Oscar winners list

Nearly 900 Australians have been recognised for their contributions to the community in this year’s Queen’s Birthday honours list.

The list recognises a diverse range of people — scientists, entertainers, lawyers, designers, community workers, performers — and a psephologist.

“To all recipients, I offer my deepest congratulations, admiration and respect for your contribution to our nation,” Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove said.

Cate Blanchett (AC)

The actress and theatre director has received international acclaim for her lengthy acting and stage career.

Now, she has been awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia for services to the performing arts as an actor and a director of artistic organisations, and as a supporter of humanitarian and environmental causes.

Blanchett started out as a theatre actress in Sydney, where she won critical and popular acclaim with a string of successes for the Sydney Theatre Company.

She was the first person to win the Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for best newcomer and lead actress in the same year for her role in David Mamet’s Oleanna opposite Shine star Geoffrey Rush.

She moved onto films and has since won two Oscars for her roles in The Aviator and Woody Allen’s Blue Jasmine.

Blanchett was also joint artistic director of the Sydney Theatre Company from 2008 to 2013 along with her husband Andrew Upton, and she remains director of the Sydney Theatre Company Foundation.

Blanchett has been an outspoken support of action on climate change, and is a global goodwill ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Professor Peter Colman (AC)

The eminent scientist has dedicated his life to examining molecules and his work has led to breakthroughs in treating influenza and cancer.

He has been awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia. Professor Colman said he hoped it attracted “some attention on science at a time when science seems to be under some attack generally”.

His work involves photographing molecules at an extremely high level of detail.

“When you look at a molecule in the kind of detail that these methods reveal, you can figure out how they work,” he said.

“It’s all completely astounding, much of it is very beautiful also, artistic even, and one can only marvel at what evolution has had to cough up in order to produce beings as complex as us.”

Professor Colman has acted as a mentor to many young scientists.

“I think it’s a duty of all of us in this business to make way for younger people, to help them … to share your experiences,” he said.

Professor Ross Garnaut (AC)

Across the course of his career, the leading economist has made significant contributions to development, economic policy and international relations in Australia and the Asia Pacific.

Professor Garnaut has been awarded the Companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service to the community.

The 70-year-old has been a key figure in the national debate over energy policy and said he had no intention of backing away.

“I’ll keep on doing the things that I’ve done for the last 40 or 50 years,” he said.

“I remain very committed to work on economics, Australian economic policy, relations with Asia and, as I have for the last 10 years, deeply committed to the work on climate change and energy.

“That all just goes on.”

While Professor Garnaut’s career has covered a range of economic issues, he said he was “especially focussed” on the energy transition Australia must now grapple with.

“I want to see Australia make very large progress towards having zero emissions energy over the next decade or so, and the good news is that we now know we can do that without sacrificing living standards,” he said.

Alan Joyce (AC)

The CEO of Qantas said his Order of Australia proves how remarkable the country is.

Mr Joyce has received the top honour, a Companion of the Order of Australia, for services to aviation, inclusion and diversity.

“It’s also great for the Qantas people. They’ve gone through a huge change, they’ve achieved so much and I see this as an award for them as equally for me.”

Mr Joyce said the airline’s public support for gay marriage was important to him and his staff.

“One of the crew members wrote me a very nice note talking about the difference it’s making for him and his relationship with his same-sex partner that we’re out there promoting that,” he said.

Julian McMahon (AC)

The Melbourne-based solicitor has been involved in some of the biggest and highly emotional death penalty cases in Australasia, and has been recognised for his eminent service to the legal profession.

“Once you are caught up seeing injustice occur, it is hard to walk away,” he said.

He represented Bali Nine members Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, as well as Van Tuong Nguyen, who was executed in Singapore.

“At its essence [the death penalty] is a brutal and violent, political act,” Mr McMahon said.

Mr McMahon was reluctant to speak publicly about the award, but said he decided to keep the issue in the spotlight and give others recognition.

“To me it seems like a representative award, because really I am just part of a big team of lawyers … and we have a whole lot of community support as well,” he said.

“[And] we have to teach young people, and young people have to take up the challenge to make the world a better place, because if they don’t the world [will become] a worse place.”

Professor Ken Freeman (AC)

Australian National University Professor Ken Freeman, who has been awarded the honour of Companion, helped pioneer the field of galactic archaeology.

“We look at very old stars in their own galaxy, and we try and understand from the chemistry of those old stars the sort of things that were happening at the time they formed,” he said.

“This is a long time ago, it’s really only a million or 2 million years after the big bang.”

Professor Freeman said the honour was also recognition for the work of his colleagues.

“We do it because we’ve got great infrastructure here in Australia, we have access to telescopes overseas, and there’s a lot of people who contribute to making what we do as researchers possible,” he said.

Collette Dinnigan (AO)

The fashion designer was blown away when she opened the letter that told her she’d received a Queen’s Birthday honour.

“But no, it was a huge surprise and incredible honour.”

Ms Dinnigan has been named an Officer of the Order of Australia for her role as a trailblazer for local designers overseas and as a role model to women.

“I never really did anything to become famous, or to be noted, I just wanted my clothes to be noticed and to be sold and for women to love them,” Dinnigan said.

“I’ve learnt some lessons but at the same time, what my mother taught me, was believe in your heart and always have hope and trust your instinct was right.”

Antony Green (AO)

For many, Antony Green is synonymous with election night — he’s covered Australia’s state and federal elections since 1991 and is undoubtedly the best known psephologist in the land.

He’s been named an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to broadcast media and the community as a key interpreter of Australian democracy.

“I think it’s a great honour to receive this,” he said.

“Some electoral commissioners have said to me I’m an unofficial member of the Australian electoral system, perhaps this makes me an official member.

“I describe election night as bungy jumping for intellectuals. You’re leaping off into the void, tethered by the computer link back to the data from the electoral commission, so it’s high risk and you’re trying to keep on top of what these numbers mean and just hoping you don’t get anything seriously wrong.

Stephen Page (AO)

Bangarra Dance artistic director Stephen Page freely admits he initially didn’t want to be named an Officer of the Order of Australia.

“My first reaction was ‘Oh, I can’t take this’,” he laughs.

“The irony of what I do and the work … and the fact that it’s coming from the Commonwealth.”

Mr Page has directed the Indigenous dance company for 26 years and said he was eventually advised by his elders to accept the honour.

“I thought to myself, am I just being cool as a black activist, just going ‘I don’t want to take this?’

“They said to me, you’ve got to be able to take it in your stride and take it for all the great work that I’ve done and the great work that’s come before me.”

Ruth Abdullah (OAM)

Her main drive has been to provide support for the Aboriginal community and she’s now been awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia.

She feels she’s made a difference through her work with the Kimberley Legal Service in Kununurra, and with projects like suicide awareness and child victim support.

“After all these years I can see a big difference because most of them are more cluey and know who to turn to for information or support,” she said.

Ms Abdullah has five children, 12 grand-children and 24 great grand-children.

And she’s lost none of the passion for her work over the years.

“Same people but new faces, new stories. Any day is a different day. Anywhere I go, I’m always looking forward to it when the sun comes up,” she said.

“I hope there’ll be more of me around to spread knowledge and experience to communicate with people that are less fortunate.”

Michael Coppel (AM)

Concert promoter Michael Coppel has been made a Member in the General Division for his contribution to the entertainment industry over several decades.

He’s brought some of the world’s biggest acts to Australia, including Taylor Swift, Kanye West and Fleetwood Mac.

“I’ve had a lot of career highlights fortunately,” Mr Coppel said.

“This year we presented Adele in 11 sold-out concerts in Australia and New Zealand, 700,000 tickets sold, which was a fantastic experience.

“I’m also currently involved in the production of Matilda … which is one of the greatest things I’ve ever seen on stage. So those are two very recent highlights and many, many more over the journey.”

Mr Coppel also said the arts industry in Australia was in a strong position.

“It can always be better, we can always see more success, but I think Australian audiences embrace their own talent and that’s a big change to what it was 30 or 40 years ago,” he said.