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scotty of marketing gets an aussie gong.....

Scott Morrison has credited Australians for their "courage and resilience" in the face of crises, including the Black Summer bushfires and a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic, as he receives the country's highest honour for his leadership. 

The 30th prime minister has been appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) for his "eminent service" to the country and direction of the national COVID response, as part of the King's Birthday honours.

Mr Morrison was prime minister for just over three and a half years — between 2018 and 2022 — a period in which he said, "we were hit with pretty much every crisis you can imagine".

"From natural disasters to a global pandemic, once in a hundred years, and of course the threats we faced in our region, and a recession caused by that global pandemic," he said in a sit-down interview before his appointment was publicly announced.

"Through all of this Australians were just incredible and the one assumption I made is that that's how they would be — their character would pull them through and that's the basis on which we built the policies that helped us to achieve that."

The AC is the highest award in the King's Birthday Honour List, designed to recognise achievements "in service to Australia or humanity at large". Former prime ministers are typically appointed, but the time between their service and the recognition varies. 

Mr Morrison's appointment — three years after he lost the prime ministership — also notes his contributions to international engagement, economic initiatives and national security, particularly through his role in securing the AUKUS agreement.

The latter was named by the former prime minister as one of his proudest achievements in office, among other work he said his government undertook to strengthen Australia's sovereignty.

"The resilience and sovereignty of the country, whether it was building our resilience against disasters of the future, having dealt with them at the time, our economic resilience, incredibly important, the way we bounced back after COVID was incredible, and we had invested heavily in our small business sector in particular," he said.

"It really was about protecting our sovereignty and building that up so we could deal with the significant challenges into the future."

Mr Morrison's term coincided with the height of the COVID pandemic, when international and state borders were slammed shut, Australians were locked down in their homes, and thousands of businesses were forced to close. 

Just months after the emergence of the virus in China, the former Liberal leader made the at-the-time unprecedented call to ban international travellers from entering Australia — a decision that likely staved off the crisis locally but also left many Australians stranded overseas and others separated from friends and family abroad.

International borders remained closed for almost two years, only reopening to vaccinated travellers in early 2022 after the Omicron variant had swept the country.

During the pandemic, Mr Morrison, along with then-treasurer Josh Frydenberg, also oversaw the creation of the almost $90 billion JobKeeper scheme wage subsidy scheme, one of the largest economic support programs ever introduced.

Asked if he had any regrets from that era this week, Mr Morrison said you "don't get everything right, particularly when you face that many challenges".

"But I tend not to dwell too much on that, because frankly there was just the next challenge coming the next day," he said.

"You do the best job you can on the day and then you shake yourself off the next day and you do it all again."

Morrison brushes off secret ministries as a 'redundancy'

Mr Morrison left parliament at the start of 2024, more than a year after losing the 2022 election to Labor prime minister Anthony Albanese.

The end of his prime ministership was mired in scandal, after it emerged he had secretly sworn himself into five additional ministries during the pandemic. 

This week he described those secret positions as a "latent redundancy that was never active".

"These were unusual times and there were many things we did that were unusual," he said. 

Since retiring from politics, Mr Morrison has continued to advocate internationally for the AUKUS partnership, which he said remains "as strong today as the day it was announced" despite the arrival of the second Trump administration in the United States. 

He declined to comment on the current direction of the Liberal Party, which suffered one of the worst election defeats on record last month.

But on its future, he said the party's principles remain "as important as they ever have been".

"And they are ensuring a strong economy, a strong defence force, guaranteeing those services, responsible financial management — all of those things over the last 70 years and more have meant that Australia is in the strong position it is today," he said.

"And for most of that time it has been Coalition governments that have been in government."

Some 830 Australians — including Hollywood heavyweights, journalists, and community advocates — will be recognised in this year's King's Birthday Honours List.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-06-08/scott-morrison-appointed-companion-order-of-australia/105380814

 

NO INDECENT SATIRIST EVER MADE THE LIST... WE DON'T CONTRIBUTE TO THE DULL SLEEPINESS OF THE NATION...

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.

gong giving.....

 

George Browning

Australian Honours: review

 

Twice a year Government House issues a list of those awarded an honour within the Australian Honours system. The vast majority of those awarded are clearly worthy of recognition, but each time the list appears there is a level of contention.

Almost 30 years ago, Prime Minister Paul Keating appointed me, along with others including the late Ian Keirnan AO, to a panel tasked with the responsibility of reviewing the honours system. The report never saw the light of day. Soon after we completed the report, Keating lost the 1996 election. Vested interests, including those of a political nature, clearly did not want the report publicly addressed.

The review resulted from consultations across the continent and from every walk of life.

Some findings reflected sectional interest while others were common to every region and to most people. As I remember, the broadly based findings included:

  • Being honoured rests entirely with the nomination process. Many worthy people are never nominated: this particularly applies to more isolated areas. It is assumed those with knowledge and contacts are more likely to be nominated; some may even seek nomination.
  • Certain postcodes predominate. Some in the ACT have the highest per capita representation.
  • Too many appear to be recognised because of the position they have held. It was felt an award should only be made for significant service beyond that which could reasonably be expected from the position held. Reaching a certain rank, or years of service, should not on its own be sufficient criteria for an award.
  • Many did not support this recognition for achievement in sport unless, in addition, other criteria of service were considered.
  • Power and authority is more likely to be recognised than attributes of extraordinary generosity, mercy, justice etc. Those who challenge inappropriate and sometimes criminal power or authority in their profession, or more widely in the community, are unlikely to be recognised despite courageously serving the common good. Some experience the opposite — retribution — despite serving the greater common good. It is also unlikely a human rights advocate will receive an award.
  • A person of extraordinary compassion, e.g. a lifetime of fostering children, is worthy of the highest award.
  • There are too many categories.

There are currently four levels of recognition. AC recognises a contribution considered to be of national or international significance. AO recognises a lesser contribution, but still of merit beyond their profession or region. AM recognises a contribution of significance emanating from the person’s sphere of interest or community. OAM is recognition of contribution to a sector of the local community.

There are also two divisions, civil and military.

Some of the recommendations that I remember:

  • The military division should be terminated, with recognition being awarded on merit equally for all sections of society, including the military, within a common division. It was believed the armed services, along with the public service, the police force, ambulance service, fire service etc should be strongly encouraged to review and if necessary, extend and enhance appropriate ways in which they honour their personnel, not least, long service. Using the Australian Honours system in a separate division creates a different purpose and distorts the intention of equity and equality.
  • Criteria for the awards should be more reflective of moral qualities judged to be the values of Australian citizenship.
  • Four categories should be reduced to three, probably by removal of the OAM, which will lift the honour bestowed on countless volunteers, the backbone of every community, to a seemingly higher level.
  • Government House must invest more in making the nomination process and criteria better known.

On countless occasions I have been asked to add my name to a nomination. In most cases, I have been honoured to do so, but not always. On rare occasions, I have made a nomination.

I do understand the contention created each time a list is published. It is perhaps unavoidable given the diversity of views held in the community. But in considering some of the findings and recommendations of the small group I was privileged to serve, some of these concerns may have been obviated.

There have been a few occasions when, having seen the list, I have thought to myself I would not want to have been listed in that company.

The honours system is important. It is generally treated, as it should, with great respect. It is, however, not respectful to seek public opinion on this or any other matter and then ignore it. Nor is it respectful not to seek public opinion in the first place.

https://johnmenadue.com/post/2025/06/australian-honours-review/

 

READ FROM TOP.

 

YOURDEMOCRACY.NET RECORDS HISTORY AS IT SHOULD BE — NOT AS THE WESTERN MEDIA WRONGLY REPORTS IT.

 

         Gus Leonisky

         POLITICAL CARTOONIST SINCE 1951.