Miriam Lyons


Miriam Lyons is an Australian policy analyst, writer and commentator. She was the founding Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Development, a left-wing think tank set up in 2007.

Career

While studying politics and international relations at the University of New South Wales, Miriam Lyons co-founded Nexus, a non-partisan network designed to connect young people with the democratic process. She was also involved in setting up , originally a national youth-run website and now a youth-run incubator for creative and social change projects.
Upon graduating, she directed the Interface Festival of Ideas in Sydney. She then worked in East Timor for a year with Internews as a media consultant, assisting the local media sector to lobby for media law reform. During this time she co-wrote a report on media freedom in East Timor for ARTICLE 19.
On returning to Australia in 2004, Miriam directed an Ideas Program for the Straight Out Of Brisbane festival. She went on to work with AID/WATCH and the Australian Human Rights Centre. Miriam Lyons was the Policy Coordinator for newmatilda.com before co-founding Australia's Centre for Policy Development with John Menadue in 2007.
In 2008 Miriam was a delegate to the 2020 Ideas Summit. She has been profiled in The Courier-Mail, Channel Stu, Frank Magazine, The Australian Financial Review's Boss Magazine, The Australian and The Sun-Herald.
Miriam co-edited the 2010 book, More Than Luck with , edited the 2013 book Pushing Our Luck, and has contributed to several publications, including the Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, The Australian Financial Review, Online Opinion, and Griffith Review. She has also been a frequent guest on various politics and current affairs shows, including Q&A, Sky News, and Currently, Miriam is on the board of the .
Miriam left her role as Executive Director of the CPD in January 2014 for a sabbatical in Europe, and is now a Fellow of the organisation.
She has since co-authored a book Governomics: Can We Afford Small Government? about contemporary Australian political economy, with university lecturer Ian McAuley.
Since 2016, Miriam has been at the activist organisation GetUp! in the role of Climate Justice Co-Director.