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Prince Philip

Prince Philip made Knight of the Order of Australia

Tony Abbott, the Australian Prime Minister, made an announcement this morning that Her Majesty had accepted his recommendation on the investiture of two Knights of the Order of Australia. The two were to be awarded to The Duke of Edingburgh and Sir Angus Houston.

Knighthoods were recently reintroduced to the Australian Honours list by Prime Minister Abbott with mixed reception. Some have claimed it is moving us back towards Imperialistic ideals and traditions, while others claim its just a new way to honour those who deserve it.

14160800968_f62c4fe055_bThe Prime Minister has said that Prince Philip is being honoured for his significant contribution to Australia during the 62 year reign of Her Majesty. He also said that The Duke’s “long life of service and dedication should be honoured by Australia”.

Another significant factor in Philip being honoured is The Duke of Edinburgh Awards, for which most people either know someone that has completed it or have undertaken it themselves. Mr Abbott said: “The Award has positively influenced the lives of  hundreds of thousands of young Australians and their are currently 23,000 young Australians undertaking the award”

During Australia’s Bicentenary in 1988, Prince Philip was appointed a Companion in the Military Division of the Order of Australia for “service to the Australian Defence Force as Admiral of the Fleet in the Royal Australian Navy, Field Marshal in the Australian Army and Marshal of the Royal Australian Air Force”.

The Duke of Edinburgh joins The Prince of Wales who was appointed a Knight of the Order of Australia in 1981.

The announcement of the award came the day after the Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten MP used his Australia Day eve address to reignite the Republic debate. Mr Shorten is of course married to Ms Chloe Bryce, the daughter of former Governor-General The Honourable Dame Quentin Bryce AD CVO, who in one of her final speeches as Governor-General, made a controversial remark that one day she would hope to see an Australian born Head of State.

Also honoured with the title of Knight of the Order of Australia was retired Australian Defence Force Chief Air Chief Marshal Sir Angus Houston AK AC (Mil) AFC (Retd)

The Prime Minister had this to say on the popular Military leader:

Sir Angus Houston

Sir Angus Houston (right)

“This honour recognises Air Chief Marshal Houston’s extraordinary and pre-eminent achievement and merit in service to Australia over many years[…] In the difficult hours after the loss of MH 370 and the loss of MH 17, Australia turned to Sir Angus to lead our response. Sir Angus headed the Joint Agency Coordination Centre during the search for Flight MH 370 and he was my Special Envoy to Ukraine leading efforts to recover, identify and repatriate Australians killed on Flight MH 17. Throughout his life, Sir Angus has put Australia first. He immigrated to Australia as an adult, he chose Australia and we are much the better for it.”

Air Chief Marshall Sir Angus Houston is the second former Military leader to be honoured in recent times the first being current Governor-General Sir Peter Cosgrove.
photo credit: 4 Cdn Div/4 Div CA – JTFC/FOIC and Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office via photopin cc