Year after year the same cry goes out. Too many people getting gongs for just doing their job. Too many top gongs going to people in top jobs. Too many ex-politicians. Too many sportspeople. Too many volunteers in the bottom rungs of the gong list. Not enough women, except in the bottom rungs of the gong list among the volunteers.
And it never changes.
Every year, hand-wringing is done calling for changes
The awards go: companion, officer, member, medal. Getting the medal were those working, usually as volunteers, among the down and out – people working for nothing or next to nothing with little help and few resources. The companions and officers went to people paid perfectly good salaries for doing their job – people who were already getting a good share of life’s riches: high pay, interesting work, plenty of subordinates to do the menial tasks, power, air-conditioned offices invitations to glittering functions, and even gold medals in their field.
Paul Keating had the right attitude. He refused an award under the Order of Australia, saying being Prime Minister was honour enough and that he had been amply rewarded.
But despair not. Change is happening, even if slowly. In 1975, the Order of Australia was created, after several years of Labor Government under which no knighthoods were awarded federally. The Fraser Government restored imperial honours in 1976 and ran them in tandem with the Order of Australia. Worse, it added a knighthood to the Order of Australia, which was later abandoned. Finally, the imperial honours were abandoned for good federally after Labor came to power in 1983, by which stage they had been abandoned by all states bar Queensland, until Britain itself – after the Federal Government expressed its displeasure at Queensland continuing with imperial honours — said, enough.
So at least we have done away with regular awards of knighthoods, though the Queen herself can give a knighthood to an Australian directly – done once but unlikely to recur.
And we had done away with the system of honours through direct political preferment, under which the Prime Minister made the decisions (with an odd bit of informal departmental advice for the lower end). Now, we have a system of public nomination and decision by independent bodies running out of the office of the Official Secretary to the Governor-General.
Under this system nominations are received from members of the public. They are then researched in the honours secretariat. This contrasts with the imperial system under which the probity checks of some Queensland knights were later proved lacking.
The Council of the Order of Australia receives the research and sends recommendations to the Governor-General who approves them.
There is still some indirect political and governmental involvement, however. Eight of the council members are nominated by the Commonwealth Government and there is one nominated by each state. A government minister, the head of the Prime Minister’s Department and the defence chief are ex-officio members. (The last two – Max Moore-Wilton and Chris Barrie would have had to absent themselves during this year’s considerations because they were themselves recipients of awards).
The show costs about $2.5 million a year to run – more expensive than the PM choosing the gongees, but a better system. Indeed, it is a system that has an in-built mechanism for change – anyone can nominate any other Australian citizen for an award.
We are already seeing the change mechanism. Women, though still under represented pro-rata are getting 30 per cent of the awards and slowly rising.
Further, notice this year that there were no businesspeople people in the top rungs, and very few lower down the list. There is a statement here. Business people have been getting huge salaries, and that should be the end of their reward.
About 1500 people are nominated each year for an order. Between 800 and 900 get an award. Many are called and many are chosen. Indeed the maximum quota (25 companions, 100 officers and 225 members)has never been filled. So nomination is far from a hopeless quest.
So if you want to whinge about the make-up of honours recipients search out deserving people, get the details of what they have done, and nominate them.
Perhaps greater public involvement in the selection of the council itself might complete the democratisation of the honours system.