DOCSLIB.ORG

SENATE Official Hansard

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
SENATE Official Hansard COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES SENATE Official Hansard THURSDAY, 27 JUNE 1996 THIRTY-EIGHTH PARLIAMENT FIRST SESSION—FIRST PERIOD BY AUTHORITY OF THE SENATE CANBERRA CONTENTS THURSDAY, 27 JUNE Parliament House Art Collection ............................ 2313 Petitions— Landmines .......................................... 2314 Logging and Woodchipping .............................. 2314 Freedom of Choice .................................... 2315 Industrial Relations .................................... 2315 Gun Controls ........................................ 2316 Mobile Phone Towers .................................. 2316 Uranium Mining...................................... 2316 Recycled Paper: Sales Tax .............................. 2316 Logging and Woodchipping .............................. 2316 French Nuclear Testing ................................. 2317 Higher Education Contribution Scheme ...................... 2317 Television Cables and Electricity Lines ...................... 2317 Landmines .......................................... 2317 Industrial Relations .................................... 2318 Sudan ............................................. 2318 Asylum Seekers ...................................... 2318 Notices of Motion— Regulations and Ordinances Committee ..................... 2319 Withdrawal ......................................... 2320 Mr P.J. Keating: Piggery ................................ 2320 Introduction of Legislation .............................. 2320 Second Sydney Airport ................................. 2320 Introduction of Legislation .............................. 2320 Economics References Committee ......................... 2321 Committees— Selection of Bills Committee—Report ...................... 2321 Sessional Orders ....................................... 2321 Order of Business— Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee .... 2321 Notices of Motion— Immigration Legislation ................................ 2322 Committees ........................................... 2322 Employment, Education and Training References Committee— Reference ......................................... 2322 Consideration of Legislation ............................... 2323 Administration of Drugs to Women in Prison ................... 2323 National Commission of Audit ............................. 2323 Committees— Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee— Report ........................................... 2324 Child Support Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 1) 1996— Higher Education Funding Amendment Bill (No. 2) 1996— Employment, Education and Training Amendment Bill 1996— Trade Practices Amendment (Industry Access Codes) Bill 1996— First Reading ........................................ 2324 Second Reading ...................................... 2325 Committees— Community Standards Committee—Reference ................. 2328 Ombudsman Amendment Bill 1996— First Reading ........................................ 2328 Second Reading ...................................... 2328 Australian Drug Evaluation Committee ........................ 2329 Senate Officer: Evidence in Legal Proceedings .................. 2330 Days and Hours of Meeting ............................... 2331 Patents Amendment Bill 1996— First Reading ........................................ 2332 CONTENTS—continued Second Reading ...................................... 2332 Labelling of Genetically Manipulated and Other Foods Bill 1996— First Reading ........................................ 2335 Second Reading ...................................... 2335 Condolences— Mr Ray Lindwall ..................................... 2335 Committees— Community Affairs References Committee—Report ............. 2336 Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee— Report ........................................... 2337 Publications Committee—Report .......................... 2337 Public Accounts Committee—Report ....................... 2337 Public Accounts Committee—Reports ....................... 2339 Outstanding Government Responses—Report: Government Response . 2340 Bills Returned from The House of Representatives ............... 2343 Committees— Membership ......................................... 2343 Membership ......................................... 2344 Order of Business— Postponement ....................................... 2344 Telecommunications (Carrier Licence Fees) Amendment Bill 1996— Second Reading ...................................... 2345 Parliamentary Contributory Superannuation Amendment Bill 1996— Second Reading ...................................... 2347 Customs Amendment Bill 1996 ............................. 2348 Customs Tariff Amendment Bill (No. 1) 1996— Second Reading ...................................... 2348 Consideration of Legislation ............................... 2351 Taxation Laws Amendment Bill (No. 1) 1996— Consideration of House of Representatives Message ............. 2366 Migration Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 2) 1996— Report of Legal and Constitutional Legislation Committee ........ 2374 Customs Tariff Amendment Bill (No. 1) 1996— Second Reading ...................................... 2374 In Committee ........................................ 2376 Questions Without Notice— Aboriginal Affairs: Special Auditor ........................ 2379 Trade Policy ........................................ 2382 Sydney Airport ...................................... 2383 Optus Local Call Service ................................ 2383 National Crime Authority: Budget Cuts ..................... 2385 People’s Constitutional Convention ........................ 2385 Macquarie, Heard and McDonald Islands .................... 2386 Deportation Order .................................... 2387 Senator Chapman ..................................... 2388 Australian Sporting Shooters Association .................... 2388 Kakadu and Uluru National Parks ......................... 2389 Chicken Meat Imports .................................. 2390 People’s Constitutional Convention ........................ 2390 National Gallery of Australia ............................. 2391 Aboriginal Affairs: Special Auditor ........................ 2391 Minister For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs— Suspension of Standing Orders ............................ 2393 Procedural Motion .................................... 2394 Questions Without Notice— Film and Video Guidelines .............................. 2394 Sale of Telstra ....................................... 2394 Minister For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs— Motion of Censure .................................... 2395 National Commission of Audit ............................. 2429 CONTENTS—continued Personal Explanations— Suspension of Standing Orders ............................ 2439 Personal Explanation .................................... 2440 Workplace Relations and Other Legislation Amendment Bill 1996— First Reading ........................................ 2442 Referral to Committee .................................. 2442 Development Allowance Authority Amendment Bill 1996— Consideration of House of Representatives Message ............. 2442 Valedictories .......................................... 2446 SENATE 2313 Thursday, 27 June 1996 As far as I can tell, Mr Cameron is worried that the collection contains many abstract works of art. In his comments Mr Cameron approvingly quoted from an earlier letter to me from Senator Woods The PRESIDENT (Senator the Hon. who said that "we have a collection almost entirely Michael Beahan) took the chair at 9.30 a.m., devoted to the avant-garde". But this is mistaken. and read prayers. The avant-garde in any field refers to works that are in the vanguard of recent developments. PARLIAMENT HOUSE ART Abstract art has been made for most of this century and is an established style, regarded as deadly COLLECTION conservative by the practitioners of the more radical The PRESIDENT—With the leave of the forms of conceptual, installation and performance Senate, I wish to incorporate in Hansard a art, none of which are represented in Parliament short statement which is in response to the House. comments made by Mr Ross Cameron, the The member for Parramatta appears to be ignorant new member for Parramatta, during the of the background to the collection so I will briefly adjournment debate in the other place on outline it here. The Art Advisory Committee of the Parliament House Construction Authority was the Thursday, 20 June. I am sorry that my state- only advisory committee set up by the Authority ment has been circulated fairly late. The and included some of the most senior and expert honourable member’s comments were highly members of the Australian visual arts community critical of the Parliament House art collection as well as parliamentarians. The Authority reported and of my role in promoting its development. in detail to the Joint Standing Committee on the I have not got any other time to incorporate New parliament House which established a sub- committee to allow closer parliamentary scrutiny of this statement, so I would like to do it now in the art program. The Joint Standing Committee the interests of the speed of business. approved not only the direction of the collection Leave granted. but also much of its detail. The original budget for works of art for the offices of Senators and Mem- The statement read as follows— bers was however much reduced as a result of RESPONSE TO
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Election Report 2007
    Profile of the 2007 Australian Election Prepared by Australian Development Strategies Pty Ltd ©Copyright Australian Development Strategies 2008 1 Summary of Findings Kevin Rudd in 2007 achieved the impossible and breathed life into the Whitlam era blue collar Labor voter, hitherto presumed dead and reincarnated as Howard Battlers. Right across all Australian working class suburbs and electorates, the Whitlam profile stirred into life via the sons and daughters of Gough. The 2007 profile was no where near as strong as it had been in days of Whitlam, as the union base underlying Whitlam’s vote has long since disappeared, but it was there. The lack of unionised skilled blue collar workers was made up for by male white collar workers at levels exceeding those achieved by Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. On the flip side, the professionals and the better paid began the move back towards the levels of Liberal support existing prior to John Howard’s win in 1996. In other words, the Howard Battlers voted for Rudd and the professional women began to drift back to their Tory heartland. And while we’re on the subject of renewal, the strongest correlate of the swing to Kevin Rudd’s new Labor Party was Pentecostal church goers, alongside Baptists, Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons, Lutherans, Salvos, Seventh Day Adventists and the Uniting Church. With the Uniting Church included, these activist religions represent ten percent of Australians here in total, and they were located in the best possible areas for Labor. In fact, 12 out of the top 20 Pentecostal seats in Australia are located in Kevin Rudd’s home state of Queensland and Kevin won five of them.
    [Show full text]
  • SENATE Official Hansard
    COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA PARLIAMENTARY DEBATES SENATE Official Hansard WEDNESDAY, 11 MARCH 1998 THIRTY-EIGHTH PARLIAMENT FIRST SESSION—SIXTH PERIOD BY AUTHORITY OF THE SENATE CANBERRA CONTENTS WEDNESDAY, 11 MARCH Senator Bolkus— Motion of Censure .................................... 755 Consideration of Legislation ............................... 780 Matters of Public Interest— Waterfront Reform .................................... 790 Mr Edgar Williams .................................... 793 Environment Legislation ................................ 795 Superannuation: Marriage Breakdown ....................... 797 AQIS: Meat Inspection ................................. 800 Weather Forecasting Aircraft ............................. 803 Questions Without Notice— Minerals and Energy Industries ........................... 805 Howard Government: Economic Strategy .................... 805 Minister for Resources and Energy ......................... 806 Environment: Marine Biodiversity ......................... 807 Minister for Resources and Energy ......................... 808 Health Care ......................................... 809 Minister for Resources and Energy ......................... 810 International Transfer of Prisoners ......................... 811 Minister for Resources and Energy ......................... 811 IT Outsourcing ....................................... 812 Minister for Resources and Energy ......................... 812 Endangered Species Legislation ........................... 813 Distinguished Visitors ..................................
    [Show full text]
  • The Sydney Law Review
    volume 42 number 1 march 2020 the sydney law review articles Why Do Employment Age Discrimination Cases Fail? An Analysis of Australian Case Law – Alysia Blackham 1 In Whose Best Interests? Regulating Financial Advisers, the Royal Commission and the Dilemma of Reform – Han-Wei Liu, Toan Le, Weiping He and Michael Duffy 37 The New Psychology of Expert Witness Procedure – Jason M Chin, Mehera San Roque and Rory McFadden 69 before the high court Hocking v Director-General of the National Archives of Australia: Can Kerr’s Correspondence with the Queen Be Kept Secret Forever? – Anne Twomey 97 He ‘Came Across as Someone Who Was Telling the Truth’: Pell v The Queen – Andrew Dyer and David Hamer 109 Lewis v Australian Capital Territory: Valuing Freedom – Jason NE Varuhas 123 review essay The Role of Judges in Managing Complex Civil Litigation – Peter Cashman 141 EDITORIAL BOARD Elisa Arcioni (Editor) Ghena Krayem Celeste Black (Editor) Kristin Macintosh Fady Aoun Tanya Mitchell Ben Chen Michael Sevel Emily Hammond Yane Svetiev Jason Harris Kimberlee Weatherall Before the High Court Editor: Emily Hammond Book Review Editor: Yane Svetiev Publishing Manager: Cate Stewart Correspondence should be addressed to: Sydney Law Review Law Publishing Unit Sydney Law School Building F10, Eastern Avenue UNIVERSITY OF SYDNEY NSW 2006 AUSTRALIA Email: [email protected] Website and submissions: <https://sydney.edu.au/law/our-research/ publications/sydney-law-review.html> For subscriptions outside North America, email [email protected] For subscriptions in North America, contact Gaunt: [email protected] The Sydney Law Review is a refereed journal. © 2020 Sydney Law Review and authors.
    [Show full text]
  • Family Experiments Middle-Class, Professional Families in Australia and New Zealand C
    Family Experiments Middle-class, professional families in Australia and New Zealand c. 1880–1920 Family Experiments Middle-class, professional families in Australia and New Zealand c. 1880–1920 SHELLEY RICHARDSON Published by ANU Press The Australian National University Acton ACT 2601, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at press.anu.edu.au National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Creator: Richardson, Shelley, author. Title: Family experiments : middle-class, professional families in Australia and New Zealand c 1880–1920 / Shelley Richardson. ISBN: 9781760460587 (paperback) 9781760460594 (ebook) Series: ANU lives series in biography. Subjects: Middle class families--Australia--Biography. Middle class families--New Zealand--Biography. Immigrant families--Australia--Biography. Immigrant families--New Zealand--Biography. Dewey Number: 306.85092 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. The ANU.Lives Series in Biography is an initiative of the National Centre of Biography at The Australian National University, ncb.anu.edu.au. Cover design and layout by ANU Press. Photograph adapted from: flic.kr/p/fkMKbm by Blue Mountains Local Studies. This edition © 2016 ANU Press Contents List of Illustrations . vii List of Abbreviations . ix Acknowledgements . xi Introduction . 1 Section One: Departures 1 . The Family and Mid-Victorian Idealism . 39 2 . The Family and Mid-Victorian Realities . 67 Section Two: Arrival and Establishment 3 . The Academic Evangelists . 93 4 . The Lawyers . 143 Section Three: Marriage and Aspirations: Colonial Families 5 .
    [Show full text]
  • Graham MAGUIRE
    DON DUNSTAN FOUNDATION 1 DON DUNSTAN ORAL HISTORY PROJECT Graham MAGUIRE This is George Lewkowicz for the Don Dunstan Foundation’s Don Dunstan Oral History Project interviewing Mr Graham Maguire, who was a former Senator for the Labor Party and heavily-involved in student politics in the University of Adelaide in the – ‘60s, was it, Graham? Yes. The date today is the 30th July 2010 and the location is the Malaysian Room in the University of Adelaide. Graham, thanks very much for doing the interview for the Don Dunstan Oral History Project. You also worked in the Premier’s Department, so we’ve got a broad view from working in the Policy Division and the Premier’s Office, Don Dunstan’s office, in the mid–late ‘70s. Just before we get into that period, can you just outline some of your education and employment experience prior to working in the Premier’s Department? I was nearly 27 when I joined the Department. My only work experience prior to that was as a management trainee and part-time tertiary student for BP, the petroleum company, from 1963–65. I’d also worked as a research assistant to Professor Noel Butlin at the ANU in Canberra for two years in economic history while I completed my master’s degree in Economics. At that time I also did quite a bit of research for the doyen of Australian historians at the time, Sir Keith Hancock, in 1971 and 71, much of it in the National Library in Canberra. What was that research about, can you recall that? He was writing a book on the Monaro district of Southern New South Wales, which is south of Canberra, and I remember one of the jobs I had to do was to go through the diaries of a big sheep station in the Southern Tablelands of New South Wales, from the 1800s, because he was integrating the contents of these diaries into his history of the Monaro district.
    [Show full text]
  • Who Pulls the Purse Strings? Problems and Possibilities in The
    Who Pulls the Purse Strings? Problems and Possibilities in the Legislative Oversight of Executive Expenditure in the Australian Federal Government A Dissertation Submitted for the Award LLM Master of Laws By Jessica Shaw Fitzwilliam College University of Cambridge April 2006 Table of Contents Table of Contents i Acknowledgements iii Statement on Thesis Sources iv List of figures v Introduction 1 Chapter One: Australian Parliamentary Democracy 5 Responsible Government 6 Separation of Powers 8 Federalism 9 The Combination of Responsible Government, Separation of Powers and Federalism in the Australian System 12 Chapter Two: The Senate and Access to the Public Purse 17 The Constitutional Framework 18 The Senate and Appropriations – the Nexus between Financial Control and Executive Accountability 21 Pre-Budget Scrutiny 21 Post-Budget Scrutiny 25 Evaluating the Senate's Role 26 Recent Developments 26 General Problems with the Current system 26 The October 2004 Federal Election 30 Combet v The Commonwealth 34 Conclusions 39 Chapter Three: Scotland 40 Devolution and the creation of the Scottish Parliament 41 Designing Devolution 43 The Executive 43 The Legislature 44 Benefits of the Scottish Process 51 Appropriations in Scotland 53 Pre-Budget Scrutiny 53 Post-Budget Scrutiny: The Audit Committee 58 Conclusion 58 Conclusion 61 Appendices 65 Appendix One: Examples of The Australian Federal Government's WorkChoices Advertisements 66 Bibliography 68 iii Acknowledgements I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor Cheryl Saunders, for her invaluable guidance and advice. I would also like to express my gratitude to the Clerk of the Australian Senate, Harry Evans and the many others in the Department of the Senate who have given me their support and provided me with many learning opportunities.
    [Show full text]
  • Asylum Seekers and Australian Politics, 1996-2007
    ASYLUM SEEKERS AND AUSTRALIAN POLITICS, 1996-2007 Bette D. Wright, BA(Hons), MA(Int St) Discipline of Politics & International Studies (POLIS) School of History and Politics The University of Adelaide, South Australia A Thesis Presented to the School of History and Politics In the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Contents DECLARATION ................................................................................................................... i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................................. ii ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................... iii INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. v CHAPTER 1: CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK .................................................................. 1 Sovereignty, the nation-state and stateless people ............................................................. 1 Nationalism and Identity .................................................................................................. 11 Citizenship, Inclusion and Exclusion ............................................................................... 17 Justice and human rights .................................................................................................. 20 CHAPTER 2: REFUGEE ISSUES & THEORETICAL REFLECTIONS ......................... 30 Who
    [Show full text]
  • VOTES and PROCEEDINGS No
    1993 THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES VOTES AND PROCEEDINGS No. 1 FIRST SESSION OF THE THIRTY-SEVENTH PARLIAMENT TUESDAY, 4 MAY 1993 The Parliament of the Commonwealth of Australia begun and held in Parliament House, Canberra, on Tuesday, the fourth day of May, in the forty-second year of the Reign of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth the Second, and in the year of our Lord One thousand nine hundred and ninety-three. 1 On which day, being the first day of the meeting of the Parliament for the despatch of business pursuant to a Proclamation (which follows), Lyndal McAlpin Barlin, Clerk of the House of Representatives, Ian Charles Harris, Acting Deputy Clerk, Bernard Clive Wright, Acting First Clerk Assistant and Philip Francis Bergin, Serjeant-at-Arms, attending in the House according to their duty, the said Proclamation was read at the Table by the Clerk: PROCLAMATION I, WILLIAM GEORGE HAYDEN, Governor-General of the Commonwealth of Australia, acting in accordance with section 5 of the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Australia which provides, among other things, that the Governor-General may appoint such times for holding the sessions of the Parliament as he thinks fit, by this Proclamation: " appoint Tuesday, 4 May 1993 at 10.30 a.m. as the day and time for all Senators and Members of the House of Representatives to assemble at Parliament House; and * summon all Senators and Members of the House of Representatives to attend accordingly. Signed and sealed with the Great Seal of Australia on 21 April 1993 BILL HAYDEN Governor-General By His Excellency's Command PAUL KEATING Prime Minister No.
    [Show full text]
  • Class of 1968 Golden Jubilee Welcome Message from the Order of Proceedings Vice-Chancellor and President
    Class of 1968 Golden Jubilee Welcome message from the Order of Proceedings Vice-Chancellor and President The ceremony The congregation is requested to stand as the procession enters the hall It gives me great pleasure to welcome the class of 1968 alumni back to the Opening University of Adelaide to celebrate your Golden Jubilee reunion on the Inga Davis 50th anniversary of the conferral of Chief Executive, External Relations your degree. Welcome address The University is both proud of and indebted to its alumni. You are our greatest ambassadors, representing and connecting us Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Peter Rathjen locally and globally through business, industry, government, or as volunteers, while bringing benefit to all. The University of Adelaide is not its campuses, or its staff and The Golden Jubilee address students, it is certainly not the Vice-Chancellor! The University of Adelaide is in fact the much wider community that stretches 1968 Golden Jubilee Graduate across the globe and which is largely made up of our alumni. It is vitally important to unite this community, to bring people together through a strengthening of the connections that exist, and a sense of common purpose and values. Vote of thanks One of the best things about my role, as an alumnus of the Inga Davis University and now the Vice-Chancellor and President, is hearing the wealth of stories about the achievements of our alumni. Each and every one of you has a story to tell about the unique contributions you have made to your professions and Presentation of Golden Jubilee graduates communities over the past 50 years and I look forward to reading them in this commemorative book.
    [Show full text]
  • South Australian Uranium Energy for the World
    marathon resources limited annual report 2009 For personal use only For personal use only This report is printed on paper consisting of 100% post consumer waste, made with a carbon neutral manufacturing process. 02 04 08 16 Chairman’s Directors Review Directors Corporate Address of Operations Report Governance Statement 18 19 22 Auditors Independent Financial Independence Audit Statements Declaration Report 26 46 48 Notes to Shareholder Corporate Financial Information Directory Statements SOUTH AUSTRALIAN URANIUM ENERGY FOR THE WORLD For personal use only Annual Report 2009 | ACN 107 531 822 Marathon Resources LTD 1 CHAIRMAN’S ADDRESS This is the sixth Annual Report to shareholders of Marathon acknowledged that a greater expectation is required from Resources Limited (“Marathon”) and on behalf of your Board us as an explorer in the uranium industry. The major Policy of Directors I have pleasure in presenting to you a summary Paper we presented to shareholders and stakeholders in of activities undertaken by the Company in 2008/2009. August 2008 outlined the assessment of risk associated with uranium. Therefore, exploration activities in the The past year has seen the Company’s operations divided Paralana Mineral System on EL3258 will have mandatory into two parts: safety measures for the planning and implementation of (i) the first involved the rectification of our Mt Gee uranium exploration work as required for all operators in South project site (EL3258) following the suspension of the Australia. company’s drilling program by Primary Industries and In particular, the disposal of low-level radioactive materials Resources South Australia (PIRSA) in January 2008; and and mining samples and other loose materials and rubbish (ii) the second comprised Marathon embarking on a program must be done strictly in accordance with the requirements of of continuing exploration activities in South Australia and the appropriate authorities.
    [Show full text]
  • The States and Territories Ferran Martinez I Coma and Rodney Smith
    9 The States and Territories Ferran Martinez i Coma and Rodney Smith In November 2015, Bill Shorten declared that, if elected, his government would provide $100 million towards the construction of a new Townsville football stadium. The Queensland Labor government would match the funding. The stadium would primarily serve as the home ground for the newly crowned NRL Premiership winners, the North Queensland Cowboys (Australian Labor Party (ALP) 2015). In the months leading up to the 2016 federal election, Shorten continued to promote his stadium proposal, challenging the Coalition to equal his commitment (Peel 2016). Business analysts criticised Labor’s plan, while the Coalition remained uncommitted (Ludlow 2016). During the fourth week of the election campaign, after the Queensland government announced it would increase its funding to $140 million, Malcolm Turnbull matched Shorten’s stadium promise as part of a broader ‘City Deal’ for Townsville. The State’s Assistant Minister for North Queensland welcomed this new bipartisanship, while criticising the time it took Turnbull to make his promise (Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) 2016; Liberal Party of Australia (LPA) 2016b). Townsville’s football stadium illustrates some of the ways in which federalism and party competition interact in Australian federal elections. The fact that Labor controlled the State government gave federal Labor the possibility of an initiative that created policy and electoral dilemmas for the federal Coalition. As events transpired, the Queensland government was able to leverage State infrastructure funding from both federal major 211 DOUBLE DISILLUSION parties. Had the Queensland government been in Liberal–National Party (LNP) hands, as was the case until early 2015, the dynamics of the stadium decision would have been quite different.
    [Show full text]
  • Honouring Australians in the 1970S
    The definitive version is available at http://wileyonlinelibrary.com http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ajph.12317/full The Politics of National Recognition: Honouring Australians in a Post-Imperial World1 Karen Fox and Samuel Furphy Abstract The announcement in January 2015 that Prince Philip had been chosen to receive an Australian knighthood (an honour which itself had been controversially revived the previous year) sparked a fury of debate about honours, and about the continuance of a British connection in Australia’s national life. Such debates were not new, echoing earlier arguments about honours as a national or imperial symbol. Through two related case studies – the Australian honours system and the Australian of the Year award – this article explores the politics of national recognition in 1970s and 1980s Australia. We consider both the politics involved in the creation and alteration of awards by which individual achievement and service are recognised by the nation, and the politics involved in imagining and recognising an Australian nation as expressed in those awards. We argue that these two institutions were more than a means to acknowledge hard work or sacrifice; they were also significant sites for contests over the nature of Australia’s post-imperial identity. Like most modern nations, Australia uses an official system of honours to acknowledge and celebrate the services and achievements of its citizens. This formal system is complemented by the more populist Australian of the Year award. In the twenty-first century these two honorific institutions are familiar and – with some notable exceptions – widely valued and accepted elements of the social and symbolic landscape.
    [Show full text]