Why Shireen Morris wants to ‘make a difference’ in the Melbourne seat of Deakin held by the Liberal MP

For most of her late teens and 20s, Shireen Morris was a cash-strapped actor and singer who spent her days working either as an admin assistant, or at the old Bi-lo supermarket in Ringwood, a suburb on the eastern outskirts of Melbourne, and her nights performing Shakespeare in the botanical gardens.

“I had quite a weird, eclectic career,” Morris, 37, told Guardian Australia on Monday. “I didn’t study law until I was about 28. Somehow became a constitutional lawyer. Got a PhD and all of that. So when I say I’ve reaped the benefits of the amazing opportunities Australia offers, I really have.”

On Monday, Morris, a prominent advocate for Indigenous recognition known for her work at Noel Pearson’s Cape York Institute, announced another career move – into politics. She will run for Labor in the marginal Melbourne seat of Deakin at the next election.

Deakin, in Melbourne’s outer east, is currently held by the conservative Liberal MP and Peter Dutton-backer, Michael Sukkar, on a margin of 6.3%. The former assistant treasurer (he was one of the few MPs dumped by from the ministry by Scott Morrison on Sunday) won the seat in 2013 and extended his margin despite the national swing to Labor at the last election.

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If Labor is to reclaim government, Deakin is the sort of seat it would expect to win. On Monday, a ReachTel poll published by Fairfax said the opposition was ahead in the seat 53% to 47% on a two-party-preferred basis. The poll was conducted before Morris had announced her candidacy.

Morris said she had flirted with the idea of joining Labor, but, like her mentor, Pearson, believed her advocacy required her to speak to “both sides”.

The catalyst to “stop procrastinating”, Morris said, was Malcolm Turnbull’s decision last year to reject the call for an Indigenous voice to parliament. Labor has backed the proposal.

“That was just devastating,” Morris said. “While I’ve learned a lot trying to be a strong advocate for change outside parliament, I came to the realisation that to really to make change you need to be in there where the decisions are made.”

Morris is no stranger to the argy-bargy of politics. Last year, she was the subject of an Andrew Bolt column that labelled her “rude, wrong and deceptive” for denying the News Corp writer’s claim that he was also “Indigenous”. She also found herself in a war of words with the attorney general, Christian Porter, over the voice to parliament proposal.

Born in Australia to Indian and Fijian parents, Morris said that coming from a “non-white background” gave her an appreciation of social justice for the historically oppressed.

She grew up on the outer north-eastern fringe of the electorate in North Ringwood, where she lived with her parents well into her mid 20s. She said she was “just moving into Nunawading [in the electorate] at the moment”.

“I remember being one of the only Indian kids at Park Orchards primary,” Morris said.

“There was one other Indian boy and everyone expected us to get married.”

Growing up there were times when she “would cop racism” but she described Australians as “generally moderate, reasonable [and] intelligent people”.

Aside from Indigenous affairs, Morris listed penalty rates, retaining the pension age, and health and education funding as key issues. She also backed Labor’s hardline immigration policy, saying it was “essential that we retain strong borders and don’t incentivise asylum seekers”, though she supported moves to resettle refugees in a third country such as New Zealand.

Morris said she had also been motivated to run for parliament because she was sick of watching the “decay in our politics”.

“I think we’ve seen an increasing capitulation to the far right in the Liberal party which exploded in the last couple weeks,” she said.

“I think it’s sad and detrimental to the nation. The only way you can really try to make a difference is by trying to get in there.”