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Senior Australian of the Year 2008 - Results

2008 winners of the Senior Australian of the Year Award

Details about the 2008 Senior Australian of the Year Recipient

Mr Bussau's 30 years of work for the world's poor has included founding the Maranatha Trust — now part of Opportunity International — organisations helping enterprising poor people to help themselves.

Opportunity International provides micro-finance and enterprise development services in 27 developing countries. Its trust-banks make small loans – often to groups of women – to start businesses. Without trust-banks, people resort to borrowing from loan sharks and landowners, often leaving debts to future generations. At present, Opportunity International has over one million clients, with an average loan of $240.

When these loans are later paid back, the money is re-invested the same way – creating jobs for more than two million people. The organisation estimates it generates a new job every 30 seconds.

Mr Bussau started out as a builder, and has a long history of working with people who are disadvantaged. In 1974, he took a volunteer construction team to Darwin to help rebuild the city after Cyclone Tracy. In 1976, he helped to reconstruct a small rural Indonesian village following an earthquake.

This was a formative experience, which convinced him that poverty is a problem that can be solved, and led him to develop his ideas on micro-finance.

Mr Bussau was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) in 2001 and in 2003 became the first social entrepreneur to win Ernst and Young's Australian Entrepreneur of the Year award.

Today, Mr Bussau continues his work in micro-enterprise development by building relationships and providing consultancy services to governments, multi-national companies, and other organisations that have joined the fight against poverty.

He is an outstanding role model who demonstrates the invaluable contribution being made by older Australians both locally and internationally.

Congratulations to Mr Bussau

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Details about the 2008 Senior Australian of the Year State and Territory Recipients

Each year our nation celebrates and recognises the achievements of outstanding Australians through the Australian of the Year Awards. The Awards program includes four categories:

• Australian of the Year
• Senior Australian of the Year (60 years and over)
• Young Australian of the Year (16-25 years)
• Local Hero

The Department of Health and Ageing is a long-standing sponsor and supporter of the Senior Australian of the Year Award. This Award gives the Department an opportunity to recognise, acknowledge and celebrate the contributions older Australians continue to make through their work, their skills and by sharing their wealth of experience.

All entrants for the Senior Australian of the Year Award are initially judged at the state or territory level, and these winners have been announced (see below).

The national award winner was announced by the Prime Minister on Australia Day eve, January 25, 2008.

You can find more information about the 2008 Australian of the Year Awards, including the Senior Australian of the Year Award online at www.australianoftheyear.gov.au The 2008 State and Territory Senior Australians of the year are:

The ACT Senior Australian of the Year 2008 is breast cancer awareness pioneer Professor Linda Reaby AM.

From the time she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1990, Linda dedicated her professional career to raising public awareness of the condition and funding for breast cancer research. She wrote the proposal for Australia's Breast Cancer Day and lobbied extensively for political support for what has become a major national annual event since 1994. Linda also has a remarkable record of securing competitive grants - more than $8 million, including one for making higher degrees more accessible to working nurses. As a breast cancer survivor, nurse educator, and academic, Linda developed a decision-making model for health professionals to ascertain whether women are making informed decisions about their treatment alternatives. Linda has published extensively in international scientific journals and presented papers at national and international conferences.

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Victoria 's Senior Australian of the Year 2008 is Carillo Gantner AO.

Having arrived in Australia from the United States as a child, Carrillo has become a cultural leader in the Victorian community. Carillo is an actor, director, theatre founder and philanthropist who has been dedicated to the development of the arts and culture across the breadth of Australian society for 25 years. His roles have included cultural counsellor at the Australian embassy in Beijing; Melbourne City councillor; Chair of Asialink, the Sidney Myer fund, the Australia Council Theatre Board and the Melbourne International Comedy Festival; and his present position as chair of the Victorian Arts Centre. Carrillo's hands-on involvement with the arts, especially through the Myer Trust, has made a major and lasting difference to the arts in Victoria and enriched the cultural life of the whole community.

The Northern Territory's Senior Australian of the Year 2008 is mental health services pioneer Joy Green.

Joy was the instigator and founding member of Mental Health Carers NT, one of the organisations she has driven over the past 20 years to fill the gaps for services for people with a mental illness. While her initial impetus was to advocate on behalf of her son, Rory, who suffered from schizophrenia, Joy's reach extended to all people with a mental illness and their carers. In 1995 their first paid worker was employed and the organisation now employs five staff in Darwin and Alice Springs to provide support services for mental health carers and social and recreational programs. Joy is modest about her achievements and is more likely to promote the worth of others than seek recognition for herself. She is one of those people whose motivation, energy, determination, and courage inspire others to do more.

The Queensland Senior Australian of the Year 2008 is drought relief helper Brian Egan.

Brian Egan knows exactly what drought-stricken families are going through – he lost his own farm in the 1990's due to drought and personal depression. Five years ago he and his wife, Nerida, established Aussie Helpers to try to alleviate hardship and lift the spirits of families severely affected by drought. By tapping into the bush telegraph, Aussie Helpers finds farming families who are in desperate need of assistance. Brian and his band of committed volunteers have given away more than 150 tonnes of groceries, over 600 tonnes of stock feed and assisted more than 1,000 families. Aussies Helpers raises funds through thrift shops in Dalby and Charleville and through donations to the annual Bush Christmas Appeal and the ongoing Drought Relief Appeal. Brian's hampers help transform Christmas from a bleak and depressing time to one of joy and celebration, while other money goes towards farm repairs, dental care and coastal holidays for outback families.

South Australia 's Senior Australian of the Year 2008 is science communicator Professor Rob Morrison OAM.

Professor Rob Morrison's work as a scientist, writer and media personality has added profoundly to the promotion and understanding of science in Australia. For 25 years he has been a familiar face of science on television, as presenter of The Curiosity Show for eighteen years and from appearances on The New Inventors, Nexus, Science Magazine, and Radio National's Ockham's Razor. He has written 30 books on science and natural history and under his stewardship the SA Royal Zoological Society has trebled its membership in six years. Rob recently helped establish SciWorld, a new science centre in Adelaide which runs exciting education programs and has developed six regional science fairs and shows, including Adelaide's National Science Week. He is recognised nationally and internationally as an outstanding science communicator. In the citation for his 2007 Australian Museum Eureka Prize Rob is described as a national treasure and a well-loved ambassador for science.

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Tasmania 's Senior Australian of the Year 2008 is leading ceramic artist Les Blakebrough.

In a career spanning five decades Les Blakebrough has become one of Australia's most acclaimed and influential ceramic artists. The list of the solo and joint exhibitions of his works across Australian cities and regions also confirms him as prolific. His body of work has ranged from earthy, functional wares to more recent delicate forms. The beauty of the form of these later works is emphasised by the translucency and fragility of his trademarked Southern Ice Porcelain. Chasing his vision over five years, Les developed a very beautiful material that is quite special, very translucent, very white, and very easy to work with. He has made an extraordinary contribution to visual art, craft, and design in Australia as a practitioner, teacher, mentor, and visionary advocate.

The NSW Senior Australian of the Year 2008 is micro-credit pioneer David Bussau AM.

Thirty years ago David Bussau went to Bali to help rebuild rural areas devastated by an earthquake and found that traditional development solutions still left poor families trapped in poverty. He realised that what poor people wanted was work and that with jobs they could start to solve many of their other problems. His solution was to offer small business loans - a hand up instead of a hand out. David established the non-profit Maranatha Trust to fulfil his dream of helping the poor help themselves. In 1979 he joined forces with a like-minded counterpart in the USA to form Opportunity International. The results have been outstanding, with over 800,000 clients, mostly women, and creating millions of jobs in twenty-nine developing countries. David continues his work in micro-enterprise development by building relationships and providing consultancy services to governments, multi-national companies, and other organisations that have caught his vision and joined the fight against poverty.

Western Australia's Senior Australian of the Year 2008 is remote area educator Sister Patricia Rhatigan.

Patricia Rhatigan has worked for almost 50 years as a nun in the Kimberly region. Being a nun and working for the needy is all she has ever wanted to do, beginning at a leprosarium in Broome and the Beagle Bay mission. She became a classroom teacher in 1960 and served in a range of roles eventually becoming the foundation regional officer for the Catholic Education Office in Broome. After negotiating for first year undergraduate degrees to be offered fully through the Broome campus of the Notre Dame University, Sister Patricia was appointed Dean of the campus in 1998. Under her leadership the campus inaugurated its studies in nursing and counselling and a Diploma of Indigenous Management. She is a prodigious researcher of remote area teaching and is currently the coordinator of the Sisters of St John of God Kimberly Centenary activities.

Congratulations to all of the 2008 State and Territory Senior Australians of the year.
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