The Alfred Deakin Prize for an Essay Advancing Public Debate: Judges 2007

Philip Morrissey (Convenor)

Philip Morrissey is an Aboriginal writer, critic, and social commentator who teaches at the University of Melbourne. He is working on a major work of narrative non-fiction, Battle Mountain. The book is about one of the most tragic episodes in Australian history, the September 1884 final encounter between the warriors of the Aboriginal Kalkatunga tribe and a contingent of soldiers and white settlers at a site near the town of Cloncurry in western Queensland.

The Hon Dr Barry Jones

Dr Barry Jones is a writer, broadcaster and former Labor member of both the State and Federal parliaments. He was Australia's longest serving Science Minister (1983-90) and served as National President of the Australian Labor Party from 1992 to 2000 and again in 2005-06. He currently serves on six medical research boards and the board of CARE Australia. His most recent book is A Thinking Read (Allen & Unwin).

The Hon Jim Carlton AO

Jim Carlton is a Liberal politician, represented the Sydney electorate of Mackellar in federal parliament from 1977 to 1994. He was Minister for Health in the Fraser Government, and since his retirement from politics he has been active in humanitarian aid both in Australia and overseas. He helped establish the Australian branch of the International Committee for a Community of Democracies in 1985, and served as a Commonwealth Observer at the 1991 elections in Zambia. He currently serves on the Boards of PNG Sustainable Development Program Limited and the Australia New Zealand School of Government. Additionally, he is a Professional Fellow at the Centre for Public Policy at the University of Melbourne, a Senior Adviser with the Boston Consulting Group and a council member of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.