Shireen Morris a constitutional lawyer of Indian and Fiji-Indian origin has been endorsed by Labor for the Deakin seat. Born and brought up in Australia Shireen’s mother is a South Indian born in Fiji and her dad is from Gujarat, both her parents are GPs.
Contrary to everyone’s expectations in true Indian style, everybody expected Shireen to become a medical practitioner. Shireen says, “that actually had the opposite influence on me, so I studied Arts and English at Melbourne University and went on to become an actor and singer, performed at musicals and did Shakespeare when I was in my twenties.”
It was at the age of 28 that Shireen studied Law and later on at 30 did an internship at Cape York institution which is an Indigenous organization lead by Indigenous leader Noel Pearson that really changed her life.
“I grew up with a huge awareness of inequality and being from a non-white background and the fact that my parents came from very poor backgrounds, the only way they could achieve what they achieved was through scholarship support,” says Shireen. “Learning about the plight of Indigenous people in Australia got me politically engaged and interested in justice.”
Author of three books, Shireen is truly excited about her candidature for Labor for the seat of Deakin and she is looking forward to getting stuck into this campaign and has already been out at the train stations and shopping centres.
