Australia Day honours: Former PM Malcolm Turnbull’s ‘significant contributions’ duly recognised
Malcolm Turnbull, who was Liberal MP for Wentworth from 2004 to 2018, will be awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).
On the day he resigned as prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull remained “very optimistic and positive” about Australia’s future.
He had just lost the Liberal Party leadership for a second time in his 14-year political career after enough of his colleagues lost faith in his prime ministership following a decade-old ideological divide over energy and climate change policy and an ongoing rivalry with his predecessor, Tony Abbott.
Proving Australia has moved on from those turbulent days in federal politics, Mr Turnbull, who was Liberal MP for Wentworth from 2004 to 2018, will be awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) on Tuesday for his eminent service to the people and parliament of Australia.
It was given because of Mr Turnbull’s “significant contributions” to national security, free trade, the environment and clean energy, innovation, economic reform and marriage equality — he was the prime minister to deliver same-sex marriage.
The 29th prime minister’s business and philanthropic pursuits were also celebrated in the AC, which is typically awarded to former prime ministers.
Former NSW Nationals senator Sandy Macdonald and former Liberal member for Groom William Taylor will be made Members of the Order of Australia.
Former South Australian Labor premier Jay Weatherill will be awarded an Officer of the Order for service to the state and his focus on early childhood and tertiary education.
Since retiring from state politics in 2018 after a 16-year career, Mr Weatherill has campaigned for early learning reform, voiced support for free childcare and called for states and territories to take over commonwealth funding of early learning centres.
The former Labor leader most recently undertook a comprehensive review of the ALP’s 2019 election loss with former federal Labor MP Craig Emerson.
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