Marion Maddox is a leading authority on religion and Australian politics. She holds PhDs in theology (Flinders, 1992) and political philosophy (UNSW 2000) and has taught religious studies and Australian politics in universities in Australia and New Zealand.
In 1999-2000, as Australian Parliamentary Fellow in Parliament House, Canberra, she interviewed some 50 past and sitting Members and Senators about religion and politics, and wrote her first book, For God and Country: Religious Dynamics in Australian Federal Politics.
Her second book, God Under Howard: The Rise of the Religious Right in Australian Politics, was shortlisted for the Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards.
In 2010, she was Visiting Professor at the Observatoire du Religieux, Institut des Études Politiques, Aix en Provence. From 2008-2011 she was Director of Macquarie University’s Centre for Research on Social Inclusion. She is currently an Australian Research Council Future Fellow, working on a four-year project entitled ‘Religion, State and Social Inclusion: Lessons from schools in three countries’.
She is married to food scholar Michael Symons and dines very well indeed.
* Derek Guille will be moderating a panel on the intersection of Religion & Politics. The panel will include speakers Dick Gross, Colleen Hartland, Marion Maddox and Fiona Patten.