page_title: Australian of the Year
section_title: 2000s onwards
hierarchical_section_title: Australian of the Year / Awards history, by decade / 2000s onwards
caption_attribution_description: English: Buttrose at the Grace of Monaco Premiere, Sydney
context_page_description: The Australian of the Year is an award conferred on an Australian citizen by the National Australia Day Council, a not-for-profit Australian Government–owned social enterprise.
context_section_description: Debates about the Australian of the Year award often revolve around the relative balance between sport, science and the arts. Fourteen winners have excelled in sports as diverse as cricket, swimming, athletics, sailing, tennis, boxing and motor racing. A recurring criticism that sport features too regularly peaked in 2004, when Steve Waugh was the fourth sporting winner in seven years and the third Test Cricket captain to be honoured. Despite the perception of an over-emphasis on sport, the list of past winners reveals a strong endorsement for scientific achievement; as of 2009 thirteen Australian scientists have received the honour, including ten from the medical sciences. A long-term view also reveals that Australia's talented artists have not been neglected; ten winners have excelled in creative pursuits, including six musicians, a dancer, a painter, a comedian and a Nobel Prize-winning novelist.
  Many Australians of the Year do not fit neatly into categories such as sport, science and the arts. Phillip Adams once described the past winners as "an eclectic collection of people who reflect the diversity of achievement in this country". Australians of the Year have also excelled in public administration, the military, social and community work, business enterprise, academia, religious leadership and philanthropy. There has been relatively little public debate about the gender balance of past winners. In 1961 several news outlets incorrectly referred to Sir Macfarlane Burnet as 'Man of the Year'; the mistake was not allowed to continue, as Joan Sutherland took out the second award, but it is certainly true that women are under-represented. By 2009, 11 winners out of a total of 56 were women.
  In 2016, Miranda Devine of The Daily Telegraph criticised the selection process, with the national selection panel having to choose from the eight candidates appointed by variously structured, state-based selection panels. Devine also said, "the award, which ought to reflect and unite this great nation, has evolved into a mere plaything of social engineers", noting also that three of the eight finalists were jointly involved in the same events. Concern has also been raised as to how a person who has not lived in a state "for 40-something years" (Cate McGregor) could be nominated as that state's representative. Following criticism of both the award process and the priorities  of the 2016 recipient David Morrison, an editorial in The Sydney Morning Herald said, "The Herald knows the selection board will look closely at the 2016 process and work to improve public confidence in the awards in time for a better Australia Day in 2017".
  While the selection of a single Australian of the Year is bound to stimulate debate, the awards program as a whole recognises a much wider range of achievement. In 1979 the NADC named its first 'Young Australian of the Year', community service volunteer Julie Sochacki. Twenty years later the veteran country music star Slim Dusty received the inaugural 'Senior Australian of the Year' award. In 2003 the NADC introduced an award for 'Australia's Local Hero', which honours outstanding contributions to local communities. With four award categories and a system of state and national finals, the NADC now recognises a total of 128 inspiring Australian role models every year.
caption: Ita Buttrose, Australian of the Year 2013
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