Logies 2016: Noni Hazlehurst delivers scathing Hall of Fame speech

AUSSIE TV veteran Noni Hazlehurst has delivered one of the most memorable Logies acceptance speeches ever after being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

SHE’s been a feature of Australian television for over four decades. And last night Noni Hazlehurst cemented her place in local TV history, becoming only the second woman to be inducted into the TV Week Hall of Fame.

Friends and colleagues from her many years on screen paid tribute to the 62-year-old actor and presenter, in a heartfelt video package, which aired before Noni took to the stage to accept her award.

Noni Hazlehurst is just the second woman to be inducted into the 2016 Logies Hall of Fame.

Amongst those speaking were John Waters, Ernie Dingo, John Hamblin and Abby Earl from her latest series, A Place to Call Home.

Cate Blanchett heralded her one-time co-star as “one of the most fearless actors I have ever had the pleasure to work opposite: “Noni has had a singular career, an inspiring career,” she said before pointing out that audiences felt “as if they knew her”.

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And she wasn’t wrong. Most of the 200-strong guests at the Crown Palladium were rapturous in their applause for the woman they had grown up watching — and loving — through their childhoods.

Noni Hazlehurst with her sons William and Charlie.

What followed was a speech that not only resonated with the room — but also with viewers across the country.

“Forty three years is a long time, and yet it seems like an instant. So much so that this is something of a shock,” she said, before embarking on a heartfelt speech about her time on screen, and the need to portray positive, uplifting stories on television.

Completely stunning speech from Noni Hazelhurst as she is awarded the much-deserved #Logies Hall of Fame award. @Channel9 @TVWEEKmag

— Lisa Wilkinson (@Lisa_Wilkinson) May 8, 2016

You are right Noni we don't have the time to do all the things we want to do with our kids. Thanks for shaping my childhood. #HallofFame

— Carrie Bickmore (@BickmoreCarrie) May 8, 2016

All hail Noni Hazelhurst. A woman who makes sense in this modern world

— Stefan Dennis. (@dendale) May 8, 2016

Is it too late to vote for Noni for PM? #TVWEEKLogies

— Marc Fennell (@marcfennell) May 8, 2016

She also made comment about the fact that in all her years working in television, only one other woman — Ruth Cracknell, in 2001 — had been given the same honour.

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“I fear that our hearts are growing cold,” she said. “The fact that I’m only the second woman to be given this honour is merely a reflection of the prevailing guard….[But] things are changing.

“They are changing glacially slowly. The great thing about glaciers, is that if you’re not on them, you go under.I have been riding that glacier for 40 years and I am staying on top of it.”

She paid particular attention to her years on Play School - over two decades, from 1978 to 2002 - saying she felt her casting on the acclaimed children’s show had been “a stroke of luck.”

Originally published as Logies 2016: Noni Hazlehurst delivers scathing Hall of Fame speech