Before the newly elected Whitlam government rushed to get rid of regally bestowed titles, Harold Holt's widow (now deceased herself) became Dame Zara. The gong for this one-time head of a fashion business located in Toorak was for what was vaguely described as "devotion to the public interest".

Whatever Zara did in the public interest, it was under the right light to be seen. The devotion to the public interest of a nurse who has been working staggered shifts for 20 years is not.

Even if such blatant exploitation of privileged position is behind us, we still feel the need to select individuals for honours when it is impossible to do this fairly. Today you can be nominated by anybody for any one of four levels of the Order of Australia.

John Winston Howard has received the highest honour; Companion of the Order of Australia for services to the nation. After years of six-star accommodation, personal jet globe-trotting and dining with the famous - and then his golden parachute, why the honour?

It is because the current honours process is still primarily the establishment handing down a badge to establishment people as a type of mutual congratulation.

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