Alan Joyce (AC)
 

The Lucky Country, indeed!

AC with Lemon Meringue Clusters

I note the postboy didn't get a gong for leading VA down the shute..

He already received an AOM from memory in a recent gonging,so of course the question is whether his gong is better than AJ's gong?

That news made me wonder again on the value and scrutiny of these awards. In the future I wonder if we will not be told of the corruptness of the the approval system.

The previous award was the OAM (which my Dad has), not the AOM.

The essential criteria for an Australian award is that the recipient must have done something outstanding in the field for which he/she is nominated: not just 'doing his job'. That's what often intrigues me, since many well known awardees are really just well known or 'connected'.

I have a very good friend who is on the panel which vets the nominations in Victoria: I trust him implicitly and would hate to say that there is anything untoward in the process, but the preponderance of recipients who seem to be known only for their public relations is notable.

My Dad got the Kiwi equivalent of MBE last week(MNZM), not sure where that fits on the Aussie system.

That was for 25 years involvement in volunteer executive roles for health support and education including 8 years chairing the international body. All volunteer and unpaid and in addition to his regular profession (which was a school principal).

Not sure Alan's work is outstanding in comparison, he just did his job.

Maybe he got it for lumbering Australia with Jetstar!

Kiwi,
"That was for 25 years involvement in volunteer executive roles for health support and education including 8 years chairing the international body. All volunteer and unpaid and in addition to his regular profession"

Congratulations to your Dad. I can understand and support an award recognising the important contribution through volunteer work. However AJ's award seems another matter.

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.

What a joke, I threw up a little in my mouth when I heard it.
I'm sure the staff of Ansett, in which he was involved would love it too.

Outstanding leadership in Aviation my ass....

It's a club. Often it depends on who nominated you. Get nominated by someone not in the club and you'll be lucky to get recognised unless you're from an outback town. Get nominated by someone in the club, (perhaps a Chairman with an AO) and you're far more likely to get recognised.

I've watched with interest over a number of years of who within the cadet services receive OA recognition- they're recognised under the civilian nomination system. As a result of a number of names that I saw who received recognition, as well as those who did not despite being nominated multiple times and with achievements that dwarf almost every other member of the AAFC in the last few decades, I subsequently lost faith in the system long ago.

Queens Honours:)

Took me a while to comprehend the enormity of this great honour on such a wonderful and well deserving cultural icon.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKqGXeX9LhQ

I think Colin Kruger summed it quite succinctly in his article today.
Airline bosses like Alan Joyce flying high on this year's Queen's Birthday Honours list

The only two people that I know that got gongs were douche bags. One of them held a senior position and was an arrogant and condescending twerp who would use his privileged network to proliferate his own demeaning opinions of you. When we first met he began his usual whinging but stopped short when I left him with a clear impression that I was completely aware of how he operated and was about to knock his block off. Seemed to get his respect for the next four years, others weren't so lucky.

The other one is not even worth writing about.

Clearly the deciding formula appears to be broken and I value its merit less every year.

I tend to agree with Stuart Midgley. The published spiel that the Governor General puts out with the awardee's name is supplied by?? The awardee..

I reckon the way the system works is simply this:-

Some of the wealthiest and most powerful are awarded the AC as they can afford to be philanthropists. (Even if the money would otherwise have to be paid in income or company tax.)

The really deserving recipients are those that are awarded the OAM. They are the Mums and Dads that really benefit their communities.

The Australian Police Medal is only ever awarded to very senior police.

It sure helps! I know of a couple who received OAMs and who were nominated by one of their children. Once nominated, I suspect it would be thought very churlish and quite difficult for a referee to say 'no'. :sad:

I know of another recipient who was 'awarded' a Public Service Medal, not for a lifetime of service but for a special project that lasted a couple of months. He didn't deserve the gong but his team of ****-kickers did. ;)

Then there must be hard evidence to prove it. Need a PR bod to have an attack of conscience....



Mjb

I'm not an avid supporter of the Republic-for-Australia push but the Queen's Birthday honours list never fails to confirm my thought that the annual festival of, usually undeserving, recipients wallowing in their own importance, is as good a reason as any to move to a local head of State.
Sadly the honours list would remain anyway……..:(

Unfortunately Betty Windsor doesn't personally pick the recipients of the award, they are picked by a panel (panels in most Commonwealth Countries). Its a great shame that, as you all say, the awards go to public pr^cks and not the the old boy or girl who have given years of there life helping the communities they live in, giving there time and effort for free to promote activities such as charity fund raising, coaching kids sports etc. A real shame and a waste of an award, it should have gone to someone who has made a REAL difference in public life or our local community.

If Joyce did have a heart, he would hand it back and insist it be given to a genuine recipient.

P.S Never liked the Bugger anyway

..if I'm correct this nonsense has been going on for years. SIR Peter Abeles of TNT/Ansett fame helped attain the title via his friend SIR Robert Askin, neither outstanding citizens? Subsequently he was appointed by mate PM Hawke to the board of the Reserve Bank.
And another case of a spoilt rich boy crashing a plane via inexperience and then being awarded one of these for bravery or some such.

Being devil's advocate, hasn't Joyce done a good job turning QF around and getting it's share price up?
Being realistic however, hasn't he just done done his job? Is that really "services to aviation"?
It does seem to place undue value sets on people who just do their jobs rather than people who excel for an extraordinary feat or achievement (e.g.: Sir Charles Kingsford Smith)