Bettina Arndt, Mike Carlton to keep Order of Australia honours

Controversial social commentator and men's rights activist Bettina Arndt and former Sydney Morning Herald columnist Mike Carlton will keep their spots among the Order of Australia after the organising body rejected calls for their expulsion.

The Council for the Order of Australia decided only legal findings against a person were enough to show someone had brought it into disrepute, a key basis for removal, and that had not happened to Ms Arndt or Mr Carlton.

Bettina Arndt's comments about domestic violence were widely condemned.Credit: Joshua Morris

"In a system that recognises the service of hundreds of people each year, it is inevitable that each list will include some people who others believe should not be recognised," council chairman Shane Stone said in a statement.

Politicians across the political spectrum had called for the decision this year to admit Ms Arndt as a Member of the Order of Australia be overturned because of her remarks about paedophilia and family violence.

Ms Arndt was castigated after she praised a Queensland police officer on Twitter for keeping an "open mind" about whether a man who murdered his wife and children by setting them alight had been "driven too far".

In February all parties in the Senate except One Nation condemned her comments. "The values that underpin Ms Arndt's views on this horrific family violence incident are not consistent with her retaining her Order of Australia," the motion read.

Senator Pauline Hanson sits alone during a vote opposing a motion condemning comments made by Bettina Arndt.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Ms Arndt had also previously been cautioned over her use of the title "psychologist" but escaped sanction. Ms Arndt did not return calls and texts seeking comment but has previously said criticisms of her remark were "virtue signalling" by "feral mobs".

Mr Carlton resigned from the Herald in 2014 after being disciplined for using offensive language in his emails to readers, some of which referenced their Jewish faith. That incident, along with a later tweet saying musician Jimmy Barnes had been restrained for not "strangling" Liberal MP Nicole Flint on a panel show, prompted Liberal politicians to call for his 2020 award to be cancelled.

Mr Carlton dismissed the campaign against him, saying it was "a piece of malicious bullying by the rabid right wing culture warriors at News Corpse ... followed up by a couple of the madder right-wing Liberal Party MPs".

Author and commentator Mike Carlton.

"News Corpse" is a popular pun in left wing circles on social media use to mock News Corp, the publisher of newspapers including The Australian and Daily Telegraph, which reported on the campaign.

Mr Carlton said he disagreed entirely with Ms Ardnt's politics but did not want her stripped of her award. "I think the council has basically got it right," he said. "If one section of the community gets all shouty that's no reason everybody else should be put out."

Victorian Senator Sarah Henderson who called for both Mr Carlton and Ms Arndt to lose their honours, said she accepted the decision but will "continue to advocate for a major review of our Australian Honours system including the criteria by which recipients are judged".

Mr Stone, a former Liberal chief minister of the Northern Territory, said the council's decision was not an endorsement of anyone's politics.

"Individuals are neither qualified nor disqualified on the basis of their political leanings, social views or religious convictions."

It took the council six months to come to its decision, which was announced on Wednesday, after the Governor-General decided not to use his power to unilaterally remove the honours.