Good morning, everybody.

Welcome to a glorious Canberra Spring morning. I may have used my reserved powers with weather today! I think it is a golden morning and we’ll have a splendid morning celebrating the very best of Australia.

I’d like to acknowledge that we gather today on the lands of the Ngunnawal people. I pay my respects to elders, past and present, and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today.  

I also join Gerard in acknowledging our very distinguished guests, very well known to me because of their connection to Government House.

And I want to thank the RMC Band for the beautiful music we heard just then that helps us with the Australian Anthem, and you’ll hear the band throughout the morning. It’s a lovely way to uplift everything, they always bring the beauty of their music to celebrations here at Government House.  

I also want to in advance thank all the team here at Government House. Gerard mentioned that we are all so delighted to play our small part and I’m delighted, to be here investing our honourees with their insignia, that your morning will be defined by the care shown by so many people here at Government House and you’ll feel that in the attention to every bit of detail and enjoy the warmth of the welcome.  

Because here at Yarralumla, Government House is a place of peace and welcome, where absolutely everyone belongs.

As you may know, I am the first Canberra-born Governor-General, so there is something very special for me about the privilege to preside over a ceremony here at Yarralumla and celebrating Australians who have given so much of their lives to the people and places of the capital territory but also across the country, across our nation.

It is even more special in this 50th anniversary year of the founding of our honours system, which has already recognised so many thousands of Australians, from so many different walks of life.  During this year we have taken every opportunity to celebrate the birthday of our honours system. Turning 50 is important.

As a national honours system, the acts of service, integrity, creativity, and care we recognise today - the achievements that have been in so many fields of endeavour - these are all mirrored in cities, towns and regions right across the country.

They're recognised in ceremonies at this time of year, taking place in Government Houses in every state and territory.  

In Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide and Darwin, Australians are gathering just like us, with their friends and families to be invested with their insignia.

I hope that, for you, like everyone around the country, your memories of today will be a cherished reflection, long into the future.

I hope that if you take something else from today it’s that you need to nominate people. That's the way our system works.

Yesterday, I met one of our highest awardees who was nominated by someone he’d never met, who never knew him, but read about him and his extraordinary activities as an Australian on the world stage. But, for that nomination, that gentleman would not have received the Companion of the Order of Australia yesterday.

So, I would encourage everyone to make sure if you see someone you think is a great Australian that should be nominated, please do it!  

It’s just a small gesture and once the process gets underway here, with Sharon, who’s been with us for almost 20 years, then the work can begin. But we need people to be actually nominated.

As Governor-General and Chancellor of the Order of Australia, I have been so fortunate to also share in investitures taking place out of session, and far from the formality of this drawing room.

Most recently I travelled to the north of Australia for two profoundly moving ceremonies.  

The first, in July was in Rockhampton, and it was to posthumously present our highest award, the Victoria Cross of Australia to Private Richard Norden, and to his family.

He was awarded for an act of bravery and supreme courage during the Vietnam War. He was 19 when the act for which he was recognised occurred. He died only a few years later here in Canberra, aged 24, in the course of his duties as an ACT Police officer.  

His VC had been a very long time coming, and his family were overjoyed that he could be recognised in the city that they now call home.  

They didn’t want to have to come to Canberra, and they didn’t want to go back to Gundagai where he was born, because their lives had moved on over the decades since. They really wanted to celebrate him where they live in Rockhampton. And it meant that so many of his friends, family and colleagues could participate in that Investiture.  

The second posthumous award, presented in the same week, was to invest Dr G. Yunupingu with the highest civilian honour in our country – the Companion of the Order of Australia.

For Dr Yunupingu’s investiture, the family had asked us to travel to his home, East Arnhem Land. There, we were welcomed on Gumatj land by his family, who led a deeply moving traditional ceremony. On the red earth, in the warm afternoon light of the Northern Territory, with Yolngu dancing, I was so proud to present the Order of Australia insignia to Dr Yunupingu’s daughter, Binmila Yunupiŋu. It carried huge significance. Not just for the family and that community, but for the Order of Australia, to have the medals and insignia in traditional lands in East Arnhem land.

It was important to us, and an expression of care, that we were guided by his family’s own wishes and traditions in bestowing that award.  

In August, during a State Visit to Singapore, I had the privilege to invest the former Prime Minister of Singapore, Mr Lee Hsien Loong with the insignia of his appointment as an Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia for his service to the remarkable and longstanding bilateral relationship between our two countries.

Later this morning I will travel to a hospital here in Canberra to invest someone who couldn't attend today, who is gravely unwell. It’s so important to get to him... So, I’ll leave after our ceremony today to join him and his family in the hospital where he will get to hold his insignia, while he is ok.

From its very beginning, the Order of Australia has recognised remarkable people, and – as the unique ceremonies in Rockhampton, Arnhem Land and Singapore demonstrate – the qualities embodied in the diverse people we recognise represents the best of modern Australia.

There is no one form of achievement in the Order of Australia.  

As you will hear this morning in Gerard’s reading of each of your citations – your lasting impact on the world is not bound by geography, status, interests, careers, ability, age or gender.  

Instead, it is an expression of the uplifting power of care, kindness and respect that you have embedded into your diverse and myriad interactions with people, issues, communities, the country, and the world around you.

It’s been all about care for one another, care for those who care for others, care for our extraordinary continent and its environmental beauty, care for our civics and institutions, and care for the way in which we discuss and debate the issues of our time without judgement, anger, or violence.

That is exactly what I see and feel in this room, and will see across this special week of investitures.

It is a privilege to learn about your stories, and to take them with me wherever I go.  

Thank you for everything you have done, and what you continue to do every day.  

And thank you to your families, friends and colleagues who have nurtured and supported you, and those who have joined us today on the livestream, who wanted to join and celebrate with you today.

On behalf of all Australians, I am proud and delighted to congratulate you all and will be immensely privileged to invest you.

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