Covid heroes and superheroes top Queen’s Birthday Honours list
Hollywood superstar Chris Hemsworth has been recognised by the Queen along with Peta Credlin and Glenn Lazarus. See who else made the cut.
National
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From the heroes of the Covid-19 frontline to the God of Thunder, the Queen’s Birthday Honours List has recognised 1190 exemplary Australians.
Actor Chris Hemsworth, political commentator Peta Credlin, Rugby League great Ricky Stuart and the Australian Ballet’s former artistic director David McAllister are among the big names to be included.
This year’s list is notable for its record representation of women (44 per cent of recipients are female), a noticeable bump in the number of surf lifesaving volunteers (10 in total), and – unusual for an Australian honours cohort – the complete absence of any former federal MPs.
Governor-General David Hurley said he was prioritising increasing awareness of the honours system among groups that were “historically under represented” and we were seeing “positive progress”.
Five people were appointed Companions of the Order of Australia (AC), the highest honour, including Mr McAllister, DFAT Secretary Frances Adamson, Federal Circuit Court Judge Barbara Baker, geophysicist Emeritus Professor Kurt Lambeck and the Anglican Archbishop of Brisbane, Dr Phillip Aspinall.
SEE WHO WAS RECOGNISED BELOW:
CHRIS HEMSWORTH
The former Home and Away and Neighbours cast member is being recognised on home soil for significant service to the performing arts and to charitable organisations.
Hemsworth has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in the Queen’s Birthday Honours for his efforts in not only helping bring Hollywood to Australia, but for his work in causes close to his heart.
The 37-year-old has worked tirelessly with his family to raise funds and awareness as patron of kids charity The Australian Childhood Foundation.
“Child abuse is a really tough topic but if it we want to do something about it, it is one we have to face,” Hemsworth, who has three children with actor wife Elsa Pataky, says in a video on the foundation’s website.
“Abuse robs children of their childhood. It can leave them unable to play, learn, trust or build good relationships. The social impact is enormous, the financial burden estimated at some $30bn annually. Now I was fortunate enough to grow up in a loving family, which as a parent myself I appreciate now more than ever, but not every child is as lucky.
“The bottom line is the loss that abused children experience is too tough for them to handle alone.”
Hemsworth also donated and helped raise funds for bushfire recovery in 2020 and works with environmental organisations including AussieArk and WildArk.
He has also been a huge backer of tourism in Australia, and has been Global Campaign Ambassador for Tourism Australia since 2016.
In the past 18 months of the global pandemic, Hemsworth has been instrumental in helping establish Australia as a global hub of film and television production while basing himself and his family in Byron Bay.
His latest Marvel blockbuster, Thor: Love and Thunder, just wrapped in Sydney and he will soon begin shooting Netflix film Extraction 2 in Australia.
He wrapped production on Netflix movie Escape From Spiderhead before he started Thor, and produced the Matthew Reilly flick, Interceptor, which starred his wife.
The Thor and Avengers franchises have made him one of the highest-paid actors in the world, with an estimated worth well over $100m.
He recently fronted press alongside Premier Gladys Berejiklian and Oscar-winning director George Miller to announce the next Mad Max film, Furiosa, will be shot in NSW.
“It’s something I’m going to put my heart and soul into because it really is, for me, out of everything I’ve done, the biggest pinch-myself moment because I’ve grown up watching it,” the actor said of the Mad Max project.
DAVID MCALLISTER
Mr McAllister said his inclusion was “an incredible honour”.
“Sometimes in Australia we think of the arts as something that’s sort of fluffy and on the side, but it’s really fundamental to our cultural life,” he said.
“Especially since the pandemic, people are realising more and more just how important, having not been able to go to the theatre or see exhibitions or hear an orchestra.”
EUGENE ATHAN
Several honorees were recognised for their efforts in the fight against Covid-19, including Clinical Professor Eugene Athan, director of the infectious disease department at Barwon Health, who was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM).
Prof Athan said he was “very humbled” by the recognition, and he was hopeful the vaccines would restore life as normal, either late this year or early in 2022.
“We’re finding our way,” he said. “We learnt many lessons in 2020. We’re much faster at identifying cases and dealing with contacts and containing small clusters than we were last year. Our systems are much more responsive. In Victoria we’ve redesigned the public health system. We now have nine regional health units rather than the centralised model that we had last year.”
PETA CREDLIN
Criticisms of the Victorian government’s pandemic response boosted Peta Credlin’s already high profile over the past year. Her appointment as an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) completes a unique trifecta of honours that also includes a Walkley and a Logie.
The Chief of Staff to former Prime Minister Tony Abbott and now Sky News commentator said broadcasting and politics had similarities – “it’s still about the battle of ideas” – but a big key to success was in respecting one’s opponent.
“If you don’t respect the alternative view, you don’t respect other ideas beyond your own, or if you don’t respect the party that you’re up against at a general election, you’ll never beat them. I think that was one of the great mistakes Labor had with John Howard for so long; they never attributed his success to him being actually good at the ballot box,” she said
Ms Credlin herself has been touted as a future leader – possibly Victorian Premier.
Asked whether she would announce her candidacy, she had a good laugh.
“I am always up for hard work, and 16 years in politics tells you that I love a campaign, but it comes at a heavy toll,” she said.
“I am thoroughly enjoying being back home in Victoria, where I grew up, and having more time with friends and family. I would be pretty reluctant to give that up.”
ANGELA BISHOP
Every visiting Hollywood actor, rock legend or pop star who visited Australia in the mid 1990s would be ambushed at the end of their press conference by tenacious entertainment reporter Angela Bishop brandishing a teddy bear.
Bishop collected hundreds of Signature Bears over the years as one of the founding ambassadors of the Sydney Breast Cancer Foundation, raising millions of dollars to fight a disease which back then was barely talked about, let alone supported by research and community organisations.
She cornered Bono and The Edge backstage to sign a bear, Nicole Kidman and then husband Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson, whose furry “artworks”fetched up to $11,000 at the annual charity gala auction.
While she has been awarded an OAM for her illustrious career as one of Australia’s premier entertainment editors, Bishop is a passionate and tireless advocate for several charities very close to her heart.
“I remember handing Jack Nicholson the bear and telling him he needed to sign it for breast cancer,” Bishop said.
“His response was ‘Breasts, Angela; great cause.’”
For the past 13 years, she has also helped to raise millions at the annual gala for the Grace Centre for Newborn Care at the The Children’s Hospital at Westmead, where her daughter Amelia’s life was saved two days after her birth.
She also launched the Baikie’s Ride For Rare Cancers a few years ago in honour of her motorcycle-loving husband Peter who died of primary pulmonary synovial sarcoma, a very rare form of cancer which affects one in three million people.
“I throw myself into this because there is something healing about helping others when you are grieving – it gives you a moment to be grateful,” she said.
She also remains extraordinarily proud of her entertainment journalism and putting focus on the arts, particularly as those in the community struggle to recover from the pandemic shutdowns.
“The arts are a legitimate part of the news cycle and as important as sport and everything else,” she said.
MORE ENTERTAINMENT / MEDIA STARS
LEAH PURCELL
Others in the arts and media community who were recognised in the 2021 honours include Wentworth and The Drover’s Wife star Leah Purcell, who was appointed an AM for her significant service to the performing arts, to First Nations youth and culture, and to women.
JUDI FARR
A Place to Call Home actor and veteran of our theatre stages Judi Farr was also appointed an AM.
MARK BERETTA & SIMON BOUDA
Veteran crime reporter Simon Bouda and Sunrise sports commentator and charity advocate Mark Beretta were awarded OAMs.
SPORTS STARS
Collectively they’ve won NRL and AFL grand finals, conquered the world, broken down barriers in women’s sport and excelled in every avenue of their decorated careers.
But being recognised on the Queen’s Birthday honour list? That news humbled them like nothing they’d experience before.
Nine of Australia’s finest sportsmen and women were recognised on Monday, receiving awards for outstanding service or achievement in the community.
Rugby league great Ricky Stuart was awarded the honour of Member of the Order (AM), as were motorsport icons Larry Perkins and John Bowe.
LARRY PERKINS
“I thought they must’ve called the wrong bloke,” laughed Perkins, a former Supercars and Formula One driver and six-time winner of the Bathurst 1000.
“For everyone that gets a gong there’s far more out there that are just as deserving who don’t get it.
“And that always sits uncomfortably with me. If you’ve been fair and had a good attitude and you got on with it, why should one bloke get a gong when another doesn’t?
“But I’m very happy that someone seems fit to recognise that maybe I did do more than I needed to do. I won’t be knocking it back!”
RICKY STUART
Ricky Stuart, who has won NRL titles as a player and coach and starred for NSW and Australia, was recognised for his significant service to the community through the Ricky Stuart Foundation, which is aimed at raising the awareness of autism and helping those living with disabilities.
“I don’t think (this honour has come) for the amount of tries I scored,” Stuart said.
“I enjoy helping others, especially those who can’t help themselves. The foundation gives me that opportunity to go out and help others.
“Being awarded the honour is such a humbling experience. When I first found out I was very, very proud.”
Legendary Indigenous AFL star Michael Long was one of six sports stars to be given a new title of Medal of the Order (OAM), along with Socceroos great Robbie Slater, basketball star-turned-WAFL-trailblazer Erin Phillips, five-time NRL champion Glenn Lazarus, women’s rugby league pioneer Ruan Sims and sports administrator Tony Cochrane.
ROBBIE SLATER
Slater won an English Premier League title with Blackburn and represented Australia 44 times, but said this acknowledgment outweighed anything he achieved on the football pitch.
“So many people think they’re owed things, but football owes me nothing because the game has given me everything – and it’s now given me something else that is so, so special … something that’s bigger than anything I ever did as a player,” Slater said.
GLENN LAZARUS
One of the most feared forwards of all time, Lazarus wasn’t letting the honour get to his head.
“People can still just call me Lazo,” he said.
“I was just a kid who grew up in Queanbeyan and I loved playing footy, and luckily for me I was able to make a career out of it.
“I’m very surprised but very honoured. It’s a real privilege.”
Originally published as Covid heroes and superheroes top Queen’s Birthday Honours list
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