ABC News: Australian of the Year nominees encouraging compassion, sustainability, and culture

MissingSchool CEO, Megan Gilmour, was featured in an article from ABC News. To view the original page click here.

 

Nine Australians working to make their country a better place through compassionate organisations, sustainable agricultural practices, and cultural ambassadorship are nominated to become the 2025 Australian of the Year.

The group is a collection of different passions and work, but each were nominated by a member of their community who believed their contributions should be shared with every Australian.

Three are improving support or protection for children and one is a cultural and musical ambassador.

Another is focused on disability awareness and employment, two specialise in sustainable agricultural practices, and one is looking for the cure to a group of rare neurodegenerative disorders.

Here is a quick look at who is up for the award.

 

 

Megan Gilmour is the co-founder of an organisation helping support the 1.2 million Australian children at risk of missing school due to chronic medical and mental conditions.

Leveraging her lived experience of her son surviving a traumatic illness that saw him miss over a year of school, she, along with two other Canberra mothers, founded MissingSchool, and her 2017 Churchill Fellowship across six countries started the world’s first telepresence robot service, reconnecting over 7,000 Australian classmates in real-time.

When accepting her award as the ACT’s Australian of the Year, Ms Gilmour said the journey began when she walked out of Sydney Children’s Hospital with her family, holding her son Darcy’s hand.

“I promised myself I wouldn’t turn my back on the needs of children who can’t attend school for reasons beyond their control. I’m here today because I couldn’t give up on that,” she said.

 

 

NSW Australian of the Year for 2025, Kath Koschel, is the founder of global non-profit The Kindness Factory, which teaches children about the power of kindness.

The organisation’s curriculum is taught in 3,500 schools in Australia, has been downloaded over 60,000 times globally, and is credited with inspiring 7.5 million acts of kindness.

Ms Koschel said she was inspired in part by kind acts from strangers who wanted no recognition while she was in rehab to relearn to walk.

“It changed the course of my entire life. I got downstairs, looked at myself in the mirror and I said, ‘You’re going to walk again.’ That’s what kindness does to you, it starts with something small, it has a ripple effect,” Ms Koschel said.

 

 

Arnhem Land performer Grant Ngulmiya Nundhirribala is an ambassador for music, language, and culture across the world.

He has collaborated with the Budapest Art Orchestra to release an award-winning album, was the driving force behind the three-day Numburindi Festival in Numbulwar, and has led the renowned Red Flag Dancers for decades.

When accepting his award as the NT’s Australian of the Year, Mr Ngulmiya Nundhirribala said he hoped the achievement would help highlight the talent of his fellow performers from Australia’s remote communities.

“It’s about all people and my community. I’m not doing this [just for my] community, [I’m doing this] for the whole world,” he said.

 

 

Geoffrey Smith is the co-founder of Australian Spatial Analytics (ASA), a work-integrated social enterprise which trains and employs neurodiverse people to work as geospatial data analysts.

The unemployment rate for Autistic people of working age is almost six times that of people without disability, but at ASA, 80 per cent of employees are neurodivergent and 61 per cent come from long-term unemployment.

In accepting his award as Queensland’s Australian of the Year, Mr Smith said the idea for his company came from “looking at people’s strengths rather than their weaknesses”.

“It’s a bit weird that we want the social enterprise not to exist because we want mainstream employers to value neurodivergent people and employ them themselves,” he said.

 

 

Leah Bromfield, the director of child protection at the Australian Centre for Child Protection, developed the first evidence-based analysis of child protection practice frameworks.

Over two decades Professor Bromfield’s calls for transformation and radical redesign have led to world-first insights and contributed to significant changes in our understanding of, and responses to, child abuse and neglect.

 

 

When accepting her award as South Australia’s Australian of the Year, Professor Bromfield said the work might be unglamorous, but the sector was critical for young people.

“It is hard work, but I get to go to work every day knowing that I’m part of making a difference, that we’re doing the research and developing policy and resources to actually change practice on the ground, make it better for kids, make it better for families and for the practitioners, the frontline workers that blow me away,” she said.

 

Sam Elsom is the founder of Sea Forest, one of the first start-ups to successfully turn native Australian seaweed asparagopsis into a livestock feed supplement which dramatically reduces methane emissions, strengthening the sustainability of livestock industries.

Adding just 0.2 per cent of the supplement to livestock feed can reduce the methane emissions of cows and sheep by up to 90 per cent, while increasing productivity.

While accepting his award as Tasmania’s Australian of the Year via video, Mr Elsom said he would use his platform to call for climate action.

“I hope to use the platform to advocate for climate action and to really try to use the work that we’re doing to create positive environmental outcomes for this new industry that we’re building, but also for agriculture and Tasmanian farmers,” he said.

 

 

AFL great Neale Daniher is the co-founder of FightMND, a charity looking for effective treatments and a cure for motor neurone disease (MND), a debilitating disease that takes away someone’s use of their arms and legs, then their ability to eat, speak and breathe.

Since the former Essendon Football Club captain was diagnosed with MND in 2013, he has been a tireless campaigner in the fight for a cure, raising millions of dollars to help prevent the suffering of those with MND in the future.

While accepting his award as Victoria’s Australian of the Year, Mr Daniher’s wife, Jan Daniher, said he would continue his work to raise funds and awareness for a long as he could.

“The reason we keep going is because, in the years ahead when we hear that someone has been diagnosed with MND, we want them to have hope, we want there to be some treatments, we want there a cure,” Ms Daniher said.

 

 

Dianne and Ian Haggerty spearheaded a regenerative agricultural system that produces nutrient-diverse grains, high-quality wool, and pasture-raised meats.

The couple have demonstrated that ecologically-aware farming is viable at scale and resilient to climate change following what they call Natural Intelligence Farming methods.

Ms Haggerty, the joint WA Australian of the Year along with her husband, said the methods were about ensuring a balance between protecting the planet and having enough food.

“People are really interested in how they might be able to contribute to looking after the climate and the environment and biodiversity, but also still maintaining producing food and fibre for the populations we have,” she said.

 

Senior Australian of the Year nominees

 

Joint ACT Senior Australians of the Year, married couple Peter and Marilyn Ralston, help people with vision impairment or other disabilities walk or run in mainstream active lifestyle events.

In 2013, Mr Ralston and Mrs Ralston began Achilles Running Club Canberra, teaming up volunteer guides with visually impaired people to participate in fun runs, club training, and a weekly park run.

In the past three years Mr Ralston has guided blind athletes 120 times at park run, and the couple also serve the community, Mr Ralston as a member of Lions Club of Canberra Belconnen, and Mrs Ralston at St John’s Care, Reid.

 

 

Science educator Karl Kruszelnicki, better known as Triple J’s Dr Karl, is on a mission to spread the good news about science and its benefits.

The NSW’s Senior Australian of the Year began in paediatric medicine but became a full-time science communicator after witnessing the death of a baby from whooping cough as disinformation that vaccines didn’t work was circulating.

His national weekly, one-hour science talkback show on Triple J, Science with Dr Karl, attracts more than 750,000 listeners, he has authored 48 popular science books, and built a machine to pick up electrical signals from the human retina for Fred Hollows

 

The NT’s Senior Australian of the Year, Michael Foley, is the founder of community organisation Seniors of Excellence NT, which acknowledges for the hours of volunteer work senior community members do every day.

Mr Foley has spent over 40 years contributing to the recognition of senior citizens and their mental wellbeing, including establishing the Seniors Of Excellence NT Award to recognise their selfless work, with 183 seniors receiving the award since 2014.

He has raised thousands of dollars and volunteered countless hours for community organisations such as Cancer Care NT, Variety and Royal Darwin Hospital Palliative Care Hospice.

 

 

At 90, Queensland’s Senior Australian of the Year Bronwyn Herbert completed her PhD in social work with a focus on the generational impacts of homelessness.

During her time as a social worker, Dr Herbert saw many children who experienced homelessness become homeless again as adults — and wanting to know why, she retired at 81 to study it for her thesis.

The now 91-year-old’s work has contributed to a better understanding of homelessness and how to break the cycle.

 

 

Indigenous advocate and knowledge holder Charles Jackson, SA’s Senior Australian of the Year, has been working with Aboriginal children for over 50 years.

With a diverse career working as a marriage celebrant, cultural awareness teacher, board member, services coordinator, and NDIS officer, the 75-year-old was also the first Aboriginal to become a Justice of the Peace in Australia in 1978.

Mr Jackson is a knowledge holder for Flinders Ranges Nation and working towards Wilpena Pound becoming a world heritage site, and his new organisation Urndu helps the Aboriginal community by offering culturally appropriate training and support resources for people with disabilities or age-related impairments.

 

 

Gynaecological oncologist Penelope Blomfield, Tasmania’s Senior Australian of the Year, has spent her life dedicated to improving the quality and longevity of life for those affected by gynaecological cancers.

Dr Blomfield became the state’s first gynaecological oncologist when she moved to Tasmania in 2000, and over 20 years later she remains heavily involved in medical research in the field.

Holding various leadership and advisory positions in her field, she has provided submissions to government committees, advice to numerous cancer advocacy groups and contributed to multiple research papers.

 

 

Victoria’s Senior Australian of the Year Peter Brukner is a founding member of the Australasian College of Sports Physicians, where he played a vital role in developing and recognising sports medicine as a full medical specialty.

Co-author of widely-used textbook Clinical Sports Medicine, Dr Brukner also founded the largest sports medicine centre in Australia: Olympic Park Sports Medicine Centre in Melbourne.

The 72-year-old also established not-for-profit SugarByHalf, which teaches schoolchildren about the adverse effects of excessive added sugar, and founded Defeat Diabetes, an app and web-based program endorsed by Diabetes Australia aiming to send type 2 diabetics into remission.

 

 

WA’s Senior Australian of the Year Thomas Oliver Pickett co-founded Wheelchairs For Kids in 1996, providing adjustable wheelchairs and occupational therapy expertise to children in developing countries for free.

Since then, the not-for-profit has gifted over 60,000 custom-built wheelchairs to children in more than 80 countries.

Brother Pickett, 83, also spearheaded the world first development of an innovative, low-cost wheelchair design to World Health Organization standards that adjusts as the child grows.

 

Young Australian of the Year nominees

 

 

Neurodiversity advocate Daniel Bartholomaeus, who has autism and ADHD, has turned his challenges in life into motivation and support for other neurodiverse Canberrans.

Bartholomaeus, 21, is a mentor with The With Friends Initiative, a social group for neurodivergent young people.

He has also worked with Daydream Machine, the National Gallery of Australia, and the United Nations to help young people realise that it’s not what you can’t do, but what you can do.

 

 

Maddison O’Gradey-Lee, the NSW’s Young Australian of the Year, is the co-founder of a six-month program which provides youth advocates with support, mentorship, and education modules to increase the impact of their advocacy projects in their communities and globally.

Since being founded in 2020, the Orygen Global Youth Mental Health Fellowship has trained 76 youth advocates in 42 countries in lived experience advocacy and peer support.

At 27, Ms O’Gradey-Lee has created a global community that’s combating taboos around mental health and was the first person from Oceania to win the Dalai Lama Peace Fellowship.

 

 

The NT’s Young Australian of the Year Nilesh Dilushan is the co-founder of two not-for-profit organisations helping address literacy gaps and helping young migrants upskill.

Mr Dilushan, who moved to the NT from Sri Lanka as an international student, has spearhead two successful community initiatives: The Kindness Shake and Rotaract Young Professionals NT.

Their programs work to close service gaps and provide young people with essential peer-to-peer support in financial literacy and substance abuse awareness.

 

 

Proud Mabuigilaig and Goemulgal woman Katrina Wruck, the Queensland Young Australian of the Year, uses her chemistry research to give back to remote communities.

Dr Wruck’s research creating new materials to address contaminants in water using sustainable solutions led her to set up profit-for-purpose business Nguki Kula Green Labs, which aims to change the consumer goods sector by using green chemistry.

Her method of converting mining by-products to zeolite LTA — which can remove contaminants from water that cause hardness — will be commercialised, and her postdoctoral research examines how to break down dangerous “forever chemicals” into benign ones.

 

 

SA Young Australian of the Year Amber Brock-Fabel is the founder of the South Australian Youth Forum, which focuses on driving discussions among 14 to 18-year-olds about contemporary issues.

The forum allows young people to consider issues like climate change, gender equality, youth loneliness and period poverty, with the insights gathered presented to politicians and relevant organisations.

Under Ms Brock-Fabel’s leadership, the forum has secured partnerships and collaborations with various organisations, and was recently represented at the United Nations Summit of the Future, the National Inquiry into Civics Education, and the Australian Conference on Youth Health.

 

 

Olympic swimmer Ariarne Titmus, Tasmania’s Young Australian of the Year, is a role model for young swimmers who want to improve and test the boundaries of what is possible.

The 24-year-old has won three gold medals and a silver in the 2018 Commonwealth Games, gold medals at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics and 2022 Commonwealth games in Birmingham, and holds several world records.

Ms Titmus is also an advocate for girls staying in sport, with dropout rates, particularly in high school, too high.

 

 

Victoria’s Young Australian of the Year, Aishwarya Kansakar, is a globally renowned AI and automation entrepreneur, STEM education innovator and not-for-profit executive.

Raised amidst Nepal’s civil war, she survived an arson attack at school but went on to teach herself computing, launching her career.

Ms Kansakar is also the chief operating officer of not-for-profit Women 4 STEM, leading 300 volunteers, impacting 70 schools and 66,000 women’s STEM careers.

 

 

WA’s Young Australian of the Year, Jack Anderston, is the co-founder of Elucidate Education, a not-for-profit that creates high quality textbooks and free online resources for Australian high school content.

When he was 18, Mr Anderston founded student-run charity ThrivEd, which produced educational materials and donated them to disadvantaged schools, which later merged with another charity to become Elucidate Education.

He has led the publication of many textbooks for senior study and coordinates regular trips to remote areas of Western Australia, donating educational materials to the most socio-economically disadvantaged, rural and Indigenous students, empowering them for success.

 

Local Hero nominees

 

 

Joint ACT Local Heroes Vanessa Brettell and Hannah Costello are co-founders of social enterprise Stepping Stone Café, which employs women mostly from migrant and refugee backgrounds.

The sustainable vegetarian cafe has two locations which offer culturally and linguistically diverse women employment pathways, on-the-job training and qualifications through partnerships with registered training organisations.

Ms Brettell and Ms Costello’s inclusive employment practices target female workers who are the sole income earners in their household, newly arrived in Australia, experiencing homelessness, know limited English, or have minimal employment history.

 

 

NSW Local Hero Martha Jabour is the co-founder of the Homicide Victims Support Group, which has been supporting NSW families and friends of homicide victims since 1993.

The group provides life-changing counselling, support and referrals to its more than 4,200 members, and a world-first trauma recovery facility for those impacted by homicide, developed in 2013 by Ms Jabour.

Those helped include the overseas families of the victims of the Bondi Junction stabbing attack last year, who were given accommodation, counselling and funeral assistance at the group’s facility in Western Sydney.

 

 

NT Local Hero Mignon McHendrie has spent over 30 years rescuing and caring for the territory’s unique wildlife.

As the head of community organisation Wildcare Incorporated, Ms McHendrie leads a team of wildlife rescue volunteers, and donates her time to working with remote communities, including organising for animals to be flown to Darwin for specialised care.

Ms McHendrie is also expanding Wildcare Incorporated’s work by training the community to care for orphaned baby animals and licensing the taking of animals with carers into local schools.

 

 

Queensland Local Hero Claire Smith is the founder of the state’s first dedicated, volunteer-run, 24-hour wildlife rescue service, Wildlife Rescue Sunshine Coast.

Ms Smith has spent decades advocating for conservation, particularly for native Australian wildlife, and engaging with all levels of government to advise on policy decisions.

She raised over $600,000 to directly assist those caring for injured animals after the 2019 bushfires, fundraised to establish the state’s first kangaroo hospital and purchase two wildlife ambulances to facilitate more animal rescues.

 

 

South Australia’s joint Local Heroes, married couple Sobia and Irfan Hashmi, have transformed healthcare in remote and rural South Australian communities over 20 years.

The pharmacists and migrant community leaders have established six pharmacies in regional and remote areas, leading to less travel time for customers.

The couple’s free weekly webinar series have also helped 4,000 overseas pharmacists pass their exams in 2024.

 

 

Tasmania’s Local Hero Keren Franks is the founder of Young Leaders of Tasmania (YLOT), a not-for-profit focused on changing community perceptions around disability and fostering inclusion.

Through the school experience of her daughter, who has a significant disability, Ms Franks saw an inclusive model of education could yield enormous benefits for both students with disabilities and mainstream students.

YLOT expanded rapidly to run a range of programs across Tasmania, with the central aim of facilitating social role modelling, skill development activities and facilitating peer-to-peer interaction in support schools and mainstream schools.

 

 

Victoria’s Local Hero Jasmine Hirst has spent 15 years working to give hundreds of girls and women access to scarce local soccer facilities, grounds and equipment.

In 2011, Ms Hirst launched the Darebin Falcons Women’s Sports Club junior girls’ soccer program with just one team, now she has made possible over 30 junior and senior soccer teams and enabled more than 550 women and girls to play soccer, including the largest girl-exclusive MiniRoos and MiniTillies programs in Victoria.

She also launched the young referees program to increase the number of female referees in Victoria and to pay them for their services.

 

 

Western Australia’s Local Hero, Jacinta Vu, uses her considerable specialist skill in dentistry and oral health to generously give back to others.

Dr Vu is a director Healing Smiles, a community of female volunteers that assist women escaping domestic violence with their oral and dental health free of charge.

It provides trauma-informed care that recognises the importance of good dental health in restoring dignity, self-esteem and confidence as victims rebuild their lives.