Australian of the Year Pat McGorry to take fight to Kevin Rudd

NEW Australian of the Year Pat McGorry says he intends to meet Kevin Rudd to champion the plight of asylum-seekers.

MENTAL health advocate Pat McGorry last night wasted no time after being named 2010 Australian of the Year, saying he intended to meet Kevin Rudd to champion the plight of asylum-seekers held in detention in Australia, which he labelled "factories for producing mental illness".

Professor McGorry, 57, the outspoken head of both the internationally-renowned Orygen Research Centre in Melbourne and the federal government's network of Headspace youth mental health centres, was awarded the title by the Prime Minister in Canberra late yesterday.

But within hours of assuming the role, he said he would lobby Mr Rudd to process claims by asylum-seekers while they were residing in the community, instead of detention.

Like Professor McGorry, the names in today's Australia Day Honours List reflect this nation's pride in the brilliance of its citizens. Nobel-winning cancer researcher Elizabeth Blackburn, Australian Chief Justice Robert French, former newspaper publisher and philanthropist James Fairfax and business leader Don Argus have been appointed Companions in the Order of Australia (AC) - the nation's highest award.

Lieutenant General David Hurley, vice-chief of the Australian Defence Force and chief of its joint operations, has been appointed a companion in the military division.

The honours list has teachers up there with surgeons; writers alongside athletes.

Writer Peter Goldsworthy, who is also a GP in Adelaide, has been made a member (AM) - no writers made it last year.

There are three cricketers: the great Dennis Lillee (AM) is there, but so too is Matthew Hayden (AM) and Trevor Hohns, who has been awarded the medal (OAM).

The reporter, Ray Martin, who last year published a best-selling biography, has been awarded an AM, alongside Professor Peter Ravenscroft, who helps those who are dying do so peacefully, with advances in palliative care.

Mr Rudd also announced the Senior Australian of the Year was South Australian cook Maggie Beer, who ought to have got the award for her famed burnt fig jam ice cream, all on its own.

The Young Australian of the Year is Victoria Cross holder, SAS trooper Mark Donaldson, the first winner of the nation's highest military decoration in 40 years. Australia's Local Hero is the "food rescuer" Ronni Kahn, of NSW.