Businessman, appointed companion of the Order of Australia, calls for Tony Abbott to show leadership on ‘a basic human rights issue’

Businessman Dick Smith, named in the Queen’s birthday honours, has called for an end to the “pathetic political strutting” in Canberra, urging MPs to pass laws to legalise same-sex marriage.

Smith has been awarded a companion of the Order of Australia for eminent service to the community, humanitarian and social welfare programs, to medical research and the visual arts, and to aviation.

The aviator, conservationist and philanthropist lambasted all sides of politics for bickering over who or which party should have “ownership” of gay-marriage legislation, and said Tony Abbott should show some leadership on the issue.



The 1986 Australian of the Year said same-sex marriage laws were inevitable and the parliament should just “get down and do it”.



“It’s a basic human rights issue,” Smith said. “I just turn off with the pathetic political strutting.”

Momentum for change sparked by a vote in Ireland last month has prompted Australian MPs to come out in growing numbers in support of same-sex marriage laws.

Three bills to legalise gay marriage have already been put forward – by the Greens, Liberal Democrat David Leyonhjelm, and this week by the Labor leader, Bill Shorten – but none are likely to pass the parliament.



Abbott, faced with momentum for change within his own party, wants a cross-party bill, but which would not be introduced until later in the year.



“We all know it’s going to happen,” Smith said. “I wish the prime minister would just do it. Show some leadership and get on with it.”

Smith is among 717 people from across the broad spectrum of Australian society to be recognised on the 2015 Queen’s Birthday Honour List for services to the nation or to humanity at large.

Professor Stephen Lynch, also appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia, has carried out pioneering work in liver transplantation, saving countless lives at home and abroad.

The Brisbane-based surgeon helped perform the world’s first successful liver transplant from a living donor to a patient, also now a common technique. In that case, he took part of a liver from a Japanese mother and transplanted it into her baby son.

He remains in contact with the family and takes great pride in seeing what the boy has done with his life. “He’s a fit-looking, healthy physiotherapist working in Japan. It’s fantastic,” Lynch said.

Revered Aboriginal songwriter Archie Roach plans to use his appointment as a Member of the Order of Australia as a platform to promote reconciliation, something he’s already spent years trying to do through his music. “It’s a great catalyst for change. It doesn’t change governments but it can change people,” he said.

Keith Payne, the craggy former warrant officer awarded the Victoria Cross for breathtaking bravery in Vietnam, has been appointed a member of the Order of Australia for his support for other veterans.



The citation recognises his longtime support of veterans’ welfare, particularly as an advocate of those suffering post-traumatic stress disorder.



Payne was awarded the last of four VCs from the Vietnam war for heroism during an extended battle with North Vietnamese troops in May 1969.



He is the last living Australian recipient of the original imperial VC, awarded under the British honours system.



High-profile judge and long-time anti-death penalty campaigner Lex Lasry has been honoured for his service to the law.

Lasry was appointed a member (MA) of the Order of Australia for significant service to the law, through pro bono advocacy and legal professional organisations, and to the judiciary.



Lasry represented Australian man Nguyen Tuong Van, convicted of drug trafficking and executed in Singapore in 2005, and visited Chan and Sukumaran in Indonesia before they were shot by firing squad in April. After their deaths he called for the Australian government to lobby other countries to abolish the death penalty.