Key Points
- The winners of the Australian of the Year Awards will be announced on 25 January.
- The awards recognise those who are making a difference in their communities and inspiring others.
- There are 32 national nominees across four award categories.
On 25 January, the annual Australian of the Year awards will celebrate the achievements and efforts of people who are making a difference in their communities.
The national nominees were all winners in their respective states and include educators, volunteers, advocates, researchers and changemakers.
As well as the Australian of the Year, the Senior Australian of the Year, Young Australian of the Year and Australia's Local Hero will be announced at an awards ceremony in Canberra.
Here are the finalists:
Australian of the Year nominees
Mechelle Turvey is a Western Australian advocate for victims of crime. In 2022, her 15-year-old son Cassius Turvey was assaulted while coming home from school. The Noongar Yamatji boy died of his injuries 10 days later.
His death sparked rallies and vigils across Australia and Turvey led the march in Perth. She gave a speech calling for non-violence and the need for proper care for victims and their families.
Turvey has donated much of the money raised for Cassius to youth organisations and has volunteered to support her community, including people in prison. In 2023, she started training Western Australia Police Force recruits in dealing with victims of crime.
NSW joint nominees Professor Georgina Long and Professor Richard Scolyer have saved thousands of lives from melanoma.
are advocates for sun safety and melanoma prevention, and their immunotherapy approach has turned melanoma into a curable disease.
In 2023, Scolyer was diagnosed with brain cancer, and the two developed a series of world-first treatments, with Scolyer risking his own life to advance the understanding of brain cancer and help future patients.
Environmental scientist and advocate Tim Jarvis is South Australia's nominee and has been recognised for his work seeking solutions to climate change and biodiversity loss.
Environmental scientist and advocate Tim Jarvis is South Australia's nominee for Australian of the Year. Source: Supplied / NADC/Salty Dingo
Jarvis is a vice-president at conservation charity Fauna & Flora, a global ambassador and governor of WWF, ambassador of Koala Life and a board director of the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife.
Other nominees are rural women's advocate and Motherland founder Stephanie Trethewey, Indigenous health leader Janine Mohamed, Men of Business founder Marco Renai, Central Australian Youth Link-Up Service founder Blair McFarland and Joanne Farrell, a champion for females in the construction industry.
Young Australian of the Year
Victorian nominee Bhakta Bahadur Bhattarai was born and raised in a Bhutanese refugee camp in Nepal, and came to Australia with his family in 2012.
While he was studying, he founded the Albury Wodonga Multicultural Community Events Inc to
He also supplied homemade masks to the elderly and emergency food relief during the COVID-19 lockdowns, arranged community wellbeing and entertainment programs, and has raised thousands of dollars for sick young people and for disability support.
Bhakta Bahadur Bhattarai is the 2024 Victoria Australian of the Year. Source: Supplied / NADC/Salty Dingo
Naarah has worked with the Salvation Army Communities for Children music programs and with Indigenous students at schools in the Northern Territory through the National Aboriginal Sporting Chance Academy’s programs.
Alongside her advocacy, in 2024 she will be studying musical theatre at the Royal Academy of Music in London after winning a scholarship.
Queensland's Emma McKeon is the most successful Australian Olympian of all time.
At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, she became the first female swimmer and the second woman in history to win seven medals at a single Olympics.
In 2022 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia, and in 2023 she was named Gold Coast Young Australian of the Year.
Researcher and disability advocate Nikhil Autar, co-chair of the Australian Youth Affairs Coalition Caitlin Figueiredo, wildlife conservation biologist Tiahni Adamson, founder of She Codes and women in STEM advocate Kate Kirwin, and medical student and community volunteer, Peter Susanto are also nominated.
Senior Australian of the Year
ACT nominee Ebenezer Banful is a volunteer and multiculturalism advocate.
He arrived in Australia from Ghana more than three decades ago and has dedicated countless hours to helping others understand Ghanaian and African values, and spends much of his free time offering advice and assistance to newly arrived community members.
He has served on numerous advocacy committees, volunteers at the National Multicultural Festival, and helped found the Companion House, a community organisation that supports survivors of persecution, torture and other war-related trauma.
ACT Senior Australian of the Year Ebenezer Banful is a volunteer and multiculturalism advocate. Source: Supplied / NADC/Salty Dingo
She was one of the instigators behind the Australian Animal Welfare Strategy, and the Australian Animal Welfare Standards for Poultry, under which battery cages for egg-laying hens will be phased out across the country.
Oogjes is a board member of the World Federation for Animals and CEO of Animals Australia.
NSW nominee John Ward is dedicated to providing medical care for disadvantaged people and ageing Australians. He is the director of the Prison Medical Service and has provided care to inmates and advocated for prison reform.
He co-founded the Hunter Ageing Alliance, calling for governments, businesses and organisations to focus on older people’s needs better.
Other nominees include reverends Robyn and Lindsay Burch, who founded Gold Coast food charity Havafeed Relief, teacher and linguist Yalmay Yunupiŋu, Sister of Mercy Meredith Evans, Centre of Entrepreneurial Research and Innovation founder Charlie Bass, and Reverend James Colville, who founded Tasmanian housing not-for-profit Colony 47.
Local Hero
From the Northern Territory, musician and filmmaker Witiyana Marika has spent his life celebrating and teaching his culture.
The Rirratjingu (Yolngu) Elder is best known as one of the founding members of famous rock band, Yothu Yindi, but has also worked across other musical projects, films and cross-cultural education.
A senior Dirritay and Dhalgarra (ceremonial leader) and a teacher of songlines and ceremonies for his clan, Witiyana is known for being generous and inclusive with his cultural knowledge and continuing the practice of Yolŋu Nation Cycle and Rom (lore).
Advocate Nick Hudson founded the push-up challenge to raise awareness and funds for mental health.
He experienced depression after having surgery, and focused on making the challenge a public event, which has now raised over $40 million.
In 2023, over 200,000 participants completed 315 million push-ups, raising $14.6 million and getting people talking and thinking about mental health.
Victoria's nominee Betul Tuna to support vulnerable and marginalised people in regional Victoria.
She also co-founded the ‘Hijack’d’ mobile food van, which provides culturally-appropriate food and creates jobs for local young people.
She coordinated the design and implementation of a program that aims to prevent violence against women in migrant and refugee communities and campaigned against female genital mutilation.
During the 2022 floods in her community and the 2023 earthquake in Turkey, she coordinated support for communities and helped provide access to essential supplies and services.
Other nominees are David Elliot, the co-founder of the Australian Age of Dinosaurs Museum of Natural History, illustrator and author Angus Olsen, who raises funds for childhood cancer research, Backpacks 4 SA Kids founder Rachael Zaltron, founder of Tassie Mums Clair Harris, and co-chair of the ACT Reconciliation Council Selina Walker.
When will the Australian of the Year be announced?
The 2024 Australian of the Year Awards will be announced at the National Arboretum in Canberra on the evening of Thursday 25 January.
The ceremony will be broadcast live on ABC TV and ABC iview from 7.30pm (AEDT).
