Australian of the Year

[2020hindsight]

well I think anyone who is still keeping their New Year's resolutions should be mentioned in the honours list.

Like, I've successfully given up coffee for 25 days 14 hours 16 minutes
And I mainly drink light beer ( just three times as many )

 

[Prospector]

yep!
and many of em could care less about the plight of the bushies
could be what the judges want to highlight maybe?

Surely that isn't the purpose of this award?

I think maybe Australia is moving from a Primary Industry to Secondary - or is that tertiary to Mining!

 

[2020hindsight]

1. Surely that isn't the purpose of this award?

2. I think maybe Australia is moving from a Primary Industry to Secondary - or is that tertiary to Mining!

1. I'm not sure what the purpose of the award is - ? (make you proud to be Aus according to the govt website)
If you look at the list of recipients (backgrounds in sports, arts, Abs, church, army, global warming etc ) - the full spectrum I guess.

The fact that Tim Flannery received it last year ( almost in defiance of the reigning govt of the day) would suggest that you don't have to toe the party line.

Seems that Senior starts at 60. They should clarify that 25-59 is "Middle Aged Aussie of the Year" yes?

http://www.australianoftheyear.gov.au/pages/page2.asp

Lee Kernaghan named Australian of the Year 2008
25 January 2008
Country music legend and a champion of rural Australia, Lee Kernaghan OAM, has been named Australian of the Year 2008 at a ceremony in front of Parliament House in Canberra

About the Australian of the Year Awards
Each year our nation celebrates the achievement and contribution of eminent Australians through the Australian of the Year Awards by profiling leading citizens who are role models for us all. They inspire us through their achievements and challenge us to make our own contribution to creating a better Australia.

There are four award categories:

a. Australian of the Year
b. Senior Australian of the Year (60 years and over)
c. Young Australian of the Year (16 to 25 years)
d. Australia's Local Hero

2. like USA you reckon - taking up mining in a big way ...
"this is mine, that's mine, and pretty soon that'll be mine as well"

Meanwhile looks like he wants to lobby Canberra on Bourke's behalf ( the town, not the wassie)
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/26/2147192.htm

Kernaghan 'pumped and ready' to champion bush
Posted 3 hours 9 minutes ago
Updated 2 hours 34 minutes ago

New Australian of the Year Lee Kernaghan says he will be lobbying the Government to pay more attention to the problems of regional Australia.

The country music star says he is delighted with the award, which was presented by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at a ceremony in Canberra.

"I'm pumped and ready. I appreciate this magnificent honour Australia has given me," he said.

Kernaghan says he will be talking to Mr Rudd about what can be done to help regional Australia and will be encouraging others to support local industries and buy Australian products.

This year's Local Hero award winner, Choir of Hard Knocks founder Jonathan Welch, says he plans to raise the profile of homelessness with Mr Rudd.

"It really takes a level of commitment from all of us to really care about each other," he said.

PS Kernaghan says "Buy Aus" !!

Local Hero category added just 5 years ago

The Local Hero Award was introduced into the Australian of the Year Awards in 2003. It acknowledges extraordinary contributions made by Australians in their local community.

The Local Hero Award is sponsored by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship.

The Hon Kevin Andrews MP, Minister for Immigration and Citizenship, is pleased to be associated with the awards.

"Everyone can be a Local Hero. This award provides an opportunity to say thank you. These are ordinary people who are inspired to make an extraordinary difference in their own community. Their communities and the nation benefit from their efforts."

2008 Jonathon Welch

2007 Shanaka Fernando

2006 Toni Hoffman

2005 Ben Kearney (b.1972)

2004 Donna Carson

2003 Mr Brian Parry AFSM

 

[Julia]

I wonder how much of the choice of Mr Kernaghan relates to our esteemed Prime Minister's desire to be seen as being "of the common people" rather than an intellectual, Mandarin-speaking diplomat?

As far as Mr Kernaghan's generosity in donating some proceeds from his concerts to drought relief is concerned, I imagine it's a very small percentage of his overall income and such a proportion will easily be recouped by additional sales of his records as a result of all the publicity.

What does this choice of Australian of the Year say about Australia to people overseas? That we value above all others a purveyor of what some of us would even hesitate to call music, delivered in a predictably nasal, American twang? OK, fine, I guess. Goes with the cork trimmed hats, kangaroos and koalas to complete the picture of modern Australia.

And, somewhat off topic for which I apologise, another ASF member has via PM recorded his astonishment at the outpouring of grief re Heath Ledger.
Sure, it's sad when someone dies. But as someone who is decidedly unimpressed by celebrities, I'm a great deal more sad about the homeless person who dies alone in the gutter simply because no one could care less.

 

[Prospector]

yep!
and many of em could care less about the plight of the bushies
could be what the judges want to highlight maybe?

I have been thinking about this a bit more. Are you saying that the Australian of the Year should be picked to make a political statement? That would an absolute travesty!

 

[2020hindsight]

I have been thinking about this a bit more. Are you saying that the Australian of the Year should be picked to make a political statement? That would an absolute travesty!

I'm not sure exactly how it's chosen
but not really political as such ..
I mean, recognition of the bush is pretty much bipartisan in Canberra.

Just that a lot of city folk give em drought relief / flood relief etc begrudgingly

And it seems that Lee has been concentrating his efforts on said bush.

Let's say it's "recognition of someone who recognises a need"

 

[2020hindsight]

I'm not sure exactly how it's chosen
but not really political as such ..

Does he (Lee) make me proud to be an Aussie?
jury out , but I'll happily see what he's on about
after Tamworth when he's got his voice back (finishes today I think) - he's been playing to devoted fans of course...

Did Archbishop Peter Hollingworth AO OBE make me proud to be an aussie?
nope (possibly with benefit of hindsight of his handling of sexual abuse matters in the church - legal vulnerability taking precedence over moral stand - perhaps that's a "governor -generalisation"

Did Steve Irwin ? - you betcha
And Terri for that matter, just for the fact that she's adopted us.

Does Gillie - ditto

 

[Prospector]

Does he (Lee) make me proud to be an Aussie?

No, I am still cringing about this award. He has been around in the media for years, so if you dont know what he is on about by now, then doesnt that suggest it is an, well, unusual choice?

Did Archbishop Peter Hollingworth AO OBE make me proud to be an aussie?

I dont believe that any religious leaders should be given this honour

Did Steve Irwin ? - you betcha

Nope

And Terri for that matter, just for the fact that she's adopted us.

Double Nope. Would they even be considered if there had not been a sad and sudden death? And are we that bad that we should be greatful that she has 'adopted' us?

Does Gillie - ditto

Yes, he is a great cricketer and sportsperson, but he has received plenty of accolades in his own right, and in remuneration. So ditto for sports people as for religious people! And I do come from a sporting family!

Victor Chen (Heart Surgeon), Frazer (Cervical cancer prevention) Working with the disabled, the sick etc - these are the people who make me proud.

 

[Julia]

No, I am still cringing about this award. He has been around in the media for years, so if you dont know what he is on about by now, then doesnt that suggest it is an, well, unusual choice?



I dont believe that any religious leaders should be given this honour



Nope


Double Nope. Would they even be considered if there had not been a sad and sudden death? And are we that bad that we should be greatful that she has 'adopted' us?



Yes, he is a great cricketer and sportsperson, but he has received plenty of accolades in his own right, and in remuneration. So ditto for sports people as for religious people! And I do come from a sporting family!

Victor Chen (Heart Surgeon), Frazer (Cervical cancer prevention) Working with the disabled, the sick etc - these are the people who make me proud.

Agree 100%. And I'd add Dr Fiona Wood, for her dedicated work with burns victims.
Another person who makes an ongoing great contribution to Australia is social researcher, Hugh McKay.
Have never understood the adulation about the Irwins and intensely dislike the exploitation of a child in making such a celebrity of Bindi Irwin.

 

[wayneL]

Being overseas, who would I point to as making me proud to admit being Aussie (I am a citizen and speak with the accent)?

Not Lee. I like him an' all, but he has sold out "Aussieness" for commercial success (yankee accent and style of music etc).

Notwithstanding there are heaps and heaps of unknowns that would make me wave a little flag over here, if we must have someone famous, howzabout Gillie?

I think the Gillie thread illustrates something about what makes us proud.

 

[Flying Fish]

Typical of austrlian society nowdays, we nominate a singer THis aociety is well and truelly stuffed, mindless dimwits.

 

[Taurisk]

Hi
I am not particularly into C & W music, and always thought Lee Kernighan (spelling?) was American, anyway, but was aware that he had written a song, or was simply the presenter of a song about the hard lot of our farmers, the suicides etc. So from that point of view, - yes - he's done something praiseworthy. The rest of the choices are a bit of a hotch-potch. Bindi or rather Mum Terri Irwin with her rather commercial bent gives me the creeps! Wasn't it amazing how quickly she picked herself up after Steve's death? I am a widow myself but it took me a year after my husband's death to just begin to function normally.

It seems to me there is no real great honour in being chosen for those awards; they're a bit like the stickers given away to kindergarten kids. The Awards Team are obviously tapping into what they conceive to be popular "culture".

As a society we need to recognise people who will point the way to the future, or look after our health, communities, environment, bonding with our land, or who have great diplomatic talents to make international friendships (I guess that would mean a politican and could include singers, actors), or are internationally recognised.

Yet looking at the English Award system I must say, they're not much better, are they? Are the awards meaningless? Probably not.
A bit more selectiveness is required, please!

Cheers

Taurisk

 

[moneymajix]

Although, passed on, the work of Fred Hollows is inspirational.
His foundation is still doing amazing work.


http://www.fredhollows.com.au/



AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR
Fred Hollows AC (1929 - 1993)

1990 Award
Ophthalmologist

A New Zealander, Hollows became involved in the struggle of Aboriginal land rights and better health soon after arriving in Sydney in 1965. In 1971 he helped to set up the first Aboriginal medical centre and in 1976 established the National Trachoma and Eye Health Program which provided treatment to more than 450 remote communities. Hollows also established blindness prevention programs in Asia, Africa and South America. He made several trips to Eritrea to train barefoot doctors to perform simple eye surgery and to help establish a factory to manufacture plastic intraocular lenses. The 'intellectual with the wharfie's manner' became an Australian folk hero, an iconoclast who inspired some and angered other.

Hollows said: 'To my mind, having a care and concern for others is the highest of the human qualities.' He used his tour of honour after the award to argue for an increase in federal aid to developing nations, and for a more energetic approach to youth unemployment. He always tried to challenge people to lead more selfless and dynamic lives.

 

[Prospector]

Although, passed on, the work of Fred Hollows is inspirational. His foundation is still doing amazing work.

Absolutely, yes, he is exactly the right person. An amazing and selfless person who went where others feared to tread. He could have earnt squllions doing his work in private practice, but instead he dedicated it to those who simply could not even imagine being able to afford eye care. And Julia, I was thinking of Dr Fiona Wood but couldn't remember her name, I just knew she worked miracles with burns victims.

Taurisk, maybe these awards don't mean much at the moment because they award them to country and western singers instead of people who are the real heroes in our society

 

[nioka]

Don't mention Fiona Wood in some medical circles. I spent six weeks earlier this year as a patient in a burns ward in Brisbane. I had a lot of skin grafts. My doctor told me that she had patented her proceedure and the hospital I was in could not afford to use it.

 

[2020hindsight]

Although, passed on, the work of Fred Hollows is inspirational.

1. involved in the struggle of Aboriginal land rights and

2. better health . the first Aboriginal medical centre .. provided treatment to more than 450 remote communities.

3. programs in Asia, Africa and South America. He made several trips to Eritrea to train barefoot doctors to perform simple eye surgery

4. Hollows said: 'To my mind, having a care and concern for others is the highest of the human qualities.'

5. He used his tour of honour after the award to argue for an increase in federal aid to developing nations, and

6. for a more energetic approach to youth unemployment. He always tried to challenge people to lead more selfless and dynamic lives.

spot on mm, equal first choice with Weary! (and not dissimilar to in many ways) .

1. ahead of his time, recognising a problem

2. an eye for the future as well

3. fantastic - Aus (/NZ) would have received as much kudos from Hollows as UK did from Sir Bob Geldorf

"trips to Eritrea to train barefoot doctors" - maybe we need some of them to come back over here - seriously ! - in the centre!. "to perform simple eye surgery".

4. "kindness in another's trouble .. courage etc"

5. "used his tour of honour after the award to argue for an increase in federal aid to developing nations". speaking of Sir Bob Geldorf, we all know what he thinks of Aus generosity these days .

But it highlights perhaps the fact that the Aussie of the Year usually "uses his tour of duty" to push some point. Last year Tim Flannery - this year Lee Kernaghan. So yes, I suppose we can expect Lee to spend more time talking "rural" than "suburbs" - AND in the process, (his other pet topic) to "buy Australian".

6. "to youth unemployment; lead more selfless lives" - hard to fault the man - a bludy saint.

http://www.abc.net.au/schoolstv/australians/hollows.htm

FRED HOLLOWS (1929 - 1993)

Professor Fred Hollows was an eye doctor (opthalmologist).

In his lifetime Fred gave thousands of people, all over the world, their eyesight back.... born in New Zealand in 1929. His family was religious, and Fred thought he'd like to be a missionary, but he changed his mind after doing some work at a mental hospital.

Fred decided to become a doctor and eventually specialise in eye surgery.

In 1960, Fred got a job in Australia. Five years later he was head of the Eye Department at a Sydney hospital.

Fred always believed strongly in equality for all people. He was told about the need for Aboriginal health services in Sydney. He took up the cause, and helped set up the first Aboriginal Medical Service. There are now more than 60 across Australia.

One thing really shocked Fred. He discovered that almost all Aboriginal people in outback communities had eye diseases. Diseases caused by dirty conditions and poor health. Problems that could be easily avoided.

In the 1970's, he helped launch a national program to attack eye disease in Aboriginal Australians........ the team travelled all over outback Australia. It treated 30,000 people, performed a thousand operations and prescribed more than 10,000 pairs of glasses.

Fred Hollows became to be known as the 'wild colonial boy' of Australian surgery, partly because he had a deep love of the bush, and also because he had a wild temper.......


But Fred didn't think enough was being done for Aboriginal health. He was very outspoken on this issue.

"It is appalling. It is much worse than white health was in the worst times of the depression. It is appalling by third world standards."

........He heard about a war in Eritrea in Africa and how doctors there were trying to get training in eye surgery.

"Each year in Africa about two and a half million people go blind...and they just go blind...they sit around in their huts."
...
"I don't know if you can see that lens sitting on my right knee...that costs at least 140 dollars Australian. Hopefully, in Africa,it will be able to be produced for in the order of a few dollars."

But by 1989 Fred Hollows knew he wouldn't live to see all his ideas happen. He was dying of cancer.
....
"I have been lucky in that I've been alive at times when the things that I wanted to do were capable of being done."
....
Gabi Hollows in continuing Fred's work. Eye lens factories have been set up in Eritrea and other developing countries giving sight back to thousands of people.

Although as a young man he studied in religion pursuits, I reckon you don't have to be Einstein to guess what he would have thought of the Pope telling people in developing nations not to use condoms. ...

http://www.answers.com/topic/fred-hollows

....Hollows observed the spread of AIDS in contemporary African communities and he was concerned that AIDS would spread as vehemently through Aboriginal communities. Clearly Hollows infuriated some sections of the community with his comments, but his participation apparently did not cause widespread condemnation.


Death
Hollows died in Sydney in 1993 at the age of 64. The cause of his death was metastatic renal cancer primarily affecting his lungs and brain. He had been diagnosed with the disease six years earlier. Upon his death the Chief Minister of the ACT, Rosemary Follett, described Hollows to her parliamentary colleagues as "an egalitarian and a self-named anarcho-syndicalist who wanted to see an end to the economic disparity which exists between the First and Third Worlds and who believed in no power higher than the best expressions of the human spirit found in personal and social relationships."

Hollows was given a state funeral service at St Mary's Cathedral in Sydney, and was interred in Bourke, where he had worked in the early 1970s. He was survived by his wife (Gabi), and children Tanya, Ben, Cam, Emma, Anna-Louise, Ruth and Rosa.

"interred at Bourke".

... His eye team held their first clinic at the showgrounds, later relocating regular weekend clinics to Bourke District Hospital. They were welcomed in true Bourke spirit and provided services to other communities in the district, including Brewarrina, Cobar, Enngonia, Walgett, and Wilcannia. These vital screening and surgical services are continued today by the Eye Team from the Department of Ophthalmology at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney.

... Fred had a very special relationship with Bourke. ... Gabi and the family treasure these friendships and the deep ties they share with the local community.

on risk taking?..

Fred always had a passion for mountain climbing and studying at Otago University enabled him to make use of the spectacular mountainous backdrop. He often spent time climbing with friends on and around Mt Cook, New Zealand's highest peak

For him the mountain "put things into perspective - risks and skills, life and death, gives you the measure of problems and people."

His politics?... http://www.greenleft.org.au/1993/88/4605

Fred Hollows was a humanitarian in the fullest sense of the term: someone who acknowledged the limits imposed on us by nature but refused to accept the limits we impose on ourselves. The same optimism was reflected in his membership of the Communist Party during the '50s and '60s (a membership not mentioned in the film biography shown on the ABC last week).

Hollows had left the Communist Party before he became well known for his medical work, but he still had the attitude which says that the existing system deserves no special respect.

His commitment to "aid" and definition thereof..

For example, he understood the term “aid” in the only way it makes any sense: as helping people overcome the obstacles that now stop them from standing on their own feet. So, when he wanted to aid overseas cataract victims, he didn't organise a one-off charity contribution; he set about helping the Eritreans and the Nepalese and the Vietnamese to produce their own lenses, without concern for the profit rates of Western companies. That is an approach that few Marxists -- and few real humanitarians of any persuasion -- will disagree with.

Fred Hollows' optimism, even when he knew he had terminal cancer, clearly derived from the view that the individual, unfortunately mortal, still has the potential to change the society into which she or he is born. His stubborn acting on that belief has already contributed to changing Australia and the world.

in summary:-
"an egalitarian and a self-named anarcho-syndicalist (like Johnny Howard ?)

who wanted to see an end to the economic disparity which exists between the First and Third Worlds and who believed in no power higher than the best expressions of the human spirit found in personal and social relationships."

 

[2020hindsight]

And just as Gabi Hollows continues his work - so too (for mine) does Terri Irwin. I truly admire that lady - and her magnificent little daughter.

 

[2020hindsight]

http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/PARLMENT/hansArt.nsf/V3Key/LC20020612043
Hansard (NSW) - Optometrists Bill, Second Reading June 2002

The Hon. Dr BRIAN PEZZUTTI: I had just been elected in 1989. The measure was brought forward with all sorts of changes that optometrists wanted at that time. They wanted to treat eye disease, they wanted to use lasers, they wanted to provide all sorts of medication, they wanted not to release their prescriptions, they wanted ownership only by optometrists and so on. It had a huge pile of conditions. At the time this was thought not to be in the public interest and so that great man Fred Hollows was invited along to give advice. Fred Hollows was a great friend of the Australian Medical Association. Honourable members will remember that at that time Fred Hollows had lung cancer.

... We asked Fred along to tell us what he thought of the bill. ........He was a new professor at the University of New South Wales, having come over from New Zealand. I had worked with Fred when I was a young doctor and I thought I would ring Fred and obtain some fearless advice because he was a fearless sort of fellow. So I brought him into the committee. We met in Ron Phillips' office, which is the Whip's office near the Legislative Assembly Chamber. Fred walked in obviously unwell. He had just had some of his lung excised. He was limping a little and puffing and blowing.

The Hon. Dr Arthur Chesterfield-Evans: Did he smoke?

The Hon. Dr BRIAN PEZZUTTI: He was a pipe smoker. I will never forget what happened. He came in and we reached the stage about managing prescriptions and he said: "I don't really give a damn about that sort of stuff, and ownership. Well, who cares?" When we reached the topic about using drugs Fred said, "Whatever you do, don't do it." I thought his response was rather unusual, and all of the other members of the committee were quite stunned by that very forthright statement.

PS The cigarette companies should be sued for taking him so young (64)

 

[2020hindsight]

And just as Gabi Hollows continues his work - so too (for mine) does Terri Irwin. I truly admire that lady - and her magnificent little daughter.

re Terri, and the tough criticism she's received around here ... try watching this, see if you can see any lack of sincerity, and exploitation etc etc and so forth. - and don't forget she's doing more than her share for
a) the critters
b) their habitat
c) Australia

http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1396

this youtube is real general stuff ... about her book
Terri Irwin interviewed by Tracy Grimshaw

 

[Prospector]

20/20 I am watching Terri and Bindi as I type (no cricket in SA) and honestly, Bindi is way over the top. Unfortunately with kids they reach an age where over exuberance is just not as 'cute' as when they were younger - something all parents are aware of.

In SA anyway, this family really didnt have much of a profile, although people knew Steve, it was more as the character on foxtel whom the Americans loved. Not much else really.