Australian of the Year 2016: former army chief David Morrison

David Morrison is named 2016 Australian of the Year for his commitment to inclusion, diversity and gender equality.

It was the phrase that shocked a Defence Force riven by sex scandals and prejudices against women and minorities.

The “standard you walk past is the standard you accept” the then army chief David Morrison told the force in a YouTube video that quickly went viral around the world. His soldiers needed to show ­respect to women or “get out”.

Fierce and unapologetic, the Canberra-based retired lieutenant-general has been named the 2016 Australian of the Year for his commitment to inclusion, diversity and gender equality.

Mr Morrison last night vowed to lend his voice to the republican movement after state and federal leaders reignited the push to have an Australian head of state.

“It is time, I think, to at least revisit the question, so that we can stand both free and fully independent amongst the community of nations,” Mr Morrison said in his acceptance speech.

His 2013 video blast, aimed at ending a practice of those in command of personnel turning a blind eye to the misdeeds of soldiers beneath them, sparked a cultural shift in the male-dominated armed forces. The writer of that speech was Catherine McGregor, a senior transgender military officer who was also an Australian of the Year finalist.

Speaking to The Australian before the announcement, Mr Morrison’s message for 2016 was just as sharp. “We are a great country but imagine how much better we would be if everybody was able to reach their potential and wasn’t held back through the most questionable of criteria: their gender, their racial heritage, their sexual orientation or the god they believe in. Imagine what we could do,” Mr Morrison said.

The 59-year-old chairman of the Diversity Council Australia said he could never “unsee” mistreatment of fellow human beings.

“The nomination as the ACT Australian of the Year has given me a degree of public awareness again and I think I’d be abrogating what has happened so far if I was to simply stay silent, so I don’t intend to do that. “We’ve got a distance to travel in the Australian Defence Force and certainly the army but I’ll leave that to the current Chief of Defence Force and Chief of Army to deal with.

“Australia has got a long way to go, we are a great country, but we do have that wonderful Australian pragmatism that looks at ourselves in a fairly rational way and say ‘Well, you know what, I think we could probably be better’.”

Australian of the Year

VIEW GALLERY

During his 37-year military career, Mr Morrison commanded the army through a crucial part of its long-term commitment in Afghanistan. He retired in May last year and was named director of the anti-family violence organisation Our Watch in November.

On the stage with Mr Morrison last night was Gordian Fulde, the country’s longest-serving emergency department director, who was named Senior Australian of the Year; 21-year-old social entrepreneurs Nic Marchesi and Lucas Patchett, the Young Australian of the Year Award recipients; and Local Hero Catherine Keenan, a Sydney-based youth educator.

“I believe that we’re actually gaining a much greater awareness of what is right about us,” Mr Morrison said.

“We’re at something of a tipping point and the fact that so many of the nominees for all of the categories of Australian of the Year have earned their reputations through their commitment to communities both at a local level and at a national level, there’s something enormously positive about us as Australians. How could you not want to be a part of it?”

Mr Morrison said Rosie Batty had set a “benchmark” not just for future Australians of the Year but every Australian. He said he would continue her work to fight domestic violence.

Ms Batty used her final speech to applaud the nation for having “deep, confronting” conversations about family violence in the open. “Whilst family violence is still happening behind closed doors, the conversations aren’t. We are shifting the blame, previously placed on to the victim, and redirecting it to where it squarely needs to be: to the perpetrators of this violence.”