Sunita Gloster and Narelda Jacobs have made the King’s Birthday Honours 2023 in recognition of their contributions to the media industry and to the community.
Gloster, a prominent figure in the media industry and recent Mediaweek Academy Legend, has been acknowledged for her significant service to the media and marketing industry and to gender equality. Gloster is known for her advocacy campaigns for the empowerment of girls and women, including the 2021 UN Women Australia campaign that asked: ‘When Will She Be Right?’
Gloster told IndianLink News of the recognition: “Truly powerful marketing uses empathy and emotion to connect. It can create change, and has the power to improve people’s lives and our planet. Making that kind of impact is why I love my profession.”
“I have long championed the power of marketing. I love that this honour recognises the power of marketing as a force for good.”
“My parents Betty and John D’Souza OAM brought me from India to Australia in 1974 after the final vestiges of the White Australia Policy were abolished, for the promise of a better life for me. We left Bombay to settle in Mt Gambier. I can’t imagine the courage that took.
“I’m so grateful for all the sacrifices my parents made for my future. And I must acknowledge the community of Mt Gambier, which 49 years later my parents still call home, for welcoming us into their lives and to Australia.”
10 News First Midday and Studio 10 host Jacobs was also recognised on the King’s Birthday Honours 2023 and awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (General Division) for her services to the media and to the community.
Jacobs, a proud Whadjuk Noongar woman, has been a journalist at Network 10 for over 20 years. She is also a patron of the Motor Neurone Disease Association, WA, and ambassador for Count Me In for the Disability Services Commission. In 2011, she was one of 13 Western Australian women who trekked Kokoda to raise money for Breast Cancer Care WA.
Jacobs said of being awarded the honour said: “It’s with deep thought and humility I accept this OAM in recognition of 23 years of service to the community through journalism.
“My career at Network 10 has opened many doors to sharing opinions and news on Studio 10, 10 News First, NITV and in the community. While I’d prefer to receive such an honour from a different head of state, the Commonwealth is the system within which we operate. Before choosing to be named on the King’s Birthday Honour’s List, I considered all the First Nations people who’ve courageously taken up spaces created by the colony.
“I thought about my Dad receiving his MBE from the Queen in 1981, while fighting to have his Noongar Sovereignty recognised, fully aware of the Monarch’s role in dispossessing his people. I decided to take my lead from those who recognise the importance of stepping into the room in order to change it.
“In this referendum year, I’m grateful to be among those advocating for change.”
This is the first time more women than men have been appointed as members of the Order of Australia. Women made up over 50% of the general division of the Order of Australia honours, which included Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore and the late comedian Barry Humphries.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported that Governor-General David Hurley has made a point of increasing the number of women honoured for the King’s birthday. Crucially, the three highest levels of the Order will be equal male and female, or better, for the first time.
Hurley said: “We are very pleased we have reached the point of gender parity, but it’s not cause for pause. We are not done. We have to keep working.”
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Top image: Sunita Gloster and Narelda Jacobs