Australia Must Take Recognition Matters Into Our Own Hands
The time for waiting has passed. Australia's honours system is facing a critical moment as the percentage of women receiving Australia Day awards has plummeted to a shocking 27 percent. This represents a dramatic reversal from the progress seen in 2024, when women's representation briefly exceeded 50 percent. The current situation demands immediate action from ordinary Australians rather than continued reliance on government-led solutions.
A System That Once Inspired Pride
For generations, the Australian honours system represented something special. Many Australians, including columnist Jenna Price's mother who passed away in 1983, viewed these awards with genuine respect and admiration. The system created moments of genuine celebration when community members received recognition for their contributions. Even today, many Australians still pore over the honours lists each year, finding joy in seeing familiar names among the recipients.
"I've still got that feeling," writes Price. "I'm usually entranced by the list and read it all the way from the companions to the OAMs. When I see someone I actually know, I always call them."
The Broken Promise of Progress
The recent decline in women's representation is particularly disappointing because it follows what appeared to be meaningful progress. In 2024, the honours system reached a milestone with women receiving just over half of all Australia Day awards. This achievement suggested that systemic change was finally underway after decades of advocacy and awareness campaigns.
However, this progress proved temporary. Despite efforts by former Governor-General David Hurley and the Council of the Order of Australia to create gender equality in the honours lists, the initiative failed to produce lasting change. Rather than inspiring more nominations of women, the equal representation approach revealed deeper systemic issues.
Systemic Problems Require Community Solutions
Elizabeth Hartnell-Young, co-founder of the advocacy group Honour A Woman, explains the current dilemma. While the Council for the Order of Australia receives increasing numbers of nominations, the majority continue to be for men. Surprisingly, women nominate men as frequently as they nominate other women, highlighting how deeply ingrained these patterns have become.
"Governments and governors-general have not been willing to take on the idea of targets, except for the number of people who get the awards," Hartnell-Young notes. "They have been nervous about the idea."
The backlog of unassessed nominations compounds these problems. With approximately 6,000 nominations awaiting assessment as of 2023-2024, the system struggles to process submissions in a timely manner. This administrative bottleneck further delays recognition for deserving Australians.
A History of Recommendations Without Implementation
Australia has a long history of identifying problems within the honours system without implementing effective solutions. In September 1990, Senator Margaret Reynolds issued Women and the Order of Australia, calling for increased nominations of women. Two years later, the Lavarch parliamentary committee's report Halfway to Equal made specific recommendations about improving women's representation.
Clare Petre's 1995 report A matter of honour provided detailed recommendations for addressing gender imbalance. More recently, Vivienne Thom's review of the governor-general's office called for systemic overhaul. While the Albanese government has allocated $6 million in funding following Thom's recommendations, many question whether additional reviews will produce different results.
The Path Forward Requires Individual Action
The solution may lie not in further government reports but in community action. Australians can make a tangible difference by nominating deserving women in their communities. Consider the women who have dedicated years to local school parents' associations, the volunteers who sustain community charities, and the activists advocating for environmental protection, land rights, and educational reform.
Price urges every Australian: "Take five minutes out of your day to think about who you might nominate to get an Order of Australia. Think deeply about the groups of Australians who don't get these awards."
Successful models exist, such as Victoria's now-defunct Recognition Matters campaign, which effectively increased women's nominations before being abandoned due to lack of staffing and funding. These examples demonstrate what's possible with proper investment in nomination processes and platforms.
Recognition Starts With Us
The honours system reflects who Australians value and celebrate as contributors to society. When certain groups remain consistently underrepresented, it sends a message about whose work matters. Changing this dynamic requires shifting from passive observation to active participation in the nomination process.
As Australia faces another year of disappointing honours statistics, the responsibility for change increasingly falls to ordinary citizens. By nominating deserving women and advocating for broader diversity in recognition, Australians can create the systemic change that decades of government reports have failed to achieve. The time for waiting has ended; the time for action has arrived.
