Top figures in AEC and Indigenous rights recognised in King’s Birthday Honours

Former AEC commissioner Tom Rogers and Indigenous leader Marcus Stewart among those recognised.

Former AEC commissioner Tom Rogers. Picture: Martin Ollman/NewsWire

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When an entire nation heads to the polling booth, whether that be during an election or referendum, it represents one of the significant moments in our collective political history.

And being involved in these moments, as a key figure in a political campaign or as an overseer of the electoral process itself, inevitably means you will make your mark on that history.

Tom Rogers and Marcus Stewart are among those who have done just that and are being recognised for it in the King’s Birthday Honours.

Mr Rogers was appointed to head up the AEC in 2014, when faith in the Australian electoral system was at a devastating low after the 2013 lost votes scandal that saw more than 1000 ballots go missing from the Western Australian Senate count.

Despite the enormity of the task, which was nothing short of restoring faith in the country’s electoral system, Mr Rogers steered the AEC through not one, not two, but three federal elections.

It is this contribution to the electoral system, which has continued to morph and throw up new surprises such as the teal phenomena, role of influencers and impact of new players such as Climate 200, that has led to Mr Rogers being made an Officer of the Order of Australia.

“I think rebuilding the public confidence in the AEC to make it one of Australia’s most trusted institutions, I’m most proud of that,” he told The Australian ahead of being officially given the OA.

On top of heading up the AEC during three federal elections over nearly a decade, Mr Rogers estimates that he had given thousands of hours in evidence as part of parliamentary hearings and inquiries, held by governments scrutinising the work of his organisation.

“It was indeed a stressful job,” he said.

“At any given time, something can go wrong even with the best planning in the world, the absolute best planning in the world, because you’re dealing with a manual process with humans and temporary staff and all those sorts of issues.

“We used to say that if a Martian spaceship attacked a polling place, a lot of the response would be ‘oh, my God. Well, they had three years to prepare. Why didn’t they think of that?’. There’s zero tolerance for errors, as there should be, so you really, really had to be across your game.”

Mr Rogers said that despite young people potentially considering the public service a place of “fat cats”, jobs in agencies including the AEC were becoming incredibly critical to national security.

“Elections are now part of Australia’s national security, if we get them wrong, it fundamentally impacts on how we think of ourselves as a society,” he said.

“And so it’s a critical part of our national security, our national defence, our national resilience. And so getting it right is really important for Australia. So this sort of public sector work more broadly isn’t ‘fat cat’ public servants just doing stuff. Actually, you’re making a contribution to Australia. and Australia’s long-term wellbeing.”

Yes campaigner and inaugural co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria Marcus Stewart. Picture: Valeriu Campan/NewsWire

Mr Stewart – a prominent Yes campaigner ahead of the Indigenous voice to parliament referendum and the inaugural co-chair of the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria – said he also had been driven to make a significant contribution to the nation.

“I’ve always had a firm view and a belief that you don’t hold the leadership position for long, and you have a responsibility to leave the space in better shape than you found it,” he said.

“That’s what I’ve always tried to do. That’s always been my aspiration and that’s what I’ll continue to do.

“When my time’s done I hope that the space is much better than it was when I started my advocacy journey and pushing for better rights for our community across the country.”

Despite becoming one of the most respected Indigenous leaders in Australia – having guided policies at the state and federal level through his work with Victoria’s Department of Premier and Cabinet as well as his time serving on the voice referendum working group – Mr Stewart didn’t start his professional life as an advocate.

“I started my career as a child therapist in the child protection sector, and what drove me is just, I guess, the outcomes that we were seeing were just completely unacceptable, and there was so much complacency within government systems for this just to continue,” he said.

“I made a conscious decision that the only way to drive change is to push hard for it.”

Despite the defeat of the Indigenous voice referendum, Mr Stewart said he was a “pragmatist” and had made his peace with the result.

“Leadership is not about getting everything you want. I’ve always been a pragmatist, and my view is that getting outcomes that are going to benefit everyone is about the art of compromise, and people need to be able to see a bit of themselves in everything you’re trying to design and you’re trying to move things forward,” he said.

“That’s kind of how I’ve always approached things in my career, and it’s about how you bring people along on that journey.”