{"id":14989,"date":"2021-01-27T19:00:47","date_gmt":"2021-01-27T19:00:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.broadagenda.com.au\/?p=8770"},"modified":"2021-01-27T19:00:47","modified_gmt":"2021-01-27T19:00:47","slug":"australian-honours-and-that-bullseye-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/27\/australian-honours-and-that-bullseye-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Australian honours and that bullseye award!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Watching my former ABC colleague Kerry O\u2019Brien explain why he wrote to the Governor General last Saturday<\/a> to decline his appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) left me somewhat conflicted.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve worked with Kerry, and of course at times argued with him. But privately, I\u2019ve always been inspired by his sharp moral compass, commitment to social justice and passion for honourable action.<\/p>\n

As always, Kerry\u2019s reasoning was considered and unequivocal. His rejection of the AO was in protest against the \u201cdeeply insensitive and divisive decision\u201d to award Margaret Court the highest honour, a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC). The former tennis champion, turned Pentecostal preacher, is infamous these days for her anti-homosexuality and anti-transgender pronouncements.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Margaret Court<\/p><\/div>\n

It\u2019s a big deal to receive an Australian Honour. For some of us it\u2019s a tremendous life affirming moment. A moment of shock and inexplicable gratitude. Not gratitude for the gong itself, but a deep and humble gratitude for the simple fact that others have deemed your contribution to society as valuable, and worthy of recognition.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s certainly how I felt when I opened that letter from Government House a few months before I was publicly announced a Member of the Order of Australia (AM), back on the Queens\u2019 Birthday in 2014.<\/p>\n

\"\"

2014 Virginia Haussegger AM with GovernorGeneral, Sir Peter Cosgrove<\/p><\/div>\n

Suddenly, all that doubt about the value of my input, and all those years of work outside my paid employment, that one assumes no-one notices, suddenly those myriad efforts and causes I had fought for were acknowledged as worthy of attention. It was an amazing moment.<\/p>\n

I suspect that moment was the same, or very similar, for Kerry. And perhaps similar too for Canberra\u2019s transgender doctor, Tuck Meng Soo<\/a>, along with artist Peter Kingston<\/a>, both of whom have also returned their Australian Honours in protest at Court\u2019s award.<\/p>\n

I felt conflicted when I heard Kerry\u2019s decision because my immediate reaction was to wonder if I should do the same. Not just because I have a beloved transgender family member, but because even if I didn\u2019t have lived experience of the pain Court\u2019s cruel words cause, I find her religious bigotry repugnant. But then, I also find Bettina Arndt\u2019s championing of a convicted paedophile,<\/a> and demonising rape victims and so called \u201cfeminist vigilantes\u201d equally disgraceful.<\/p>\n

Arndt received an AM last year. Whilst I didn\u2019t consider returning my award at the time, there is no doubt public confidence in the awards has been badly shaken this year. ANU\u2019s Prof Bongiorno told the Canberra Times on Wednesday<\/a> the Honours system has reached \u201csub-basement level\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Bettina Arndt interviewing twice convicted paedophile Nicolaas Bester<\/p><\/div>\n

A total of 844 Australians were recognized in this week\u2019s Australia Day Honour list. Thanks to a detailed study by Fairfax journalists Jacqueline Maley and Nigel Gladstone, we now know the majority of award recipients over the past 45 years have been white, privileged, educated, well paid men. Only 31 percent are women. But among the total 42,414 recipients there are countless, wonderful, compassionate, generous citizens, who have devoted exceptional energy towards making our nation a better place.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, in light of the Court and Arndt controversies, and the fact that there are no doubt other recipients with dubious views that would offend many Australians, we now have pressing need to critically examine the selection system, particularly the values and criteria underpinning it – and fix it. Which, I think, is far preferable to simply trashing it all together.<\/p>\n

I suspect for many recipients the award is not only a huge shot in the arm for the work they do, and community organisations they\u2019re involved with, but a tremendous confidence booster.<\/p>\n

My friend Mahboba Rowe, an awe-inspiring Afghan Australian, received an OAM over a decade ago for her tireless NGO work and dedication to Afghan orphans and widows<\/a>. But still she glows with pride when speaking of the friendships she made and support she received as a result of being invited to Government House back in 2010.<\/p>\n

For Mahboba the OAM was a game changer. Tens of thousands would say the same. As do I.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Virginia Haussegger AM, Mahboba Rawi OAM<\/p><\/div>\n

In a moment of perfect Aussie synchronicity, whilst mulling over how best to redesign the honour awards system and make it more fully reflect Australia, I happened to be attending Monday night\u2019s announcement of the 2021 Australian of the Year. And there it was! The most beautifully, exciting and diverse collection of recipients you could ever hope to see!<\/p>\n

There, up on stage, all 32 state and territory award winners shone in multiple shades of skin colour, age, background, ethnicity, mobility, socio-economic background, even fashion sense! It was a truly colourful collection. Which also happened to be majority female.<\/p>\n

My joy then hit overdrive when women were named as the national winners in all<\/em> four categories: Local Hero, Young, Senior and Australian of the Year. Even more dazzling – three of those incredible women activists, advocates, educators and change makers won their award specifically for working to empower women.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Grace Tame, Dr Miriam-Rose Ungunmerr Baumann AM, Isobel Marshall, Rosemary Kariuki<\/p><\/div>\n

My jubilant tweets at the time were met with plenty of shared joy. But, surprisingly, numerous comments about Margaret Court indicated public confusion about the difference between the National Australia Day Council<\/a> – which runs the Australian of the Year Awards – and the Council for the Order of Australia<\/a>, which operates under the auspices of the Governor General.<\/p>\n

While the Australia Honour\u2019s system could learn a lot from the Australia Day Council, clearly many Australians are not aware the two sets of awards are separate and unconnected. That too needs fixing.<\/p>\n

But perhaps the sweetest moment in this controversial week of awards was witnessing 26-year-old Grace Tame named 2021 Australian of the Year. A sexual assault survivor and fearless campaigner for the rights of victims to speak out, Tame received national attention last year when she called on the Governor General to rescind the AM given to Betina Arndt.<\/a> The right-wing commentator had published an interview with the paedophile jailed for repeatedly raping Grace when she was a 15-year-old school girl. In the interview Arndt accused Tame of \u201csexually provocative behaviour\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Monday night, as Grace Tame thrust her award into the air and shook it, saying \u201chear me now!\u201d, I think I heard the echo of a precision perfect \u2018bullseye\u2019 hitting its mark … thanks to the power of a well targeted award.<\/p>\n

\"\"

Grace Tame, 2021 Australian of the Year<\/p><\/div>\n

The post Australian honours and that bullseye award!<\/a> appeared first on BroadAgenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on BroadAgenda<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Watching my former ABC colleague Kerry O\u2019Brien explain why he wrote to the Governor General last Saturday to decline his appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) left me somewhat conflicted. I\u2019ve worked with Kerry, and of course at times argued with him. But privately, I\u2019ve always been inspired by his sharp [\u2026]<\/p>\n

The post Australian honours and that bullseye award!<\/a> appeared first on BroadAgenda<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":628,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1525,1628],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14989"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/628"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14989"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14989\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15003,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14989\/revisions\/15003"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}