âWho influenced this process?â: Readers respond to Margaret Courtâs AC
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January 28, 2021 â 7.08pm
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Four days from Australia Day, news broke that tennis champion turned Pentecostal minister Margaret Court â who has publicly expressed strong views opposing LGBTQ+ rights â was to be elevated from Officer of the Order of Australia (AO), awarded in 2007, to Companion of the Order of Australia (AC), the nationâs highest honour.
Politicians including federal Opposition leader Anthony Albanese and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews were also critical of the decision. Prime Minister Scott Morrison declined to comment on Courtâs medal, but did say the honours system was a âcompletely independent processâ.
The honour is unlikely to be revoked.
Amid a similar controversy last year, the council said the threshold for stripping someone of their award was a court conviction or misleading material given during the nomination process.
There were vocal - but ultimately unsuccessful - calls last year to strip awards from both men s rights activist Bettina Arndt and journalist Mike Carlton.
“The council recognises that the law prescribes behaviours, and expressions, which are abhorrent to society and therefore uses law as the threshold for termination and cancellation,” council chair Shane Stone said.
Meanwhile, medical professor Caroline de Costa has become the latest to pledge to return her Australia Day honour in protest at the decision to award Ms Court.
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ADVERTISEMENT I am sure that the Council for the Order of Australia will be aware of the controversy that surrounded Mrs Margaret Court when she was presented with a special trophy at the Australian Open last year to mark 50 years since her Grand Slam in 1970. Even within her field of achievement of tennis, there was strong dissent to her being given that honour and recognition at the Australian Open. No one disputes her achievements in tennis. However, I am sure that given the controversy surrounding Mrs Margaret Court, the Council for the Order of Australia will be well aware of the derogatory and very hurtful remarks she has made about the LGBTIQ+ community and all who support them.
Former ABC journalist Kerry O Brien rejects Australia Day honour in protest over Margaret Court award.
Renowned journalist Kerry O Brien has rejected his Australia Day award, saying the decision to give former tennis great Margaret Court the country s highest honour is deeply insensitive and divisive .
Margaret Court has been vocal about her views against LGBTQ+ relationships
She is being elevated from an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) to a Companion (AC)
Kerry O Brien s decision comes in support of a Canberra doctor who handed back her 2016 honour
The former host of the ABC s Four Corners and 7.30 programs wrote to the Governor-General s secretary Paul Singer on Sunday knocking back his appointment as an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia the second-highest honour.
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Margaret Court was given Australiaâs highest civilian honour to address a gender disparity created five years ago when Rod Laver became the first tennis player to be made a Companion of the Order of Australia (AC).
Members of the Council for the Order of Australia, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the decisive argument behind the decision to elevate Court to an AC was that our greatest womenâs player deserved the same level of recognition as our greatest menâs player.
Margaret Court, AC, says she is honoured to be in the same company as Rod Laver.