Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian honours system is an important part of our social fabric, and recognising outstanding community contributions helps us to define and demonstrate our national aspirations, ideals and standards. Recipients of Australian honours and awards are people whose actions have set them apart and enriched our community. In their daily lives, recipients demonstrate those values that we hold dear: compassion, civility, dedication, courage, kindness, ambition and tolerance, and they inspire us all to be more fully engaged citizens. Humble acts over many years are recognised as are more visible, striking acts that have already brought a recipient fame and glory. Whole segments of the Australian community receive special and separate recognition through complementary streams like public service, emergency services, military and so on, which is appropriate. I firmly believe that culture—the way we do things around here, as they say—is largely set by leaders, and national awards also help develop our national culture.

The motion before us touches on the history of the order. The order, as we know it now, was instituted by Her Majesty the Queen, Elizabeth Regina, on Valentine's Day 1975. It is funny how the motion includes mention of her given the Order of Australia in 1975 replaced those hideous, nonegalitarian relics of royalty, empire and colonialism, the British imperial honours, which had been in place here prior to 1975. It is amusing, though somewhat nauseating, how many of those opposite just cannot miss a chance to mention the British monarch. Before anyone squawks that she is not the British monarch, that is actually how the Prime Minister described her in his remarks to the House last week, fawning over her long reign. Even deigned, she did, we heard, to visit Australia 16 times in 65 years. Like, wow, amazing; our head of state came to visit! So revered here, apparently, that few could say they are not Elizabethans. Well, I am not.

While we are on history and royalty, knights and dames were removed from the general division in the Australian awards in 1986. Hurrah, we thought. But no; in an inexplicable move just three years ago then Prime Minister Tony Abbott had a total brain fail and surprised everyone, including his cabinet, by reintroducing them. He caused a moment of national hilarity, the likes of which I cannot remember, by creating Sir Prince Philip. There are really no words. Anyway, sirs and dames seem to have gone away again, so enough on royalty.

I congratulate and thank all recipients from this year's Australia Day honours and awards and I want to pay particular tribute to four outstanding people in my electorate of Bruce. Three were awarded OAMs in the most recent round. First is Mr Timothy Disken, who I had the pleasure of meeting last year and have already spoken to this House about, for service to sport as a gold medallist in the Rio 2016 Paralympics. Tim, when he competed at his first Paralympics, was just 19, yet he returned to Australia with gold, silver and bronze medals. He has already competed in the world swimming championships, Para Pan Pacs in California and many other games and he has a bright future in front of him. I am delighted that one of the largest and best special schools in my electorate, the Glenallen School, has recently named their swimming pool after him.

There was also Captain Donald Beresford Bergman (Retd) of Noble Park for his service over many years to veterans, their families and the community, including work over decades at the Shrine of Remembrance as a marshal on Anzac Day in the city, at Noble Park RSL's parade and for his work in the Noble Park RSL and for various amateur theatre causes.

There was Dr Ranjana Srivastava for service to medicine, particularly in the field of doctor-patient communications. She is a medical oncologist, general physician, member of the health complaints commissioner review council Victoria and adjunct professor. She has been a Fulbright Scholar, a regular columnist, an essayist, an author and, indeed, a nominee and recipient of distinguished literary prizes, a medical volunteer at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre and in Calcutta—and the list goes on.

Finally, I also acknowledge Ms Gemma Varley, who received a public service medal for outstanding public service through the drafting of legislation in Victoria. She was in fact the parliamentary counsel, as I recall, for many years in the Victorian government. From my former life as a public servant in Victoria, I can assure the House that the entire public service and senior echelons of the bureaucracy lived in fear and respect of Gemma returning a brief with a semicolon moved that her eagle eye never let pass.

Congratulations to all the recipients.

See this speech in context