Constitutional recognition of Australia's First Nations people is "not a project of identity politics" but one of "justice, unity and inclusion", Noel Pearson has declared. This year he is delivering the Boyer Lectures, a series of speeches from a recognised Australian invited to share insights on ideas, observations and experiences. They are named after former ABC chairman Sir Richard Boyer. Noel Pearson is the founder and director of the Cape York Partnership, and the author of Up From the Mission, two Quarterly Essays and many essays, articles and speeches.

ABC had this to say about Pearson's lecture series:

His series of four lectures, broadcast on ABC platforms, will provide key insights into the ideas, observations and experiences of one of our most recognised public intellectuals.

ABC Chair Ita Buttrose said it was a significant moment for an Indigenous leader of Noel Pearson's standing to accept the invitation given the national discussion about the referendum for an Indigenous voice to parliament.

"Noel has been an extraordinary force in representing our First Nations people and leading the conversation on issues that are relevant to all Australians," she said.

"He will deliver a thought-provoking lecture series that will challenge and encourage ideas about who we all are and how we see ourselves as a nation now and into the future.

"I am delighted he has accepted our invitation. This is an event not to be missed by anyone who cares about our development as a nation."

This series will mark a return to the Boyer Lectures for Noel who in 1993 delivered one of the five lectures along with Getano Lui, Dr Ian Anderson, Jeannie Bell, Mandawuy Yunupingu and Dot West. That lecture, titled Voices of the Land or Towards Respecting Equality and Difference was delivered in the wake of the Mabo decision in 1992, then Prime Minister Paul Keating's Redfern speech the same year and during the subsequent national debate about the Native Title Act.

 

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Mission: Essays, Speeches & Ideas by Noel Pearson 

Whether he is recalling his boyhood in Hope Vale, Queensland, making the case for Indigenous recognition, or evoking a reconciled, multicultural Australia, Noel Pearson confirms he is one of Australia’s most powerful and influential thinkers – and an extraordinary writer.

Mission selects the best of Pearson’s work to date. There are indelible portraits of political leaders seen close up – Keating, Rudd, Whitlam, Turnbull and more. There is Pearson’s brilliant exploration of a Voice to Parliament, which led eventually to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. And there are acute analyses – of passive welfare; of the fate of the Labor Party; of identity politics, good and bad; and of education and the role of a great teacher.

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