King’s Birthday Honours list 2024: full list of Australians recognised

Four senior ALP figures – including the divisive Daniel Andrews and Mark McGowan – have been named in the King’s Birthday Honours, angering Australians. See full list.

One enforced the toughest restrictions on his own state while the other kept people out during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Now former Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews and his WA counterpart Mark McGowan have been given the highest level of recognition in the King’s Birthday honours list.

Both men have been made Companions of the Order of Australia (AC) alongside another former Labor leader in the late Simon Crean and the incoming Governor-General Samantha Mostyn.

The divisive Andrews and the at-times popular McGowan both resigned last year amid falling approval ratings.

Another senior Labor figure, former federal minister Greg Combet, has been made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), with the Labor honorees sure to raise questions from the general public once again about awards given to politicians.

No Coalition figures were included in Monday’s list of high-achieving Australians, although there were three among this year’s Australia Day honourees.

In some Australia Day and King’s/Queen’s Birthday honours cohorts over the past decade no political figures have been recognised; at other times as many as six have been included, albeit from different parties.

Monday’s list marks the first time in more than a decade that four honourees from the same party have been recognised at the same time.

When asked about the recognition of former MPs, and the decision to recognise Labor but not Coalition figures in the list, a spokesperson for the Council for the Order of Australia said they did not comment on individual recipients.

But regular Australians did not hold back with 83 per cent of 1339 people who took our poll saying the list got it wrong (as at 7am AEST).

“Wow, I hope there are people who actually deserve the award on the list. What about all the volunteers who don’t get paid?,” wrote one reader.

Another said: “I can think of 800 reasons why Andrew’s should have not got an award!”.

Similarly a third said: “Awarding Andrews is absolute insult to deserving recipients.”

All up, 737 Australians were honoured on the King’s Birthday list, including an equal number of men and women, and one recipient whose gender was not specified.

Samantha Mostyn, the next Governor-General of Australia. Picture: PMO

Simon Crean was made an AC posthumously.

The overall tally was almost 20 per cent down on last year, with a spokesperson for the Honours and Awards Secretariat saying a major digital transformation project affected the volume of nominations considered.

“Post implementation, it is anticipated that lists will be of a similar size to recent years,” the spokesperson said.

Simon Crean’s widow Carole Crean said the recognition was “very emotional” for the family, and her husband, who died last year aged 74, would have been “very honoured and proud”.

“He was extraordinary in how he actually touched people’s lives,” Mrs Crean said.

“Everyone he met felt that he was interested in them … and if they had a problem, he would attempt to help them.”

She said she became aware of some of the ways Simon impacted people’s lives after the state funeral for him last July, when his constituents came up to talk to her.

“They weren’t exactly things I knew about, because he didn’t beat his own drum,” she said.

Greg Combet. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Ian Currie

Professor Karen Canfell. Picture: Mark Cranitch

Rounding out the list of AC recipients was the epidemiologist and cancer researcher Professor Karen Canfell, who was recognised for her services to medicine, tertiary education and as a mentor and leader, and the composer and festival director Sir Jonathan Mills, who was honoured for international cultural leadership and diplomacy. Sir Jonathan was knighted by the Queen in 2013.

The former Rudd and Gillard government minister Greg Combet said he was “very privileged and very honoured” to be recognised, but pointed out his time in parliament was just six years out of a 48-year career. And at the age of 66 (“a terrible thing to dig up”) he’s just started as Chair of the Future Fund.

“So hopefully I’ve still got something to contribute,” he said.

Asked about his proudest achievements, Mr Combet mentioned two from his time as ACTU secretary (1999-2007): the creation of a compensation fund for victims of asbestos-related diseases (after “a pretty tough fight with James Hardie”) and getting 92 cents in the dollar for Ansett staff left without entitlements when the airline went bust.

One of his biggest wins in parliament – establishing a carbon price – was subsequently repealed, but other legacies, including the Clean Energy Finance Corporation and the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, remain.

Dan Andrews, who quit as Victorian Premier in 2023 after nine years in office, said: ‘I’m honoured to have been nominated for this award and grateful to every Victorian who contributed to some of our state’s best times and who worked so hard to see us through our most challenging”.