Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to rise in this place to celebrate some wonderful Boothby constituents who were recognised yesterday in the King's Birthday honours. These honours are Australia's way of saying thanks to those who make significant contributions to our communities, and how lucky we are in Boothby to have so many engaged community members who selflessly contribute to our community in so many different ways. To these people and to everyone in Boothby who volunteers and works tirelessly to better our community we say thank you. The first two were appointed Members of the Order of Australia: Rodney Fox for significant service to tourism and to shark biology and Distinguished Professor Justine Smith for significant service to ophthalmology, particularly in research and education. The following received the Medal of the Order of Australia: Craig Caldicott for service to surf lifesaving and the law, John Clarke for service to youth through Scouts, Peter Dixon for service to baseball, Craig Fosdike for service to primary education, Wayne Henson for service to horseracing and Australian rules football, Dr Clive Hume for service to medicine, Alan Polkinghorne for service to basketball and Lawrence Wallace for service to the community through a range of roles.

I would also like to acknowledge those that were recognised for other meritorious awards for their service to Boothby and the wider Australian community: Senior sergeant Kelly-Anne Taylor who was awarded the Australian Police Medal; Dr Jonathan Gorvett, who was awarded the Public Service Medal for outstanding public service in emergency management and intergovernmental relations; and Dr Kathleen Ophel-Keller for outstanding public service to the agricultural industry through research and innovative leadership.

The Order of Australia and the other meritorious awards honour those Australians who go above and beyond to contribute to their communities. In 2023, we had 1,192 Australians named in the King's Birthday Honours List. For the first time, more than 50 per cent were women. I would encourage everyone, if there is someone you know who are a valued leader in their field or in their community—I know we all know many of them in Boothby—to nominate that person for recognition in the Order of Australia this coming year.