I have just submitted a nomination for Australian of The Year. I nominate Noel Pearson. This was my reasoning:
Noel Pearson has shown incredible commitment to Aboriginal people throughout Australia, particularly those in Cape York, where he comes from. He has worked continuously to find practical ways of improving living conditions for Aboriginal people.
He has helped achieve several important outcomes through his work as Director of the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership. The Institute has
-- established a number of indigenous enterprises, thus allowing Aboriginal people to be involved in the real economy, while also valuing their own traditional cultural knowledge.
-- helped many young indigenous people to gain better education through access to scholarships. Notably, Young Australian of the Year, Tania Major had previously been a recipient of such help from the Institute.
-- been involved in a Health Reform Steering Committee established by the Federal and Queensland Governments.
-- been developing proposals to trial home ownership solutions based on a combination of government grant, financial equity (loans) and ‘sweat equity’ (family contribution to the labour).
-- worked with governments in establishing and maintaining dry communities.
Mr Pearson has contributed significantly to debates about indigenous policy by regularly contributing to The Weekend Australian newspaper. These articles have allowed many of his views to influence the mainstream of Australian politics. As such, we have seen significant changes in the Australian people's attitudes towards indigenous policy in the past year. His articles have been forthright, well-argued and at times controversial.
Mr Pearson has made several innovative and practical suggestions with regard to how to get rid of passive welfare in indigenous communities. Mr Pearson
-- produced a report for the Government titled "From Hand Out to Hand Up", which addressed welfare reform and argued in favour of intervention with regard to child sexual abuse in indigenous communities. As such, he was an important influence on the intervention in the Northern Territory.
-- helped personally in convincing Galurrwuy Yunupingu (traditional Yolngu landowner in NT) that the NT intervention could achieve practical results for the Yolngu people. Prior to Mr Pearson's discussions with Mr Yunupingu, it seemed there would be an impasse between the Federal Government and the Yolngu people.
All of Mr Pearson's work has reflected his belief that Aboriginal people need to take responsibility for themselves and to be involved in doing things for themselves. He has worked with Government to move indigenous policy away from a passive welfare approach, towards a "hand up" approach. This has been very influential on the indigenous policy direction taken in this country by both major political parties in recent years.