Noel Pearson

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.

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".

In 1990 Pearson co-founded the Cape York Land Council, and resigned in 1996.

In 1993 Pearson acted as representative to the traditional owners in the first land claim to the Flinders Island and Cape Melville National Park, a claim which was successful, although the owners have yet to receive title.

He continues to advise a number of Indigenous organisations in Cape York.

In 1993, he was one of six Indigenous Australians who jointly presented the Boyer Lectures "Voices of the Land" for the International Year for the World's Indigenous People.

Following the Mabo decision of the High Court of Australia Pearson played a key part in negotiations over the Native Title Act 1993 (Cth) as a member of the Indigenous negotiating team.

He outlined this position in 2000 in his speech, The light on the hill.

In the first decade of the 2000s, Pearson began outlining an alternative to traditional left-wing politics that he called radical centrism.

One part of his selected writings is entitled "The Quest for a Radical Centre".

On 12 August 2000, Pearson delivered the Ben Chifley Memorial Lecture The light on the hill, with an important statement of his transformed views on Indigenous policy.

In 2004, he became the Director of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership.

On 15 December 2006, Pearson publicly criticised the Queensland Director of Public Prosecutions, Leanne Clare, in relation to her decision not to press charges against the police officer involved in the 2004 Palm Island death in custody of Palm Island resident Mulrunji.

On 26 January 2007, Pearson welcomed the decision to prosecute the officer, after the inquiry by Sir Laurence Street found there was sufficient evidence to press charges.

Pearson also argued, however, that a 20- or 30-year plan was necessary for Palm Island.

On 11 May 2007, Pearson and Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough launched a new welfare scheme for Pearson's home town of Hope Vale.

The scheme offers funds for home improvements, and low interest loans for home ownership.

On 24 May, Pearson published White guilt, victimhood and the quest for a radical centre, a lengthy account of his understanding of the challenges of policy formulation and enactment.

On 14 June 2007, Pearson launched a report by the Cape York Institute on welfare reform.

The report was welcomed by Indigenous Affairs Minister Mal Brough.

On 17 September 2007, with Prime Minister Howard facing probable electoral defeat, Noel Pearson sent him a 6,000-word letter, arguing that Howard's best chance at re-election was to make a dramatic gesture in relation to reconciliation with the Aboriginal population.

Pearson argued that Howard needed to promise a referendum on recognition of the indigenous population, and also that Howard was in a unique position to affect the course of indigenous relations, but only if Howard "bared his soul" to the Australian electorate.

Howard accepted Pearson's advice, and on 11 October announced plans for a referendum, but was nevertheless comprehensively defeated at the election.

On 20 June 2007, Pearson argued for the necessity of intervention in relation to Aboriginal child sexual abuse.

On 21 June, in response to a report entitled "Little Children are Sacred," Australian Prime Minister John Howard declared that problems of child abuse in Northern Territory Aboriginal communities had reached a crisis point, and he initiated the "national emergency response".

The response involved a series of interventions including, among other things, the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act, compulsory management of Aboriginal people's income, the deployment of police and health workers, abolition of the permit system, compulsory acquisition of Aboriginal land and a ban on alcohol.

In November 2014, Pearson received effusive praise for his eulogy for former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam, which was hailed in the Australian media as "one of the best political speeches of our time".

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.

Pearson was born in Cooktown, Queensland and grew up at Hope Vale, Queensland, a Lutheran Mission in the Cape York Peninsula.

He is the son of Glen Pearson, from the Bagaarrmugu, and Ivy Pearson, from the Guggu Yalanji.

His brother is Gerhardt Pearson.

After attending primary school in Hope Vale, Pearson became a boarder at St Peters Lutheran College in Brisbane.

Pearson graduated from the University of Sydney with degrees in history and law.

His history thesis focused on the Hope Vale Lutheran Mission, and was published by the History Department in "Maps Dreams History".

In November 2019, it was announced that Pearson would be one of 20 members of the Senior Advisory Group to help co-design the Indigenous voice to government set up by Ken Wyatt, the Minister for Indigenous Australians.

The Group is co-chaired by Wyatt, Marcia Langton and Tom Calma.

On 27 October 2022, Pearson gave the first of his Boyer Lectures, Who we were and who we can be: 'Recognition' In these lectures Pearson explores the proposal to amend the Australian Constitution to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Australia through an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.