Abstract
Noel Pearson is one of Australia’s most experienced and influential indigenous policy advocates. Some critics see him as a conservative ally of conservative political interests. We examine his remarkably well-received speeches on former progressive leader Gough Whitlam which reveal a depth of complexity and political reflection in Pearson’s subtle and surprisingly progressive public rhetoric.
Those that are first raised to nobility are commonly more virtuous, but less innocent, than their descendants; for there is rarely any rising but in a commixture of good and evil arts. But it is the reason the memory of their virtues remain to their posterity, and their faults die with themselves. (Of Nobility, Bacon 1625)
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Masters, A.B., Uhr, J. (2017). Noel Pearson: Civil Leadership and Political Rhetoric. In: Leadership Performance and Rhetoric. Palgrave Studies in Political Leadership. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58774-5_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58774-5_7
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