Source : the age
Former prime minister Scott Morrison, the nation’s most successful winner of Academy Awards and a scientist who rivals Charles Darwin for the number of animals bearing his name are among 830 Australians recognised in the King’s Birthday Honours list.
Morrison, who left parliament a year ago, was made a Companion of the Order of Australia – the highest honour – for his leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and his key role in the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal with Britain and the United States.
Former prime minister Scott Morrison has been recognised in this year’s honours list.Credit: Marija Ercegovac
While Morrison has come under attack for several issues in the wake of his prime-ministership, including his secret assumption of duties of some of his ministers and his role in the controversial robo-debt automatic recovery of welfare payments, the honour noted his eminent service to the public and the parliament.
Morrison told this masthead the award was a rare honour and that it was “particularly humbling”.
“I see it as a recognition beyond me, but of what Australia was able to achieve in those times … there is a global recognition of what Australia was able to avoid during COVID,” he said.
“The other part of it is how our economy came through, that was a hallmark of our approach, it really distinguished us from many other countries. This was not an ideological struggle but a biological challenge, as many other countries in our region realised too. We saved lives and livelihoods.”
Morrison said that he was particularly pleased that the “game-changing” AUKUS nuclear submarine deal had survived three changes of government since it was inked.
“I met with Donald Trump last year in about May, this time last year … it came up, I didn’t walk away with any concerns,” he said.
“The one thing [China’s] President Xi [Jinping] would hope for is AUKUS to fall over at any of those change of government hurdles and it has not.”
All former prime ministers, bar Paul Keating, have accepted being made a Companion since the inception of the honour.
Apart from Morrison, there were few other politicians honoured. Former West Australian deputy premier Liza Harvey, who served under Colin Barnett, and former NSW local government minister Don Page, a member of the Coalition government of Barry O’Farrell, both received Orders of Australia.
Morrison was one of 14 people honoured with a Companion.
Catherine Martin, four-time Oscar winner for costume and production design, and her husband, director Baz Luhrmann, were both made Companions.
Martin, who won Oscars for her work on Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby, said the honour recognised not just her and Luhrmann, but all those who helped people access the arts in Australia.
“I am so honoured to be joining the ranks of so many illustrious Australians, whom I have admired and been inspired by. Being recognised in your home country is especially meaningful,” she said.
Catherine Martin, four-time Oscar winner, was made a Companion in the King’s Birthday Honours.Credit: Marija Ercegovac
Luhrmann, director of films including Strictly Ballroom, Australia and Elvis, said he was “beyond honoured” by the award.
“My personal journey from a small rural town to the world stage would not have been possible but for those who came before having the vision to support the arts, allowing us to reflect our stories back to ourselves and participate in global culture as Australians,” he said.
Other people honoured by being made a Companion include Mark Weinberg, a former Federal Court justice who is the special investigator into alleged war crimes committed by Australian soldiers in Afghanistan.
Business leader and former Reserve Bank board member Kathryn Fagg, former head of the Business Council of Australia Jennifer Westacott and prominent Sydney businesswoman and arts leader Wendy McCarthy were made Companions.
Also receiving the highest honour was dual Booker Prize-winning author J.M. Coetzee, long-standing journalist Phillip Adams and prominent climate change scientist Stuart Howden.
A doyen of the Australian media landscape, Bruce Gordon, who has been owner and deputy chair of WIN since 1979 and is a significant shareholder in Nine Entertainment Company, owner of this masthead, was one of 31 people to be made an Officer of the Order of Australia.
This year’s honours recognise a large number of people who have recently died.
They include Geoff Monteith, a world-renowned entomologist from Queensland who was recognised with for his work on insects, mountain biodiversity and the museum sector.
Monteith, who died last year, has had more than 220 genera and species named in his honour including an earthworm, 110 beetles, nine flies and four snails. He ranks alongside Charles Darwin as one of the 10 scientists to have the most species named after them.
Bruce Gordon, who has been owner and deputy chair of WIN since 1979 and is a significant shareholder in Nine Entertainment Company, owner of this masthead, was made an Officer of the Order of Australia.
Other people to be honoured posthumously include respected ABC journalist Matt Peacock, NSW resident Jill Allen for her long-term work assisting the deaf and hard-of-hearing and South Australian Carmel Doyle, who had been involved in the state’s Irish dancing community since the 1960s.
The youngest recipient is 19-year-old West Australian Scott Guerini, who at the age of four raised money for the state’s Telethon charity by walking 25 kilometres from his family’s farm to the town of Southern Cross. He has remained involved in charitable work.
At the other end of the age spectrum, 101-year-old Henry Young was recognised for his work for veterans and tennis. Young, who joined the New Zealand army in 1942, has been involved with the veterans’ community for almost 30 years and is an honorary life member of the Memorial Drive Tennis Club in Adelaide.
Of the 830 awards issued for the King’s Birthday, 581 were civilian honours, 36 were military honours, 149 were for meritorious service such as for people in the public service and 64 were distinguished and conspicuous decorations.
The 830 awards is a jump of more than 12 per cent on the number issued in 2024, but down on the 1192 made in 2023.
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