Melbourne Writers Festival: The John Button Oration: Towards Radical Centre Reform with Shireen Morris

In an age of increasing tribalism, can Australians break through groupthink, innovate new ideas and build coalitions for bold reforms to address inequality? In her 2018 book, Radical Heart, constitutional lawyer and Radical Centre Reform Lab director Shireen Morris described her work with Indigenous leaders seeking radical centre solutions in constitutional reform – collaborative efforts which forged a progressive-conservative alliance in support of a First Nations voice. This taught Morris the value of engaging creatively across political and ideological divides. In this year’s John Button Oration, Morris combines constitutional insight with radical centre thinking to question ingrained policy paradigms that she argues are failing Australians. She asks: Why must a cohort of Australians be kept unemployed to manage inflation? Why must the RBA independently manage this balance? And how can Australians work across tribal divides to fight inequality?

Proudly supported by the John Button Fund, Melbourne School of Government, The University of Melbourne