Natonal Honours Advisory Committee - FAQ
Information Update April 2005: Order of Australia
(The below information has been extracted from the recent issue of "IT'S AN HONOUR" published by the Awards and National Symbols Branch, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet)
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet conducts regular information sessions around Australia to explain what the Order of Australia is and how people can be nominated.
The most recent sessions have been held in Cairns, Ballarat, Adelaide, Bendigo, Maitland, Mildura, Armidale and Midland Wapato the sessions the most asked questions are:
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q: How is it possible to fill in the personal details about a nominee when confidentiality dem ands that the nominee must not be contacted? For example, we probably don't know their exact date or place of birth or when they were naturalised.
A: Put in what you know. Research staff in the Honours Secretariat at Government House will generally be ab le to provide the missing information. The more detail you can include, the better, because if a lot of further re search is needed it will slow down the assessment process.
Q: Many Government forms aren't acted upon if all the boxes on the form aren't filled in accurately. The Or der of Australia nomination form requests "relevant dates of service" but a nominator may only have a ro ugh idea. If we don't have the right dates will the nomination be rejected?
A: No.
Q: The nomination form says it can take up to 18 months between submitting a nomination and it being succes sful and announced. Why?
A: Research staff spend a lot of time checking the nomination. Contacting the people nominated as referees and asking for their comments on the nominee is particularly time-consuming. Also, the Council for the Order of Au stralia meets only twice a year to consider nominations.
Q: The nomination form asks that the nominator "set out details of how the nominee has made a signific ant contribution to the community". What does "significant contribution" mean?
A: There are some suggestions on the nomination form such as: What makes this person stand out from others? How has the nominee demonstrated service worthy of recognition? How has the nominee's contribution impacted on ei ther a particular field, locality, group, community or humanity at large? They can be good starting points.
Q: Are there any tips on the best way to write about the "significant contribution" section?
A: Write about what they have done, not just the offices they have held and for how long; be descriptive an d explain what the nominee's work means for the people it touches and affects.
Q: Does your nominee need to have been doing something for a long time to get an award?
A: No. The only criteria is that the person has made an outstanding contribution to the community.
Q: Do we need to nominate a particular level of award?
A: No, that decision is made by the Council - the Order's constitution lays down that in any calendar year there can only be 30 recipients as Companion of the Order (AC), 125 as Officer (AO) and 300 as Member (AM). There is no specified limit for the Medal of the Order (OAM) but the average is around 450 recipients a year.
Nominating for an Order of Australia
Who can submit a nomination?Anybody in the community can nominate any Australian citizen for the Order of Australia. They can be nomina ted by individuals or by community organisations, professional bodies and the like.
In assessing nominations the Council for the Order of Australia looks for nominees who have:
- demonstrated achievement at a high level; or
- made a contribution over and above what might be reasonably expected through paid employment; or
- whose voluntary contribution to the community stands out from others who may also have made a valuable contribution.
The degree and value of the contribution, rather than merely length of service, is the primary focus of the Council's consideration.
How is a nomination made?
There is a special form for Order of Australia nominations. To obtain one, phone the Honours Secretariat, G
overnment House, Canberra, 24-hour, toll-free line on 1800 552 275 and leave your name and address; a form will ma
iled to you.
Or you can:
- go to the It's An Honour website (www.itsanhonour.gov.au),
- click on 'About Honours' at the top of the homepage,
- click 'Nomination Forms' on the right of that page,
- click on 'Order of Australia'
- click 'Print off the nomination form' and a PDF file will download. This can then be printed.
Completing the Form
To fill in the form you will need:
- as much of the required detail about the nominee as possible - but don't reveal to the nominee that you are submitting a nomination;
- details of at least four people who can support the nomination and can be contacted by the Honours Secr etariat;
- a description of why you think the nominee should be honoured; and
- your own details as nominator.
Mail the completed nomination form to:
The Secretary, Order of Australia Honours Secretariat, Government House, Canberra ACT 2600.
Nominations can be made at any time. They cannot be lodged electronically. (It is useful to keep a copy of
the nomination for future reference)
Who makes the decision?
The Governor-General on the advice of the Council for the Order of Australia.
If the nomination is successful, the nominee will be advised in writing of the offer of an award. You, as n ominator, will be advised subsequently - about a week before the relevant Honours List is published.
The Council for the Order of Australia
The Council for the Order of Australia is an independent advisory body that meets twice a year to consider all nominations for awards in the Order ofAustralia and make recommendations to the Governor-General.It has 19 members from across Australia. Its diversity gives the Council a wide, national perspective.
Its current members are:
Chairman
The Hon Sir James Gobbo AC CVO
Members-ex officio
Senator the Hon Nick Minchin
Minister for Finance and Administration
Vice-President of the Executive Council
Air Chief Marshal Angus Houston AO AFC
Chief of Defence Force
Mr Duncan Lewis AO
Deputy Secretary
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Community Representatives
Ms Robyn Burke
Major General Digger James AC MBE MC (retd)
The Hon Anthony Messner AM
Dr George Santoro AM
Dr Margaret Valadian AO MBE
Dr Fiona Wood AM
State and Territory Representatives
New South Wales
Dr Col Gellatly
Victoria
Mr Charles Curwen CVO OBE
Queensland
Ms Fiona McKersie ESM
South Australia
Mr Adam Bodzioch
Western Australia
Mr Mal Wauchope
Tasmania
Ms Linda Hornsey
Australian Capital Territory
Mr Mike Harris
Northern Territory
Ms Teresa Robson