The late Barry Humphries has been awarded the highest accolade in the king’s birthday honours list, as the prizes achieve gender parity for the first time in their five-decade history.
Humphries was one of six Australians to be made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), alongside the former premier of Western Australia Colin Barnett, Parkinson’s researcher Glenda Margaret Halliday and the former Labor minister Jenny Macklin.
The late performer’s AC was made for his “eminent service to the arts as a comedian, actor, author, satirist and entertainer, to the promotion of Australian culture, and as a patron of organisations”.
Epidemiologists again dominated the field. Prof Caroline Isabel Bower and Prof David John Hunter were also made ACs. More than 100 gongs were awarded in the field of medicine.
Of the 919 recipients of awards in the general division of the Order of Australia, 465 were women, while the three highest levels of achievement (Companion, Officer and Member of the Order) were also represented by at least 50% women.
The governor general, David Hurley, said the milestone should “not be a cause to pause”.
“We reflect on our progress, and then recommit our efforts to ensure nominations reflect our diverse and strong community,” he said.
The lord mayors of Sydney and Melbourne, Clover Moore and Sally-Ann Capp, were both made AOs for their distinguished service to people and government.
The arts were also strongly represented this year, with 55 awards overall, including an AO for writer Tim Winton’s service to literature, conservation and the environment.
Comedians Ben Elton, Judith Lucy and Denise Scott received AMs.
Other notable mentions were the CEO of the Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss), Dr Cassandra Goldie, who was made an AO for service to social justice, the former sex discrimination commissioner Kate Jenkins and the former politician and journalist Maxine McKew.
The youngest recipient was 30 years old while the eldest living recipient was 97.
Overall, 1,191 Australians received honours and awards, including 19 military service awards, 199 meritorious awards and 54 distinguished and conspicuous awards on top of 919 in the general division.
This list also included 73 Australians recognised for their contribution during the pandemic, who will be enshrined in a separate ongoing Covid-19 honour roll.
Among them were professors Jane Gunn, Michael Richard Kidd and Sharon Liberali, who were all made officers, while members of the police, ambulance, emergency services and corrections were also on the honour roll.
Hurley congratulated the recipients on behalf of Australia, who’d made him “enormously optimistic” for the future of the nation.
More than 40% of the awards were for outstanding service or achievement in the community.
“Some are volunteers, others have had a remarkable impact in professional roles – many have done both,” Hurley said.
“Learning about the wide-ranging service of recipients is uplifting and makes me enormously optimistic for our country.
“Collectively they speak to who we are now and who we can be in the future.”
Hurley has been working to increase nominations from historically underrepresented parts of the community including people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.
Previous awards have come under fire for controversial appointments, including former tennis champion Margaret Court, an opponent of same-sex marriage; writer Bettina Arndt, who was criticised for her interview with a convicted paedophile; and former Liberal staffer Peta Credlin, Sky News host and former chief of staff to Tony Abbott when he was prime minister.
• This article was amended on 12 and 13 June 2023. An incorrect reference to Victorian independent MP Dr Monique Ryan was removed; Prof Renae Monique Ryan from NSW was made an AM for her service to biomedical science as a researcher, and to diversity and inclusion. Also, a previous version suggested 919 people had been made Companions of the Order of Australia. That figure refers to all recipients in the general division of the Order.
