Noel Pearson Priority Papers

Noel is a member of the Bama Bagaarrmugu from Kalpowa and Jeanie River area in the south eastern Cape York region. He was born in Cooktown and grew up at Hope Vale, a Lutheran Mission on south-east Cape York Peninsula and is a history and law graduate from Sydney University.

As well as the Director of Cape York Partnerships and voluntary team leader of Every Child Is Special, Noel is the Director of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership www.cyi.org.au which aims to drive policy innovation and move to include a model of active Indigenous participation in public policy debates. Noel continues to work as an advisor to Indigenous organisations in Cape York.

From the early 80’s Noel co-founded the Cape York Land Council and under his stewardship the organisation completed groundbreaking projects that inspired indigenous groups across the country. These included the Native Title campaigns that lead to the Wik decision, the Cape York Heads of Agreement and the Comalco Agreement.

Noel’s current work draws widely on his thoughts on breaking down ‘passive welfare dependency’ amongst Cape York Indigenous people, by reinstating the rights of Indigenous people to take responsibility for their lives. Descriptions of these ideas can be found in his book ‘Our Right to Take Responsibility’ (2000); ‘Light on the Hill Ben Chifley Memorial Lecture’ (2000) and his ‘Charles Perkins Memorial Oration’ (Sydney University, 2001).