List pays tribute to service, dedication and hard work

From groundbreaking researchers to TV hosts, politicians, musicians, community heroes and volunteers, Australians from all walks of life are recognised in the latest Australia Day Honours List.

For the first time, women outnumber men, accounting for 373 of the 739 recipients named in the list which was made public late on Thursday.

The highest honour, the Companion (AC) of the Order of Australia, was appointed to four people: scientist and chemical engineer David Boge, University of Technology Sydney chancellor and CSIRO chair Catherine Livingstone, University of Queensland vice-chancellor Deborah Terry, and criminologist Lorraine Mazerolle.

Ms Livingstone - honoured for her service to business, education, science and the arts - said while she was involved across multiple sectors, they were all linked.

"They're all mutually reinforcing, the education is linked to science and technology which is linked to innovation and creative thinking and the arts," she told AAP.

"It's a recognition of the interconnectedness of all those areas."

Fellow AC appointee Prof Mazerolle's long-standing research in Australia and the US has led to evidenced-based policing reforms.

She said being named on the Honours List was recognition of decades trying to reduce crime and bring fairness to the justice system, noting that since she was a teenager she wanted to be a criminologist.

"I grew up in the '70s and '80s in Adelaide and there were lots of significant and high-profile child abductions occurring and high-profile murders, and as a young teenager, I couldn't understand why these events were happening," she told AAP.

Since then, Prof Mazerolle has gone on to run large, randomised trials to test practices used by police to reduce crime levels.

"From an economic point of view, it's important for police to focus on those interventions to bring about a better crime control outcome without harm, and look at police practice that reduce crime but don't harm individuals," she said.

Former Victorian chief health officer Brett Sutton, who led the state through the height of the COVID-19, is appointed an Officer (AO) of the Order of Australia.

The late Bob Maguire, also known as Father Bob, is appointed an AO for his community service, the honour following his death in April 2023.

Former Australian of the Year and medical researcher Fiona Wood is also recognised with an AO, as was Defence Department secretary Greg Moriarty.

Retired Paralympian Ellie Cole is appointed a Member (AM) of the Order of Australia for her services to sport, while former Sunrise host David Koch's citation notes his "significant service to media".

Musical director John Foreman is honoured with an AM on the 2024 list, alongside Pamela Allen, the children's author behind classics such as Who Sank the Boat?

Tasmania's first female premier Lara Giddings makes the list, while other political recipients include former Liberal MP Shaman Stone, former Nationals senator John Williams and Liberal MP Wilson Tuckey.

Governor-General David Hurley said the people recognised in the honours list are outstanding.

"Recipients come from all parts of the country. They have served and had an impact in just about every field you can imagine; their stories and backgrounds and diverse," he said in a statement released ahead of Australia Day.

"Recipients have made a difference and had an impact at the local, national or international level. Individually, they are inspiring and collectively they speak to the strength of our communities."

The youngest recipient on the Honours List is 32, and the eldest is 100.

Alongside the more than 739 people recognised in the Order of Australia, a further 303 are honoured for work in the military, along with emergency services and the public service.

The Australia Day Honours List also recognised 49 people for their role in the response to COVID.