Long-time Glebe Society member, Meredith Burgmann, has been made a member of the general division of the order of Australia (AM) in the Australia Day Honours List for significant service to the people and Parliament of New South Wales. Her achievements, as listed on the Governor-General’s website, are shown below.

Meredith Burgmann, Australian anti-apartheid activist being arrested. (Image courtesy of ‘Have You Heard from Johannesburg’, Flickr.)
Meredith Burgmann, Australian anti-apartheid activist being arrested. (Image courtesy of ‘Have You Heard from Johannesburg’, Flickr.)

Parliament and Politics

  • President, Legislative Council of New South Wales, 1999-2007
  • Board Member, Labour History Journal Editorial, 2008-2018
  • Chair, Legislative Council Standing Committee on Parliamentary Privilege and Ethics, 1995-1999
  • President, Education Group, Labour Council of New South Wales, 1983-1991
  • Founding Member, Emily’s List
  • President, Commonwealth Parliamentary Association of New South Wales, 1999-2007
  • Life Member, Australian Labor Party, 2017.

International Relations

  • Co-founder and Chair, Zimbabwe Information Centre, 1999-2018
  • Vice-Chair, Cuban Childrens Hospital Fund, 2004-2018
  • President, Australian Council for International Development, 2008-2012
  • Board Member, Hoc Mai, The Australia Vietnam Medical Foundation, 1998-2008.
  • Human Rights Defender, Amnesty International, 2005
  • Patron, Australia-Africa Business Council
  • Co-founder, Southern Africa Liberation Centre, 1973-1980.

Advocacy

  • Ambassador, Breast Cancer Network Australia, 2008
  • Founder, The Women’s Employment Action Centre
  • Patron, Labor for Refugees
  • Patron, Women in Film and Television
  • Patron, Jarrah House Residential Treatment Facility for Women
  • Patron, Pride History Group
  • Ambassador, Austcare World Humanitarian Aid (later Action Aid), 2006-2008
  • Life Member, Women’s Network, Hunter New South Wales, 2007.

Education

  • Chair, National Tertiary Education Union, Training and Development Advisory Board, 2005-2007, and Life Member, since 1994
  • Member, University of NSW Council, 1995-1999
  • President, University Academic Staff Association of New South Wales, 1985.

Other

  • Ambassador, Sydney Swans Football Club, 2005-2018
  • Councillor, City of Sydney, 2008-2012
  • Vice-Chair, Australian Reproductive Health Alliance, 2005-2009
  • Board Member, Sydney Peace Prize Foundation, 2013-2017
  • Vice-President, Trade Union Committee on Aboriginal Rights, 1988-1991.
Meredith Burgmann (left) with Josefa Sobski, Verity Firth and Nadia Wheatley at the ‘Radical Glebe’ event held on 24 June 2019 as part of the Glebe Society Community Festival. (photo: VixPix)