King's Birthday Honours

Mr BATTY (Bragg) (12:04): I move:

That this house—

(a) acknowledges all South Australians acknowledged in the 2025 King’s Birthday Honours List; and

(b) thanks them for their service to our nation, our state and their community.

The King's Birthday 2025 Honours List recognises the service of 830 Australians for their outstanding achievements and contribution to our local communities and, indeed, our greater society. The King's Birthday Honours celebrate selfless service, integrity and creativity of Australians across a variety of sectors. It recognises Australians who have demonstrated outstanding service or exceptional achievement and, as was put by His Excellency General the Hon. David Hurley, those who have been awarded an OAM collectively speak to who we are as a nation.

I think it is really important to note at this opportunity that anyone, of course, can nominate a member of a community for an award in these honours lists for an OAM or another award. It does not matter who you are or where you are from, we just want to celebrate that selfless service, integrity and creativity, regardless if you are known by a million or known only by a few. Often it is those unsung heroes we like shining a light on during the honours lists, both on Australia Day and on the King's birthday.

This year there is a large number of South Australians from a variety of sectors who have been rightly acknowledged for their work in our local community. I would like to commend and congratulate all of them not only on their award but on often decades of selfless service in whatever field that they are endeavouring in.

This year, in particular, I want to most notably acknowledge Emeritus Professor Roger Williams Byard and Dr John Maxwell Coetzee. Professor Byard has been awarded as a Companion of the Order of Australia for his significant contribution to medicine, forensic pathology, tertiary education and community. Dr Coetzee has been awarded for his long service to the arts, particularly literature. He has published a book every three years since the late 1980s and has previously been awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize for Literature, as well as the Booker Prize on two occasions and the Key to the City of Adelaide in 2004. I pass on my congratulations to both of them on those very significant awards.

The King's Birthday Honours List this year also acknowledges a number of my local constituents, some of whom I want to acknowledge today, including Mr Andrew Chapman AM. Andrew Chapman has received an Order of Australia for his significant services to youth and to the marina industries. Among his many roles, he has contributed significantly as the Chair and the President of the Marina Industries Association since 2011, as well as the Chair of the Advancing Youth Foundation of South Australia since 2016. A very warm congratulations to Andrew Chapman.

Frank Agostino OAM has been awarded with the Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to the motor trade industry and his community. Mr Agostino is again a very deserving recipient and a long-serving contributor in various roles in my community and beyond.

Alan Bartram OAM has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for his significant contribution to the gem and opal industry in Australia, alongside his extensive community and volunteer roles within the South Australian Museum, as well as Rotary.

Thomas Gerard Ganley OAM has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for service to the aviation industry, particularly through his role as the Executive General Manager of Parafield Airport since 2023 and formerly as national Chair of the Australian Airports Association.

Finally, I acknowledge Sister Mary Frances Ryan OAM, who has been awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia for her work as a sister since 1969 and for service to the Catholic Church of Australia.

Congratulations to all of those in my local community who were rightly acknowledged in the King's Birthday Honours for 2025. That very small snapshot of half a dozen or so individuals shows the breadth of the contribution those we acknowledge make, often endeavouring in fields that sometimes we do not know a lot about, but toiling away for many, many decades, quietly often, and for their work to be acknowledged this year in the King's Birthday Honours List is a great honour and rightly acknowledges their contribution to our communities. I thank them all for their work and services to not only our local community but to our state and our nation.

I also thank and acknowledge all of those beyond my electorate—830 Australians—for their outstanding contributions to our community and to our greater society. The Order of Australia was first formally instituted by Queen Elizabeth II on 4 February 1975. Prior to this, Australians were recognised through the British Imperial Honours system for services by members in the armed forces. It was not until 1992 that the British and Australian OAM systems officially parted ways, and we have the system that we see today, where there is a whole number of different ways we acknowledge that service, such as appointments as companions, an AC, made for eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree of service. There is appointment of officers made for distinguished service, an AO, and appointments as members, an AM, made for services in a particular area or a particular group, as well as appointments of the Medal of the Order of Australia, made for service that is deemed worthy of particular recognition.

This year there were those two South Australians that I mentioned earlier, who were acknowledged for that eminent achievement and merit of the highest degree of service, being Emeritus Professor Roger Williams Byard and Dr John Maxwell Coetzee. I commend them, but importantly those other levels in the general division, the military division of the OAM, are also incredibly important, particularly those where we focus on members of the community who have made a contribution in a particular field, and it is often a really great opportunity to highlight unsung heroes across our local community, across our state, across our country, who often for many decades have done incredible work.

It is my absolute pleasure to move this motion today, acknowledging not only the 830 Australians for their contribution, but in particular the contributions and acknowledgements of those South Australians and those in my local community who were awarded honours this year. I congratulate all of the winners of those awards.

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen—Deputy Leader of the Opposition) (12:13): It is my privilege to rise and to recognise, in supporting this motion, the recipients of awards of the Order of Australia at this year's King's Birthday Honours. As I took the opportunity to advise the house yesterday, there is particular joy—and she will excuse the pun—in the award of the OAM to a hero of Macclesfield, Joylene Edwards, for her decades of service to Aussie Rules. It is particularly fantastic that, on Saturday, Macclesfield won the premiership for the first time in 45 years and that the investiture ceremony for Joy was held on Monday this week. Macclesfield has really seen the glory days returned, and in all sorts of ways that is a fantastic thing.

If I might take a chance to reflect, as always, on the wonderful community contributions that are made by recipients, including in my area of Heysen, and reflect on the institution of the Order of Australia itself. This year seems to be a year for 50^th anniversaries; I celebrated one myself earlier this year. It also happens to be the 50^th anniversary of the institution of the awards. It is true to say that, throughout Australia, these awards of the Order of Australia are recognised and respected as marks of honour that appropriately—and free from politics or partisanship, but in the most unifying of ways—honour those who have made significant contributions to Australia.

I would say two other things about the situation that we find ourselves in in South Australia, in relation to the process. The recipients of an award of the Order of Australia cannot be conferred that honour without, for practical purposes, steps being taken by people to nominate them. So it is very important that, as representatives of communities throughout the state, as members of this house, we make it really clear that it is really important to get out and nominate those who are making significant contributions to communities in all sorts of ways.

These awards are within reach; they appropriately recognise practical, day-to-day service over decades. They also of course celebrate those highest achievers in their various fields throughout the country. I do emphasise, as Her Excellency does on behalf of South Australia in particular, the need to make sure that those who are worthy of recognition are nominated. I understand that South Australia can do more nominating, and we would have even more people recognised were there more active efforts in South Australia to make those nominations.

These things can come in waves, and we might see more active participation in the nomination process in different parts of the state and around the country for different reasons. But it is well to emphasise that if there is someone who is worthy of nomination you should make sure they are nominated.

The second observation that I want to make about the order and the conferral of the awards is that it has become increasingly clear that there is a very long time that passes from nomination through to conferral. That is something—while we are talking about highly respected awards, a high degree of integrity and widespread respect around the country—that can be enhanced by a capacity to administer nominations without undue delay. I think the quicker a worthy nomination can be established and concluded so that the conferral of the award can occur, the better. That is very important, and I hope that we can move away from a time in which we need to emphasise the nominating of a worthy recipient, because it is going to take a huge amount of time for that to work its way through the process to conferral.

So I join with other members who have congratulated all recipients of those awards. We will look forward to doing so again shortly. Just as Her Excellency has reminded recipients at investiture ceremonies this week, I would encourage recipients of those awards to wear their pins, to wear them proudly, because the awards are truly recognising service that ought to be celebrated and recognised throughout the community. Congratulations to the recipients, and we look forward to the continued integrity of our awards in the Order of Australia.

Mr PEDERICK (Hammond) (12:22): I rise to also contribute to this motion acknowledging all South Australian award winners on the list who have done great work with South Australians, and acknowledge their service to the nation, the state and their communities. I will talk about a few people recognised on the King's Birthday Honours List.

Andrew Lincoln Chapman, whom I personally know, was awarded a Member of the Order of Australia. He is the son of Tom and Wendy Chapman, who instigated the Hindmarsh Island marina. Obviously, they were keen advocates of the Hindmarsh Island bridge, to get that connectivity to Hindmarsh Island, notwithstanding the controversy which I will not go into today in regard to that bridge. It certainly connected Hindmarsh Island, so there were no long waits for hours and hours for the ferry on either side, at Hindmarsh Island and Goolwa, and in accessing the island as the marina was developed.

Andrew worked alongside his father, Tom, and his mother, Wendy, in promoting the marina and moving that forward. They also had a proposal for a marina at Port Wakefield, which I think would have been very good for this state, but it came up against stumbling blocks over time. I want to salute—notwithstanding the challenges that people seem to have in this state with development—the vision of the Chapman family in what they did on Hindmarsh Island. I also salute Andrew's work. He has moved on with youth mentorship, taking very much a leading role in regard to marina organisations across Australia.

Obviously in the terms when I looked after Goolwa and Hindmarsh Island in the electorate of Hammond I had a lot to do with the Chapman family. Sadly, we farewelled Tom Chapman only two weeks ago at St Peter's Cathedral. It was quite a moving service where the eulogies went for almost an hour. I was very pleased to supply Sally Grundy, Tom and Wendy's daughter, with a South Australian flag to drape Tom's coffin because he was very committed to South Australia. Certainly I salute Andrew's work and his work that he continues to do with youth and the marina community.

John Lush, a Mallala farmer who I have known for many years in the agricultural industry, is very much a proud and strong advocate for agriculture in this state, as he has been for many years. I saw him only the other day at the Grain Producers SA annual general meeting. John, as strong as ever, is pushing for reforms in lead organisations across Australia to make sure we get a united message on agriculture, especially in these times where we have seen unprecedented drought here in South Australia and in western Victoria.

John is always a strong advocate. I was opposition primary industries spokesperson during the time when the South Australian farmers federation collapsed and Primary Producers SA was being born, and John was very much at the forefront of those discussions. It was certainly a real pity at the time that the South Australian farmers federation did fall over, because it was a great organisation, but the funding model just did not work. It does not matter how you look at it: you need funds to run organisations.

Now, with the levy model—that was heavily debated—coming into Primary Producers SA, Livestock SA and Grain Producers SA, we actually have a model where these lead organisations can advocate on a farmer's behalf, and there is nothing more certain than in this time of severe drought. I congratulate Brad Perry and the rest of the team, John Gladigau and others, who are doing that vital work for South Australian farmers.

I really want to take my hat off to John Lush. I believe he got a lifetime achievement award at the Grain Industry Awards that were held earlier this year and he certainly deserves that. His is certainly a name that will be forever thought of in agripolitics in South Australia. Let's not forget that every time someone goes off to advocate for other farmers, they are not doing the work at home, and it does come at a detriment to your own property. So I salute John for that service and salute him for the service that he will do into the future.

I knew Dr Peter Rischbieth as a well-renowned doctor, one of the doctors of the highest regard in Murray Bridge, who served in Murray Bridge for many years at the hospital, the emergency department and the Bridge Clinic. He gave such fantastic service. You always knew you were getting the absolute facts working with Dr Peter Rischbieth. He was not just working in regard to the health needs of our region; he worked in different positions across the state in promoting remote and regional health needs so that we can get better outcomes and better health services right across the state.

I absolutely take my hat off to Dr Peter Rischbieth. I have had several conversations with him, and certainly he was one of the lead doctors, along with Dr Martin Altmann and others, with whom I had discussions before the 2018 election on the policy debate around a new emergency department at Murray Bridge.

It was just fantastic working with Dr Rischbieth and the other doctors and health professionals. They went through about nine or 10 drafts of how they wanted the emergency department built, and that just showed the commitment they had to making sure they got the right building, the right services and the right room layout so that it would work. I can assure you, as someone who has had to utilise that building once for emergency treatment, that it is set out well and they do magnificent work. I salute Dr Rischbieth and wish him well in his retirement.

Another person I want to speak on particularly is John Rowley, who received the Medal of the Order of Australia. He is a long-term Liberal supporter. I believe he lives in Adelaide now but he used to run a roadhouse at Yamba near the border. That would have been many long hours of work—anyone who runs their own business like that knows the time and dedication needed for that. I acknowledge John's dedication to the community right across the board. He is a very selfless man, a man who you can have very strong conversations with but you know he is solid and you know he is giving you good advice. I congratulate John Rowley as well.

To all the other winners and to all the unsung heroes who may have been nominated and have not received an award: the process does take time. Not everyone gets through; I understand that. I know people do not do what they do for awards, but it is so nice to see people who have given such great service to their communities, their state and their nation get that recognition.

I have worked with the award secretariat multiple times giving references, as I am sure other members from across the board in this house have done. If you know a proponent for receiving an award, they seek a reference, and I am happy to be part of that process. For everyone who received an award in the 2025 King's Birthday Honours List, I salute you for your service to your community, your state and your nation.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta) (12:31): I am pleased to rise to support this motion. It gives the opportunity to highlight some of the extraordinary contributions made to South Australia and our nation by some terrific South Australians.

I think back to the people who have won awards over the years and the work that it has represented in our community: people like Domenico Zollo, the tireless President of the Holy Mary of Montevergine Association—the Maria Santissima de Montevergine Festa Associazione—and the people in my community who have done work like that. I think of people like Vincent Ciccarello for services to arts and education in South Australia, who is a wonderful South Australian, and people like the member for Colton for services to sport and as Australia's greatest Paralympian. These are some of the names that I think of when I think of the awarding of an OAM or other title.

Today, I highlight in particular in the education space the work of Carolyn Grantskalns. She is long overdue in her recognition for an OAM in the King's Birthday awards. Carolyn Grantskalns served South Australia's young people as a teacher, a principal and a leader of the independent schools sector. She has retired from that full-time work and is now serving the new government of the day on the History Trust board and as Chair of the Teachers Registration Board, a role I think she took over from Jane Lomax-Smith, if memory serves me well. She has plenty of things she could be doing with her life and continues in the service of South Australia's community, our education system and our children and young people. I thank her for that. It is an appropriate acknowledgement that she receives on this occasion.

Frank Agostino is one of the other awardees in the King's Birthday Honours this year, somebody who is a role model as a leader in business, particularly in the motor trades industry, which is well recognised. It was a pleasure to be at the MTA dinner, I think it was late last year or early this year, where he was so duly acknowledged for that extraordinary service.

To all of the awardees for their service to our state, our community and our nation: I thank you, and this parliament recognises your work in addition to the recognition which you have received through the honours list.

Motion carried.