Luke Gosling (Solomon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Order of Australia is a truly great honour for Australians who are committed to serving their communities, but I'm quick to point out that there are many Australians who have not yet been awarded the Order of Australia who are incredibly committed to our community. I encourage those Australians out there, when you know a good Aussie that is doing a brilliant thing for our community, for our country, to nominate them. The Northern Territory has the smallest population for any Australian jurisdiction, with just under a quarter of a million residents, so I'm very proud to pay tribute to the wonderful Territorians who have been acknowledged for their hard work in our community on the Australia Day Honours list.

The Hon. Trevor Riley QC is now an Officer of the Order of Australia. He is a former Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. His legal career has spanned almost 50 years. He worked on the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, which, of course, is important work as we reflect today upon the efforts that are still required to close the gap. During his tenure as chief justice he was outspoken on such issues as alcohol abuse, high imprisonment rates and cuts to legal aid. He's made a colossal contribution, and Territorians are very thankful.

Also a newly appointed AO is Professor Alan Cass, Director of the Menzies School of Health Research. I spoke with Alan at a breakfast we had just the other day for the anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations. He's a kidney specialist and he's doing amazing work to get better health outcomes, particularly for the First Australians. Unfortunately, the NT has some of the highest rates of kidney failure in the world, so Professor Cass's work is literally life-saving.

His colleague Professor Amanda Jane Leach has now been awarded an AM. She is doing fantastic work in fighting an ear infection which causes long-term hearing loss in First Nation's kids. When you consider that hearing loss in children often leads to less-than-great outcomes at school—dropping out of school et cetera—then this work that Professor Leach is doing is so important.

Long-time and recently retired Katherine mayor, Fay Miller, has done tremendous work for her community. A member of the other side of politics, Fay has been a tireless advocate for Katherine for more than 30 years, including as deputy opposition leader in the NT legislative assembly. She has faced down huge obstacles, such as breaking her neck and rebuilding her home twice after the flooding that went through Katherine over the years. So I send a heartfelt and very apolitical thank you to Fay.

Former Chief Magistrate of the NT, Hugh Bradley, was also honoured this year for his service to the law and the judiciary—well done, Hugh. David Watters was honoured for his service to law enforcement in the NT. Thank you, David, very much for your service. And congratulations to the Hagan family of Tennant Creek and also a special shout out to Katie Woolf of Mix104.9 FM, who I speak with regularly on-air. She is a great voice for our community, speaking truth to power. She has also positively channelled her grief from losing her father six years ago to prostate cancer. She started the NT Run with Dad charity to raise community awareness about prostate cancer. She's a top Territorian and so well done, Katie.

As is David Dinh, who received a medal for his service to the NT Vietnamese community. On the weekend I went to the Tet celebration for the new year, which is a fantastic event. Good on you, David—we're much better off in our community for your excellent contribution. And you grow delicious mangoes! Well done, mate.

Carley Scott is CEO of Equatorial Launch Australia. ELA is doing fantastic work out in East Arnhem Land for the growing space industry there. Getting NASA rockets launched from a spaceport in the outback is fantastic work—keep it up Carley! And, lastly, but very importantly, I want to pay tribute to our Public Service medallists. There is a Jodie Ryan, a long-term public servant in the Northern Territory—well done—and our Chief Health Officer, Hugh Heggie. He is doing a fantastic job with our COVID response, which has seen the Territory not have one community transmission so far. Well done, Hugh Heggie, and well done to those great Territorians.

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