AFL legend and MND campaigner Neale Daniher named 2025 Australian of the Year

An AFL legend fighting motor neurone disease, who has raised more than $100 million towards finding a cure for the degenerative condition, has been named the 2025 Australian of the Year.

Former Essendon champion and Melbourne coach Neale Daniher, AO, has been battling the effects of MND – a condition which progressively damages nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord responsible for controling muscles – for more than a decade.

Australian of the Year Neale Daniher was diagnosed with motor neurone disease in 2013.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

At a ceremony in Canberra on Saturday night, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he was “delighted” to declare Daniher the 2025 Australian of the Year.

Daniher said he hoped that the underlying cause of MND could be found in his lifetime and asked the crowd to imagine a world where families didn’t lose their loved ones to “this cruel disease”.

Neale Daniher in action in 1985 during a training session for the Essendon Bombers.Credit: Geoff Ampt

“I hope to leave a legacy that says this: no matter the odds, no matter the diagnosis, we all have the power to choose to fight, to choose our attitude, to choose to smile and to choose to do something because the mark of a person isn’t what they say, it’s what they do,” Daniher said in a pre-recorded message played during the ceremony. He has lost his ability to speak due to the disease.

“The journey began for me in 2013 when I was diagnosed with motor neurone disease, a beast of a disease. It doesn’t discriminate. It robs you of your ability to move, speak, swallow and eventually breathe. But it did something else, too. It lit a fire within me, a determination to fight for those who are currently affected, and those who will face it after me.

“This recognition isn’t just for me. It belongs to the entire MND community of families, the carers, the researchers, the volunteers … it also belongs to my family ... who have been with me every step of the way on this challenging journey.”

Following his diagnosis in 2013, Daniher co-founded FightMND, a charity that has raised and invested more than $100 million for medical research to find a cure for the disease.

“When I was diagnosed, there was a small but dedicated research community, but we needed to build our capacity if we were serious about taking the fight to MND,” he said.

“So a highlight for me is how we have steadily built that capacity. Without a dedicated and robust research community, we won’t get the breakthroughs we are after.”

The 63-year-old Victorian has long defied the average life expectancy of 27 months following diagnosis, and continues to campaign for a cure and raise awareness about MND, even in the advanced stages of the disease.

Speaking ahead of the awards ceremony on Saturday, Daniher, who was born in regional NSW, said he would have to pinch himself if he was named Australian of the Year.

“The boy from outback Australia, from a small town called Ungarie, named Australian of the Year, who would have thought?” he said.

“It’s a great honour which allows a terrific platform to thank everyone across Australia that has supported our cause because without them, I would never have been nominated.”

Brother Thomas Oliver Pickett, from Western Australia, was named Senior Australian of the Year.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

Daniher was Essendon’s youngest captain at the age of 20, senior coach of Melbourne from 1998 to 2007, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame at both clubs.

Brother Thomas Oliver Pickett, AM, co-founder of Wheelchairs For Kids – a charity providing adjustable wheelchairs and occupational therapy expertise for children, free of charge – was named Senior Australian of the Year. Pickett, from Western Australia, dedicated the award to all the charity’s volunteers.

Dr Katrina Wruck, a Mabuigilaig and Goemulgal woman from Queensland who has long advocated for First Nations knowledge, was awarded Young Australian of the Year for her research and work on breaking down dangerous “forever chemicals” into benign ones.

Wruck said she was proud to defy the odds, succeeding as a neurodiverse Indigenous woman.

Dr Katrina Wruck, from Queensland, is the Young Australian of the Year.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“Early in my journey, I worked to prove others wrong,” said Wruck.

“But along the way, I realised I wasn’t doing it for them. I was doing it for myself, for my family and for the communities I represent.”

Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costell, from the ACT, were awarded Australia’s Local Heroes of the Year for their business, Cafe Stepping Stone, which operates as a social enterprise employing women mostly from migrant and refugee backgrounds and others who experience significant barriers to employment.

Brettell said the organisation had employed dozens of women from migrant and refugee backgrounds, who had collectively earned more than $2 million and developed their workplace skills, English capabilities and confidence.

“At [the age of] 21 I was inspired by the quote ‘Be the change you want to see in the world’ and this was the driving force to start our work,” said Brettell.

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