Queens Birthday Honours
Yesturday we had a public holiday for the Queen’s birthday. As the “bolshie” I am, I still feel frustrated that we have the queen of a counrty thousands of miles away as our head of state…………..in the 21st century!!!
I feel even more frustrated that we honour Aussie achievers on the birthday of the Queen of England, when we have been a federated and independant country for over 100 years! I simply dont “get it”!
I don’t get why, when given the opportunity, my countrymen and women voted down the option of becoming a republic, even though the model proposed wasn’t great. I don’t get why we have a “half-arsed” approach to independance. We are not a republic and yet a Queen’s birthday honour no longer entails a knighthood (as per the honours in the ‘mother country’), but an “Order of Australia” ………a pathetic attempt to sever the ties of colonialism without ‘biting the bullet’ and doing the thing properly!
You know what else I don’t understand????
Why are Australian honours which are supposed to recognise excellence, leadership and contribution, so focused on sport, politics and celebrity???
Not that I’m denegrating the sporting achievements of my Aussies contemporaries, but most sportspeople these days get paid extrodinarliy well for PLAYING A GAME! Most ‘normal’ people struggling to make ends meet would love a lifestyle like that! Fame, fortune and a Queen’s birthday award for playing rugby, tennis, golf etc. Not to mention the ex politicians who are recognised, purely because their party is in power and they are being acknowledged for ‘toe-ing the party line”.
I know that there ARE people recognised for selflessness, altruism and community contribution…………..but you never see these people on television, in the newspaper or hear them on the radio and I’m afraid they rarely receive the highest honours…………..they get the “Clayton’s honours” that noone really notices.
I think the time has come to review how we honour contributors in our country. We need to be recognising the people who contribute in their local communities, who sacrifice time, money and energy to make Australia a better place. We need to recognise the ‘quiet achievers” who volunteer, care, support and nurture others in their community. We need to recognise selfless leadership, creative thinking and generosity of spirit.
I know I’m an idealist, but I don’t think that fair recognition of true achievement is too much to ask. As for our great sportsmen/women, actors and politicians…………….I think they too would agree that there are numerous awards programs that adequately recognise achievement in their given careers and receipt of these awards should be a fine accomplishment for them.
One day, when we are a republic, I’d love to see the Australia Awards recognising the ‘little people” on a day that’s meaningful for us………….how about the Australia Day Awards being expanded to include the current number of Queens birthday awards? How about the status of the Australia Day Awards being increased and how about we look around our own communities and start nominating the people who do so much for us? I’m sure noone would object to that?