Governor-General strips Andrew O’Keefe of Order of Australia honour

Troubled former TV game host Andrew O’Keefe has had his prized Order of Australia terminated after complaints that his bouts of drugs and violence made him unfit for the honour.

Former Seven game show host Andrew O'Keefe, pictured earlier this year. Picture: NewsWire / Flavio Brancaleone

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Troubled former TV game host Andrew O’Keefe has been stripped of his prized Order of Australia (AM) after complaints that his recent history of drugs and violence made him unfit for the honour.

In a notice dated 4 June 2025, Governor-General Sam Mostyn “accepted the resignation as a member of the Order of Australia in the General Division” of Andrew Patrick O’Keefe, who would “cease to be appointed a Member of the Order of Australia, By Her Excellency’s Command”.

It is understood the Council of the Order of Australia, the body responsible for recommending and terminating appointments, made the decision after receiving a large number of complaints about the former ambassador for anti-domestic violence organisation, White Ribbon.

O’Keefe has been in and out of the courts on drug and domestic violence charges in recent years, pleading guilty earlier this year after testing positive to meth while driving. The former Deal or No Deal host pleaded guilty last year to trespassing, breaching an apprehended violence order and meth possession.

O’Keefe was found guilty and sentenced to a 12-month and three 18-month community corrections orders in January last year after a magistrate ruled he had inflicted a “frightening and degrading” attack on a woman.

The former Channel 7 star was awarded his AM in 2017 “for significant service to the broadcast media as a television presenter, and to social welfare and charitable organisations”, citing his role as a founding Australian ambassador for the White Ribbon campaign.

O’Keefe said at the time that when he was asked to be part of a new domestic violence campaign, he had no idea how widespread the problem was.

“I assumed Australia was fortunate in that regard, that violence against women wasn’t a big problem,” he recalled.

Host Andrew O'Keefe with models on the set of TV games show 'Deal Or No Deal' on the Seven Network.

“Meeting so many women and kids who’ve experienced and survived violence, either intact or deeply damaged, has had a profound impact on me.”

After O’Keefe was arrested in 2022 over allegations he had assaulted a 38-year woman, White Ribbon Australia CEO Melissa Perry released a statement expressing “dismay” over O’Keefe’s arrest.

The embattled former star had played no role with White Ribbon since its reformation in 2020, following the previous organisation’s liquidation in 2019, Ms Perry said.

A spokesperson for the Council of the Order of Australia had previously acknowledged that: “Issues have been raised over Mr O’Keefe’s AM, therefore, in line with the process, they are under consideration.”

Bodycam footage shows arrest of Andrew O’Keefe in 2021. Picture: Nine News

In July 2021, NSW upper house MP Mark Latham asked the NSW Attorney-General what action he had taken to have the former Channel 7 star’s Order of Australia withdrawn “after Mr O’Keefe admitted in the Waverley Local Court to hitting and kicking his female partner” but was told such action could only be taken by the Governor-General.

Other prominent Australians who have been stripped of their honours include former home affairs boss Mike Pezzullo, the late businessman Alan Bond and disgraced former NSW Labor politician Eddie Obeid.