Australia Day honours: Deborah Lee-Furness and Delta Goodrem are Neighbours who major in caring

They’re ladies of the screen who got their break on Ramsay Street in the fictional suburb of Erinsborough in Melbourne, acting in the soap opera Neighbours.

Deborra-Lee Furness. Picture: Getty Images

They’re ladies of the screen who got their break on Ramsay Street in the fictional suburb of Erinsborough in Melbourne, acting in the soap opera Neighbours.

Director Deborra-Lee Furness and singer Delta Goodrem now have something else in common, with both receiving Australia Day honours for their contributions to the arts and philanthropy.

Furness has been appointed an Officer to the Order of Australia for her distinguished service as an adoption advocate and as an ambassador to the arts and not-for-profit organisations.

She and her husband, Australian actor Hugh Jackman, have two adopted children, Oscar Maximilian and Ava Eliot, and Furness has been open about her experiences with IVF and the miscarriages she suffered before adopting.

She’s been a World Vision Goodwill Ambassador since 2008 and co-founded Hopeland, a not-for-profit helping abandoned children find loving homes, and founded Adopt Change, which encourages adoption over fostering.

Furness returned to Neighbours in 2020, some 35 years after she made her acting debut as Linda Fielding, to direct three episodes focused on a couple who foster children after struggling with the adoption process.

Goodrem made her debut on Neighbours as Nina Tucker in 2002. Her debut album went No 1 on the Aria charts upon release in March 2003 but that July she was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma. After treatment, she has released six more albums and acted in films and TV shows.

She’s also raised money for kids with cancer, including founding the Delta Goodrem Foundation at St Vincent’s Hospital in 2020, serving as an ambassador to the Make a Wish Foundation and as a patron of the King Horn Cancer Centre. For service to the not-for-profit sector and performing arts, she has been appointed a Member of the Order of Australia.