![The Companion in the Order of Australia (AC),Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) and Member in the Order of Australia (AM)](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/fa0ddde873d82bbace8b4830533b4d19e8e3a4eb)
The Companion in the Order of Australia (AC),Officer in the Order of Australia (AO) and Member in the Order of Australia (AM)Supplied
The problem is the council is the final arbiter of a process that is secret and secretive. We don’t know who gets nominated. We don’t know who misses out or why. For some inexplicable reason,it’s meant to be confidential. And those different factors mean Australians don’t understand the process or the practice.
We can do better,both as individuals and as institutions. Victoria has a gold standard process that other states and territories would do well to copy.
In 2017,the Andrews government implemented the Recognition Matters program to improve the representation of women on the lists and attached real financial support to the program.
At the start,Victorian women received 32 per cent of honours on Australia Day and now it’s 38 per cent in 2020;in the Queen’s Birthday Honours,Victorian women accounted for 34 per cent in 2018,43 per cent in 2020.
The veil of secrecy only serves to protect those who have somehow decided Adam Goodes does not deserve an Order of Australia,nor does anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott. So we nominate the good and the great,the kind and the hard-working,and then those nominations go to a committee of faceless men and women who make the final decision.
It is not always true that rabble-rousers go unrewarded. Julie Bates,sex worker activist extraordinaire,has a gong. Rodney Syme was finally recognised in 2019 for his work on voluntary assisted dying. This year,human rights activist and footy great Craig Foster was recognised and will campaign on changing the date. But there are many troublemakers – good troublemakers – who deserve more.
There are three groups within the:the community representatives,the state and territory representatives and the ex officio types. But the “community representatives” should have more Bateses,Symeses and Fosters and fewer connections to big politics and big money. This is unlikely to change while Scott Morrison and company are in charge of those appointments.
I’d argue Court’s appointment shows a significant shift from a bipartisan approach to one that cements the divisions in our society. I implore the council to make sure the awards reflect who we really are. We are not Pentecostalists who think. We love weddings no matter who is doing the marrying. And Australians are enthusiastic fornicators – 87 per cent of us think.
Now we discover some of the good troublemakers want to hand back their honours. When Rodney Syme heard Margaret Court was getting a gong,he wrote to this publication to say. Kerry O’Brien has just revealed he won’t be accepting his award now because of the Court award.
While I admire and applaud Canberra GP Clara Soo’s work (astonishing community activism well beyond her medical job),I don’t agree with her decision to hand back her Order of Australia (and might I add,neither does her lovely husband,former public servant Paul Hartigan,an artist).
It means the bad guys win. It means another person with appalling views and values,out of step with community expectations,gets to strut around with a sparkly merit badge while Soo doesn’t. It also means we don’t get to see ordinary people rewarded,our local GP,local community workers. We need more ordinary people rewarded not fewer. And will it change the minds of those who gave the awards? Nope,nope,nope.
For four years,Honour A Woman,formed by warriors Elizabeth Hartnell-Young,Carol Kiernan and Ruth McGowan,agitated to ensure more everyday women are nominated. But the attention they brought to the awards also inspired more men to nominate. Hartnell-Young says that while the number of women nominated has increased,so has the number of men.
Don’t pressure women – especially women – to return the awards. Pull your collective fingers out and nominate a woman. Tell your local hospital to nominate more women than men,any organisation or association to which you belong. We honour the good by recognising their achievements. Ignore the bad behaviour and reward the honourable.
Jenna Price is a visiting fellow at the Australian National University and a regular columnist.
![](https://static.ffx.io/images/$width_300%2C$height_150/t_crop_auto/t_sharpen%2Cq_auto%2Cf_auto/placeholder.png)
Start your day informed
Our Morning Edition newsletter is a curated guide to the most important and interesting stories,analysis and insights. Sign up toThe Sydney Morning Herald’s newsletterhere,The Age’shere,Brisbane Times’here,andWAtoday’shere.