Former prime minister Scott Morrison has been handed the highest recognition in this year’s King’s Birthday honours list.
Morrison is one of 14 people to be made a Companion of the Order of Australia, along with the likes of film director Baz Luhrmann and his costume designer wife Catherine Martin, businesswoman Jennifer Westacott and former CSIRO chair Kathryn Fagg.
“These honours recognise the selfless service, integrity, achievement, creativity, and care that flourish across our country,” Governor-General Samantha Mostyn said.
See the full list of award winners in the King’s Birthday honours list below.
“I see the values of care, kindness and respect in the many Australians who are honoured today, and in those who have been recognised throughout the 50-year history of our Australian honours system.”
Morrison was handed the honour ”for eminent service to the people and parliament of Australia… to notable contributions to global engagement, to leadership of the national COVID-19 response, to economic initiatives, and to national security enhancements, especially through leadership of Australia’s contribution to AUKUS”.
He served as prime minister from 2018, when predecessor Malcolm Turnbull was replaced in a Liberal leadership spill, until the Coalition lost the 2022 federal election.
Under his leadership, the Liberals and Nationals were victorious in what was widely considered to be an unwinnable 2019 election, before the government formed the multibillion-dollar AUKUS pact with the United States and United Kingdom in which Australia is scheduled to receive nuclear-powered submarines.
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The nation also recorded one of the lowest fatality rates in the world from the COVID-19 pandemic during his time in power.
However, Morrison also received significant criticism for some of his actions as prime minister, including his ill-timed family holiday to Hawaii during the Black Summer bushfires followed by the infamous “I don’t hold a hose” comment, and the slow procurement of vaccines during the pandemic.
Morrison was also social services minister when the robodebt scheme was created, and the royal commission into the program found he “failed” his responsibility and “allowed cabinet to be misled” – findings he rejected as “wrong, unsubstantiated and contradicted by clear documentary evidence”.
His biggest controversy though, didn’t emerge until after he had lost the prime ministership, when in 2022 it was revealed he had secretly sworn himself into five ministries during the pandemic, most of which were done without the knowledge of the ministers already overseeing those portfolios.
Since its inception in 1975, it has been customary for former prime ministers to have the Companionship of the Order of Australia bestowed upon them.
Paul Keating is the only one to not hold the honour, having turned it down in 1997.
Joining Morrison on the honours list this year are Luhrmann and Martin, the powerhouse couple of Australian film who were behind blockbuster hits including Romeo + Juliet, Moulin Rouge! and The Great Gatsby, as well as local classic Strictly Ballroom.
Former Olympic medallist swimmer and ex-AFLW general manager Nicole Livingstone was made an Officer of the Order of Australia – the second-highest honour – as was principal Nine Entertainment shareholder Bruce Gordon.
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