We are delighted to announce that we have rescheduled the John Menadue Oration for 2020 with Professor Megan Davis. Professor Megan Davis will deliver CPD’s third John Menadue Oration on Thursday 15 October 2020. You can register for the event here.

Professor Davis will speak on the theme: ‘Can Australia Deliver?’ The oration will take a big picture view of 2020, encompassing our COVID-19 response, the increased spotlight on Indigenous incarceration, and the future of the Uluru Statement from the Heart.

This theme builds on Professor Davis’s work, as well as our 2018 Oration ‘Can the State Deliver?’, given by Mariana Mazzucato and the 2017 Oration, ‘Can Democracy Deliver?’, delivered by Marty Natalegawa, former Indonesian Foreign Minister.

Professor Davis is the Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law and Pro Vice Chancellor Indigenous at the University of New South Wales (UNSW). She is also an Acting Commissioner of the NSW Land and Environment Court and an expert member of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Professor Davis is formerly Chair and expert member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Professor Davis’ renowned work on the recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Australian Constitution will be known to many of you. As a constitutional lawyer and a member of the Referendum Council and the Expert Panel on the Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples in the Constitution, she helped craft the Uluru Statement. She is very much the constitutional legal scholar for our times.

Professor Davis is also a Commissioner on the Australian Rugby League Commission, and supports the North Queensland Cowboys and the QLD Maroons.

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CPD’s flagship Oration has been named in honour of John Menadue AO, CPD’s founding Chairperson, in recognition of John’s contribution to public policy in Australia and to CPD. John served as Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet under Prime Ministers Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser, was Australia’s Ambassador to Japan and held senior roles in the business community.

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This is an online event, hosted by the Centre for Policy Development via Zoom. Details will be sent to all registered attendees ahead of the event.

Register for the event here.