On Sunday Jane Caro took to Facebook with an idea. She suggested nominating the president of the Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs for the 2016 Australian of the Year award.
This increasingly brutal, illogical & hysterical government is on the hunt for Gillian Triggs again.Her courage &…
Posted by Jane Caro on Sunday, June 7, 2015
“This increasingly brutal, illogical & hysterical government is on the hunt for Gillian Triggs again.
Her courage & dignity knows no equal to my mind.
I would like to suggest a gentle but very effective protest against the bullying tactics of this government.
Let’s nominate Professor Triggs for Australian of the year. I am hard pressed to think of anyone who deserves it more.
If you agree, nominate here & share, share, share.
Let’s stand up for decency & rescue Australia from it’s pariah status, at least a little bit.
Her stroke of genius struck a chord. Her post has been shared 660 times and a community Facebook page set up that day called Gillian Triggs for Australian of the Year already has 6,800 “likes”.
Will the apparent mass of nominations guarantee Gillian Triggs’ victory on Australia Day next year? Not as a matter of course.
According to the Australian of the Year website: “An individual need only be nominated once to be considered. The number of nominations received per nominee bears no weight in their selection.”
The Australian of the Year is decided by the Board of the National Australia Day Council. Currently, the selection committees refer to three main criteria when considering nominees:
- Demonstrated excellence in their field
- Significant contribution to the Australian community and nation
- An inspirational role model for the Australian community
Particular regard is given to the nominee’s achievements in the year immediately prior to receiving the award, as well as their past achievements and ongoing contribution to the Australian community and nation.
It is difficult not to align Gillian Triggs’s considerable professional achievements with these objectives. It is impossible not to align her assiduous leadership and advocacy for human rights in the past 12 months, in the face of treatment the UN referred to as “grave”, with the objectives of the Australian of the Year Award selection criteria.
According to the National Australia Day Council the process of choosing the Australian of the Year has changed considerably in the past 50 years in relation to the make-up of the selection committee and the system of nominations. The expansion of the nomination process has been particularly transformative.
Nominating Gillian Triggs for Australian of the Year will not guarantee this recognition. But it will guarantee that the NADC will consider Gillian Triggs and her leadership in this context. Sound good?
Yep. Yep. Yep.