Mandela, Theresa . . . and Key
Sir John Key will receive Australia’s highest honour today — joining the likes of Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela and Jacques Cousteau.
Key will be appointed an honorary Companion in the Order of Australia for his “eminent service to Australia-New Zealand relations” at a ceremony in Canberra attended by his old friend Malcolm Turnbull, Australia’s Prime Minister.
A companion is the highest rank in the order and a maximum of 35 can be appointed every year. Honorary awards have been made to international figures with links to the nation.
Key said he was “completely shocked” but delighted when told of the honour. “It reflects the closeness of the relationship as much as the individual.
“I always considered Australia to be our closest and dearest friend and so I tried hard to build a strong relationship with the Australian Prime Ministers . . . there in my time.”
Previous recipients include Mandela, Mother Theresa and ocean explorer Cousteau, as well as other former foreign political leaders.
Only four other Kiwis have been so honoured — opera singer Dame Kiri te Kanawa, former PM Sir Geoffrey Palmer, former Deputy PM Sir Brian Talboys and Australian-based scientist Professor Stuart Ross Taylor.
“Over the years, they’ve given them to, at one level, Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi, but at the other level — there’s myself.”
Key said his guests at the ceremony at Government House would include his wife, Bronagh, his former chief of staff Wayne Eagleson, Foreign Minister Gerry Brownlee and former Foreign Minister Murray McCully.