The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet conducts regular information sessions around Australia to explain what the Order of Australia is and how people can be nominated.
At the sessions the most asked questions are:
Q: How is it possible to fill in the personal details about a nominee when confidentiality demands that the nominee must not be contacted? For example, we probably don't know their exact date or place of birth or when they were naturalised.
A: Put in what you know. Research staff in the Honours Secretariat at Government House will generally be able to provide the missing information. The more detail you can include, the better, because if a lot of further research is needed it will slow down the assessment process.
Q: Many Government forms aren't acted upon if all the boxes on the form aren't filled in accurately. The Order of Australia nomination form requests "relevant dates of service" but a nominator may only have a rough idea. If we don't have the right dates will the nomination be rejected?
A: No
Q: The nomination form says it can take up to 18 months between submitting a nomination and it being successful and announced. Why?
A: Research staff spend a lot of time checking the nomination. Contacting the people nominated as referees and asking for their comments on the nominee is particularly time-consuming. Also, the Council for the Order of Australia meets only twice a year to consider nominations.
Q: The nomination form asks that the nominator "set out details of how the nominee has made a significant contribution to the community". What does "significant contribution" mean?
A: There are some suggestions on the nomination form such as: What makes this person stand out from others? How has the nominee demonstrated service worthy of recognition? How has the nominee's contribution impacted on either a particular field, locality, group, community or humanity at large? They can be good starting points.
Q: Are there any tips on the best way to write about the "significant contribution" section?
A: Write about what they have done, not just the offices they have held and for how long; be descriptive and explain what the nominee's work means for the people it touches and affects.
Q: Does your nominee need to have been doing something for a long time to get an award?
A: No. The only criteria is that the person has made an outstanding contribution to the community.
Q: Do we need to nominate a particular level of award?
A: No, that decision is made by the Council - the Order's constitution lays down that in any calendar year there can only be 30 recipients as Companion of the Order (AC), 125 as Officer (AO) and 300 as Member (AM). There is no specified limit for the Medal of the Order (OAM) but the average is around 450 recipients a year.