Former politicians prosper in Australia Day honours

Zac de Silva | January 25, 2026

Politicians get a lot of publicity over their careers.

But for former Queensland premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, receiving the highest level of Australia Day honour is extremely humbling.

“I’m incredibly, incredibly honoured to be accepting this award,” she told AAP.

Ms Palaszczuk is one of three ex-premiers to receive one of the nation’s top honours in the 2026 Australia Day awards.

Nearly 950 people have been recognised overall, including Ms Palaszczuk, former NSW premier Kristina Keneally, former South Australian premier Steven Marshall, and former federal minister-turned-OECD boss Mathias Cormann.

Ms Palaszczuk represented the Queensland seat of Inala, which was previously held by her father, from 2006 to 2023, and led the state as premier for the last nine of those years.

Her Companion of the Order of Australia (AC) citation is, in part, for eminent service to public health.

The former premier faced criticism during the COVID-19 pandemic for strict border closures which meant one woman was unable to enter the state to attend her father’s funeral.

But at the time, officials argued the hardline policy helped keep case numbers low.

Ms Palaszczuk had many sleepless nights during the pandemic, but said her state achieved an “amazing result”.

“We said if we had a strong health response, we’d have a strong economic recovery and that’s exactly true,” she said.

Fellow pandemic premiers Mark McGowan and Daniel Andrews both received ACs in the 2024 King’s Birthday honours, as did former prime minister Scott Morrison.

Ms Palaszczuk, who is a non-executive director of Australia Post and an adjunct professor at the University of Queensland, said she was honoured to receive the award.

Further down on the list was another former premier, Ms Keneally, who has received the second-highest honour, an Officer of the Order of Australia.

Ms Keneally said she was enjoying her role as chief executive of the Sydney Children’s Hospitals foundation and had no desire to return to politics.

But she told AAP there were many similarities between work as a politician and philanthropy.

“You are asking members of the public to voluntarily give you something of value – either their money or their vote – and to trust that you will do the right thing with it,” Ms Keneally said.

“And yet you can promise them no direct benefit.”

Ms Keneally was elected to NSW parliament in 2003, before serving as premier from 2009 to 2011.

She then became a senator in federal parliament for another three years from 2018.

But she’s also remembered in political circles for Labor’s attempt to parachute her into the western Sydney seat of Fowler, a move which ended with the once-safe ALP electorate rejecting Ms Keneally and flipping to independent Dai Le.

Asked about the annual controversy surrounding politicians receiving Australia Day awards, she said the decision was up to the honours committee.

“I never expected this type of acknowledgement, and I’m incredibly grateful for it,” Ms Keneally said.