National Recognition: Australia Day Honours Recipients and Australian of the Year Nominees Unveiled

Australia has announced its 2025 Australia Day Honours recipients, recognizing 680 civilian awardees for their contributions across various fields. Simultaneously, eight individuals have been nominated for the 2026 Australian of the Year awards, spanning four categories and acknowledged for their work in areas ranging from healthcare and community service to space exploration and environmental conservation.

2025 Australia Day Honours List

The 2025 Australia Day Honours List acknowledges 680 civilian recipients for their contributions to Australian society. The awards include 10 Companions of the Order of Australia (AC), 38 Officers of the Order (AO), 160 Members of the Order (AM), 472 Medals of the Order (OAM), and several Public Service Medals.

Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)

Recipients appointed as Companions of the Order of Australia, the nation's highest civilian honor, include:

• Cathy Freeman: Recognized for service to athletics, social impact, contributions to the reconciliation movement, and as a role model. She had previously declined an upgrade from her 2001 Medal of the Order of Australia, citing reservations due to the association with Australia Day and potential perceptions within the Indigenous community. Discussions with former Australian Olympic Committee president John Coates, and the precedent of other Indigenous community members accepting top honors, preceded her acceptance. Freeman established the Catherine Freeman Foundation, which supports four remote Indigenous communities.

  Freeman stated her acceptance reflects an interest in unity, harmony, peace, and a responsibility to promote a message of unity on Australia Day.

• Annastacia Palaszczuk: Former Queensland Premier, recognized for service to the state's people and parliament, educational equity, multiculturalism, and public health.

• Mathias Cormann: Former Western Australian Senator and Finance Minister, and current Secretary-General of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), recognized for service to parliament and international economic development.

• Emeritus Professor Bruce Armstrong AM: Recognized for contributions to cancer research and screening as a cancer epidemiologist.

• Professor Peter Cook: Recognized for service to science, specifically for two decades of developing carbon capture and storage technology.

• Professor Michelle Simmons: Recognized for work in atomic electronics and quantum computing research.

• Chief Justices Andrew Bell and Christopher Kourakis, Professor Anne Kelso, and Paul Fox were also among the AC appointees.

Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)

Recipients appointed as Officers of the Order of Australia include:

• Kristina Keneally: Former New South Wales Premier, recognized for service to the parliaments and people of Australia and New South Wales.
• Ken and Jocelyn Elliott: Recognized for contributions to international relations through humanitarian medical care.

Member of the Order of Australia (AM)

Recipients appointed as Members of the Order of Australia include:

• Dr. Felix Ho: A paramedic and medical practitioner, recognized for decades of service and volunteering, including leading the St John Youth Program. (Dr. Ho is also a 2026 Australian of the Year nominee for the Northern Territory).
• Rob Hirst: The late co-founder and drummer of Midnight Oil, posthumously recognized for service to the performing arts through music and songwriting.
• Steven Marshall: Former South Australian Premier, recognized for service to the state, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Tanya Hosch: Indigenous social activist and former AFL executive, recognized for her work, including the Recognise movement and her role as the AFL’s social inclusion manager.
• Graeme Base: Children's book author and artist.

Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM)

Recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia include:

• Maurice Kensell: Recognized for service to the Jewish community and the preservation of history through documenting Jewish marriages.
• Nicholas Pearce and Marcus Crook: Co-founders of the Melbourne-based streetwear label HoMie, honored for their not-for-profit work supporting young people experiencing homelessness or hardship.
• Eliza Hull: Musician, author, and advocate, recognized for disability advocacy and service to the arts.
• Zeynep Sertel: Principal at Ilim College, recognized for her work within the Muslim community and as a mentor.
• Robert Higgins: Recognized for service to billiards and snooker, and community contributions.
• Frank Ahmat: Recognized for service to sporting organizations and the Indigenous community in the Northern Territory.
• Renton Millar: Head skateboarding judge for the Paris Olympics, recognized for contributions to the sport.

Public Service Medal

• Julie Inman Grant: Australia's eSafety Commissioner, recognized for her work in improving online safety, including the implementation of a social media ban for individuals under 16.

Gender Disparity and Nomination Process

The Council of the Order of Australia noted that 72% of the recipients were male (496 men and 184 women among civilian awardees). The Council encouraged Australians to nominate more women for future honors lists to achieve a better gender balance across all award levels.

Any Australian citizen can be nominated for an award, with nominations submitted via www.gg.gov.au. All recipients must be alive at the time of nomination and are informed of their honor prior to public announcement.

2026 Australian of the Year Awards Nominees

Eight individuals from across Australia have been nominated for the 2026 Australian of the Year awards, with selections made by members of their communities.

Australian of the Year Nominees

• ACT: Professor Rose McGready: Recognized for 30 years of healthcare delivery to displaced populations on the Thailand-Myanmar border and research leading to World Health Organization-adopted treatments for maternal malaria.
• NSW: Alison Thompson OAM: Founder of Third Wave Volunteers, an organization coordinating over 30,000 volunteers who provide disaster and war zone relief globally, assisting more than 18 million people.
• NT: Dr. Felix Ho ASM: A medical practitioner serving remote communities and a volunteer mentor with the St John Youth Program. (Dr. Ho is also a 2025 Member of the Order of Australia recipient).
• QLD: Dr. Rolf Gomes: Established the Heart of Australia mobile "Heart Truck" initiative, which brings cardiac care to remote Australian communities, serving over 20,000 patients since 2014.
• SA: Katherine Bennell-Pegg: The first Australian to qualify as an astronaut under the Australian flag through the European Space Agency program, recognized for her work in Australia's space industry and outreach efforts.
• TAS: Dr. Jo Kippax: An emergency doctor, part of a specialist rescue team that performed an underwater leg amputation to save a whitewater rafter's life. His team received Lithuania's Life Saving Cross award for this act.
• VIC: Carrie Bickmore OAM: Established Beanies 4 Brain Cancer, which has raised over $27 million for research, and founded The Brain Cancer Centre in 2021.
• WA: Dr. Daniela Vecchio: Leads mental health and addiction services at WA's Fiona Stanley Hospital and founded Australia's first publicly funded gaming disorder clinic, treating over 300 patients.

Senior Australian of the Year Nominees

• ACT: Heather Reid AM: A pioneer in women's football, having founded Canberra's first female football club and served as the first chief executive of Capital Football.
• NSW: Professor Henry Brodaty AO: Recognized for advancements in dementia care, co-founding the Centre for Healthy Brain Ageing in 2012, and leading research into dementia risk and prevention.
• NT: Jenny Duggan OAM: Known for collecting hundreds of kilograms of litter from the Katherine River banks for decades and advocating for the adoption of plastic wine bottles to reduce broken glass.
• QLD: Cheryl Harris OAM: CEO of Volunteering Sunshine Coast, recognized for increasing volunteerism and creating the Pathways to Employment program.
• SA: James Currie: A sound designer for Australian films, recognized for his use of location sound and mentorship of emerging talent.
• SA: Malcolm Benoy: A volunteer citizen scientist who helped preserve South Australia's meteorological history by organizing the digitization of over 90,000 handwritten 19th-century weather records.
• TAS: Julie Dunbabin: Founder of the School Lunch Program, which provides over 14,000 nutritious lunches weekly to students across 45 schools.
• VIC: Bryan Lipmann: Established Wintringham, a welfare organization providing housing and care for 3,000 elderly individuals at risk of homelessness.
• WA: Professor Kingsley Dixon AO: Recognized for international contributions to native plant conservation, including the discovery that smoke triggers germination in Australian plants after bushfires in 1992.

Young Australian of the Year Nominees

• ACT: Sita Sargeant: Founder of She Shapes History, a historical tourism business conducting guided walking tours highlighting women's contributions in Australian history, with expansion to Sydney and Melbourne.
• NSW: Nedd Brockmann: An endurance runner who completed a 3,900 km run across Australia, raising over $2.6 million for homelessness support, and subsequently launched Nedd's Uncomfortable Challenge, which raised an additional $8 million.
• QLD: Jarib Branfield-Bradshaw: Established a youth neighborhood center in Cunnamulla, providing a supportive environment for young people and case-managing 200 individuals.
• SA: Chloe Wyatt-Jasper: (16 years old) Advocates for mental health awareness, addressing stigma and lobbying for $5 million to improve youth mental health services.
• TAS: Alyssia Kennedy: Founder of Life After School, a program that equips schools and youth groups with resources to teach essential life skills.
• NT: Jaiden Dickenson: Tennant Creek Mob Youth Diversion Officer, who assists young people in addressing trauma and challenges, contributing to a reduction in youth reoffending rates.
• VIC: Abraham Kuol: A youth leader who co-founded the Black Rhinos soccer and basketball club to mentor at-risk youth and has helped raise over $3.5 million for programs supporting African-Australian families.
• WA: Dr. Haseeb Riaz and Gareth Shanthikumar: Co-founders of Man Up, an educational service providing workshops on positive masculinity to thousands of students, addressing mental health and gender-based violence.

Local Hero Nominees

• ACT: Ben Alexander: Former rugby player and co-founder of Running for Resilience, a community running group focused on suicide prevention.
• NSW: Theresa Mitchell: Founder of Agape Outreach Inc., which provides over 1,500 hot meals weekly to homeless individuals and offers additional services.
• QLD: Ian Gay: Volunteered with the Disabled Surfers Association for over two decades, facilitating surf experiences for people with disabilities.
• SA: Ayesha Safdar: Founder of the Adelaide Pakistani Women's Association, established in 2010 to assist newly arrived migrant and refugee women in adapting to Australian culture, language, education, and employment.
• TAS: Emily Briffa: Established Hamlet Cafe, a social enterprise in Hobart that employs individuals living with disability, mental health concerns, and neurodivergence, with a 75% employment placement rate.
• NT: Ron Green: A volunteer in Katherine, recognized for hundreds of hours of community service during crises, including fighting bushfires, aiding cyclone recovery, and intervening in an assault.
• VIC: Linda Widdup: Founder of Aussie Hay Runners in 2019, an organization that delivers hay to drought-affected farmers, with a voluntary group of 70 trucks delivering over 90,000 bales.
• WA: Frank Mitchell: Co-founded three construction companies, creating over 70 upskilling positions in the electrical and construction industry for First Nations people, with his companies employing more than 200 full-time staff.