self-published source?]
  5. ^ Pearson, Noel (2011). Up From the Mission: Selected Writings. Black Inc. / Schwartz Media Ltd., Part Four. pp. 219–322. ISBN 978-1-86395-520-1.[self-published source?]
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference sagmem was invoked but never defined (see the help page).