Scott Morrison, Baz Luhrmann given top accolades in King’s Birthday Honours 2025

Former Covid prime minister Scott Morrison has been given the top King’s Birthday honour of an Companion of the Order of Australia for his work

Mr Morrison was given the honour in recognition of his “eminent service” to the people and Australian parliament, noting his contributions to his “leadership of the national Covid-19 response,” his economic initiatives and his work on national security, “especially through leadership of Australia’s contribution to AUKUS”.

Reflecting on the challenges during his term as Australia’s 30th prime minister from 2018 to 2022, he said Australians responded with “trademark courage and a care for their country and one another”.

He also highlighted China’s increasingly aggressive defence posture during this period, during this period, which included the encroachment of Chinese jet fighters on the Taiwan Strait’s median line in March 2019.

“During this time Australia faced challenges and threats not experienced since the Second World War,” he said in a statement.

“These ranged from unrelenting natural disasters and a once in a century global pandemic and the recession it caused, to coercion and intimidation designed to threaten our support for a free and open Indo-Pacific, a world order that favours freedom and our strong bond with allies and partners.”

His statement also paid tribute to his parliamentary colleagues, state premiers, chief territory ministers, as well as Josh Frydenberg and Michael McCormack who respectively served as treasurer and Nationals leader during his term.

While at times divisive, Mr Morrison’s prime ministership was marred in controversy after it was revealed he secretly awarded himself the portfolios for health, finance, home affairs, treasury, and industry, science, energy and resources.

His unpopularity as prime minister also resulted in what was then the “most serious” election loss for the Liberal Party, with the party losing six of its inner metropolitan seats to teal independents.

Baz Luhrmann – Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)

One of Australia’s most beloved Hollywood exports, Baz Luhrmann’s prodigious film and theatre career is well-documented.

His repertoire spans the Oscar-winning 2001 film Moulin Rouge! the third of his highly-aclaimed Red Curtain Triology which also includes Romeo + Juliet and Strictly Ballroom.

His latest major work was the 2022 film Elvis which explored Elvis Presley’s relationship with his manager Colonel Tom Parker and starred Austin Butler and Tom Hanks.

His partner, Catherine Martin – a famed production designer – was also award a AC.

Hailing from Herons Creek, a tiny town on NSW’s North Coast about 291km from Sydney, Luhrmann paid tribute to his humble beginnings, and the arts community at large.

“My personal journey from a small, rural town to the world stage would not have been possible but for those who came before having the vision to support the arts, allowing us to reflect our stories back to ourselves and participate in global culture as Australians,” he said.

“Catherine Martin and I feel this honour recognises not just us, but those who have made access to the arts possible for every Australian.”

Catherine Martin – Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)

Hailing from Lindfield in Sydney’s upper north shore, renowned costume designer, production designer and set designer Catherine Martin is behind her husbands box-office hits.

She currently holds the record for the most Academy Awards held by any Australia (four), winning both best costume design and best production design for her work on The Great Gatsby (2013), and Moulin Rouge! (2001).

Speaking about her latest accolade, which sits alongside four Academy Awards, a host of Baftas and a Tony, Martin said she was humbled by her AC in eminent service to the arts, to costume, production and set design, and to fostering emerging artistic talent.

“I am so honoured to be joining the ranks of so many illustrious Australians, whom I have admired and been inspired by,” she said.

“Being recognised in your home country is especially meaningful.”

Outside of film, she’s held executive producer and costume and production design credits on television series Faraway Downs and The Get Down.

Martin also dipped her toe into filmmaking, recently launching her collaboration with Italian fashion powerhouse Miu Miu.

The project showcased the brand’s Upcycled capsule collection which reworks vintage dresses from the brand.

Roger Byard – Companion of the Order of Australia (AC)

While South Australian forensic pathologist Roger Byard has shared his expertise on headline-grabbing events like the Bali bombings, the Boxing Day tsunami and the Snowtown murders, he says the biggest impact of his profession can happen outside the mortuary.

Currently a senior specialist forensic pathologist with Forensic Science SA, a role he’s held since 2006, and the Emeritus Professor of Pathology at the School of Biomedicine, Prof Byard said he wants to use the knowledge found in the mortuary into public education and health and social policy.

“To do good forensic pathology, you have to have curiosity, but I think it has to be the foundation has to be compassion, so that you can actually do something with this information,” he said.

“A lot of people in forensics will just document something. They won’t actually act on it and look at prevention.

“In forensic pathology we see cases that bypass the hospital, so we’ve got information that’s extremely useful.”

His area of expertise however is in pediatrics and SIDS – sudden infant death syndrome – and determining the risk factors, and causes for the rare but tragic event which affects about 0.3 deaths per 1000 live births.

Showing the link between forensic pathology and social issues, he points to his work in amending legislation to create an Australian standard for cots to prevent instances of babies suffocating.

“There was a British pathologist who called said that SIDS is in danger of becoming a diagnostic dustbin if people don’t investigate the cases properly, and a lot of unsafe cots where babies were suffocating, those deaths were being called SIDS,” he said.

“People weren’t realising how dangerous the cots were.”

Nicole Livingstone – Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)

From Olympic medallist to presenter and now senior sports administrator, Nicole Livingstone has been honoured for her “distinguished service to sports development and administration, to the promotion of women in sport, and to community health”.

The mum-of-three participated in three Olympic Games including Seoul in 1988, Barcelona 1992, and finally Atlanta 1996, competing in a total of 11 events.

She holds a bronze Olympic medal for the 200m backstroke, a bronze medal for the 4 x 200m freestyle relay, and a silver medal by the 4 x 100m silver medal.

After retiring from professional swimming in 1996, Livingstone segued into presenting before becoming the general manager for the Women’s Football at the AFL in 2017, where she was credited with expanding the game and growing the presence of the AFLW.

Speaking to Domain in 2021, Livingstone reflected on the growth of women in sport.

“There’s a lot more choice for women in this country now than in the 1990s,” she said.

“But you have to remember that during the 2000 Olympic Games, Friends was knocked off air to put swimming on TV and they had 1 million people watching. It was the time before pay-TV and the nation was glued.”

Under her tenure, the AFLW became the largest employers of female athletes in Australia, and expanded the teams from eight to 18.

Since 2024, Livingstone has served as the chief executive of the Victorian Institute of Sport.

Naguib ‘Nick’ Kaldas – Officer of the Order of Australia (AO)

The former NSW Police Force commissioner was one of the three commissioners behind the Royal Commission in Defence and Veteran Suicide, a role he undertook with James Douglas KC and Peggy Brown.

Mr Kaldas has also held roles with the United Nations, including chief of investigations with the UN’s probe into the use of chemical weapons in Syria in 2016, and the same role in the organisation’s Special Tribunal for Lebanon.

He was awarded the AO for his “distinguished service to international and transnational law enforcement, to counter-terrorism leadership, to multiculturalism, and to veterans.”

Sobering findings from the royal commission revealed 1677 serving and former Defence Force members died of suicide between 1997 and 2021, with that figure 20 times more than the number of members who were killed in action or during military exercises.

The government has agreed in principle to implementing 104 of the 122 recommendations from the report, and noted an additional 17 for further consideration.

Speaking at the ceremonial closing of the royal commission, Mr Kaldas urged the government and the Defence Force to “recognise and admit” to the “unacceptable behaviour” unearthed by the probe, which include rampant sexual abuse and inadequate support given to veterans and unfair delays taken to process claims lodged with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs.

He said systems had “failed” many veterans over many years, stating “our nation remains indebted to them and that debt must be now be repaid”.

“Vigilance must be maintained, and no one should take their foot off the pedal in the reform process once the Royal Commission ceases to exist,” he said.

“And so, we call on this government and succeeding governments to finally take the

courageous step of overruling bureaucratic inertia and do what is needed, what is necessary

and what is right”.

Julie-Ann Finney – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM)

An instrumental and relentless voice in calling for the Royal Commission in Defence and Veteran Suicide, which was released last year, Julie-Ann Finney’s advocacy came from tragedy.

The South Australian woman began campaigning for change in the military system after she lost her 38-year-old David to suicide in 2019.

Ms Finney paid tribute to her late son and defence families nationwide who have lost a loved one.

“I did wish that he was here to get it. I really don’t feel like this is my award,” she said.

“I feel like this award belongs to everybody who served or serves, and all of the voiceless and their families who are fighting for them.

“This has been such a huge fight, and usually if I something happens with me I don’t talk about it but I have decided that this one, I’m going to stand on, because we still need so much change.”

While she wasn’t sure of the logistics, Ms Finney said she had plans of sharing the award with the defence community.

“I don’t know how this works, but I’m going to hope that when we get the change that we need, that this award can go to the war memorial to say thank you to all who have served this nation, be they here or not, and their families who have supported them.”

Deborah Hutton – Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM)

A familiar face on television screens, Deborah Hutton followed a decade-plus career at the Australian Women’s Weekly to becoming a fixture on programs like Amazing Homes and Location Location.

She’s since parlayed her platform to raising awareness for skin cancer prevention s following two significant skin cancer removal surgeries, taking on ambassadorships for Chick Check Champions, The Skin Hospital, The Skin Health Institute and Lions Australia’s Skin Cancer Screening and Awareness Program.

Photos of Hutton’s “pretty brutal” recovery following the removal of two Basal Cell Car­ci­no­mas (BCC) from her face went viral in 2020, however she says the prevenance of the recent tan lines trend was proof of the need for continued advocacy.

“I was like: ‘Are you kidding me’? Hutton said, exasperated.

“This is the message that I want these young people to listen to: You are literally investing in having a potentially really dangerous future with your skin. Three out of four Aussies are 100 per cent going to get some form of skin cancer in their lifetime. That’s the stat”.

Hutton said her message was about having a “better relationship with the sun”.

She also wanted to use her profile to raise more awareness for programs which operate mobile skin check buses and trucks to ensure Aussies in rural and regional areas can access free appointments.

“This is critical because these are areas where they have so little access to get their skin checked,” she said.

“We need more we need more light on these amazing organisations that are doing this, that are putting money behind these mobile units because it’s very challenging in some of these areas.”