I read a good article 3-5 years ago in either the AFR or The Australian (I can't remember which now) about how many prominent business people get their honours. The gist of the article was that they regard gongs as a major part of their social and business importance - essential to climbing to the very highest level of the business world ladder - so they hire (
PR) consultants who are experts in getting their clients the awards they want.
The article went into how there is almost a check-list of charity/public works/political works that each would-be recipient needs to mark off to get the badge, combined with the right press
PR at the right time. It's usually a well-managed, well-resourced campaign.
I have no idea of course if this applies to Mr Joyce's award, it's just an interesting insight into the issue of awards in general.
The alleged emails of a certain British footballer give possibly
another interesting insight, this time into the UK honours system which is quite similar to ours.