barriers can become bridges, and football can be more than a game
Each year, Australia pauses to ask who among its people has turned private conviction into public good — and Western Australia's sixteen nominees for the 2026 Australian of the Year Awards offer a quietly remarkable answer. Announced in late October and spanning medicine, mental health, Indigenous wellbeing, sustainable housing, and community belonging, these individuals have built responses to some of the country's most persistent human challenges. Their stories will be weighed at Government House in Perth on November 13, with four advancing to the national ceremony in Canberra on Australia Day Eve — a ritual that reminds a young nation of the work still being done in its name.
- Hundreds of thousands of Australian children live with rare diseases for which no approved treatment exists, and nominees like clinical geneticist Dr. Gareth Baynam are racing to change that — one undiagnosed family at a time.
- Remote communities across Western Australia face a quiet crisis of access, where geography itself becomes a barrier to healthcare, mental health support, and belonging — and several nominees have made closing that distance their life's work.
- Indigenous Australians are disproportionately affected by youth suicide, ear disease, and economic exclusion, driving nominees like Dr. Tracy Westerman and Dr. Lara Shur to build culturally grounded systems that the mainstream has long failed to provide.
- Young nominees are rewriting what ambition looks like — running 14,200 kilometres around a continent, coding mental wellness platforms from scratch, and co-founding movements to address the roots of male violence and poor mental health.
- The sixteen nominees, part of 134 recognized nationally, will be narrowed to four WA representatives on November 13, before the national ceremony on January 25, 2026 determines Australia's highest civilian honorees.
Western Australia has nominated sixteen people for the 2026 Australian of the Year Awards across four categories — Australian of the Year, Senior Australian of the Year, Young Australian of the Year, and Local Hero — with state recipients to be named on November 13 at Government House in Perth. The four winners will then compete nationally on Australia Day Eve in January 2026.
The Australian of the Year nominees each represent a collision of urgency and ingenuity. Dr. Gareth Baynam has devoted his career to rare diseases — conditions affecting around 500,000 Australian children, 95 percent of which have no approved therapy — founding the Undiagnosed Diseases Program and helping shape Australia's first national strategy for rare diseases. Kennedy Lay, thirty, became both a physiotherapist and a commercial pilot so he could fly healthcare directly to remote communities; his company now serves 6,000 families across more than 95 locations. Dr. Daniela Vecchio opened Australia's first publicly funded gaming disorder clinic in 2022, building international research partnerships while shaping national policy. Dr. Tracy Westerman, the first Aboriginal person to earn a master's and PhD in clinical psychology, has trained over 50,000 practitioners, created the only culturally valid screening tool for at-risk Aboriginal youth, and raised more than nine million dollars to sustain her work.
The Senior Australian nominees span ecology, community, and design. Botanist Professor Kingsley Dixon discovered that smoke triggers post-fire germination in Australian plants, reshaping conservation science globally. Esme Bowen spent thirty-five years advocating for people with disability after a spinal injury changed her own life. Martin Meader founded community choirs inspired by prisoners of war who used song to survive, raising over $250,000 for those in need. Griff Morris has built affordable passive solar homes since 1991 and donated his company's proceeds to The Hunger Project for nearly four decades.
Among the Young Australian nominees, Brooke McIntosh ran 14,200 kilometres around Australia in 204 days in 2025, raising over $290,000 for mental health causes, while Alexis McDonald taught herself to code and built HerHelp, a mental wellness platform for young women, into a community of millions. Rodrigues Niyongere, born with cerebral palsy and raised in Burundi, now uses football to build inclusion for young people at risk of social exclusion. Dr. Haseeb Riaz and Gareth Shanthikumar co-founded MAN UP to address the roots of poor mental health and gender-based violence in young men.
The Local Hero nominees are equally grounded in structural need. Bronwyn Bate founded Mettle Women Inc to employ women escaping domestic violence — 82 percent of participants remain in stable work after six months. Frank Mitchell has created over 70 Aboriginal upskilling positions in trades and construction and directed more than eleven million dollars to Aboriginal subcontractors. Author Holden Sheppard drew on his own experience growing up gay in regional WA to write Invisible Boys, now a Stan series, while mentoring emerging writers. Dr. Lara Shur co-founded Earbus Foundation, which now provides free ear care to up to 5,200 Aboriginal and at-risk children annually across 200 remote locations.
Together, the sixteen nominees form a portrait of a country still working — urgently, creatively, and often quietly — to close the distances between its people.
Western Australia has put forward sixteen people for the 2026 Australian of the Year Awards, each of them working in a different corner of the country's most pressing needs. The nominations span four categories—Australian of the Year, Senior Australian of the Year, Young Australian of the Year, and Local Hero—and they were announced on October 30, with the state's final recipients to be named on November 13 at Government House in Perth. From there, the Western Australian winners will advance to the national competition, where they'll be recognized alongside recipients from every other state and territory on Australia Day Eve in January 2026.
The four nominees for Australian of the Year itself tell a story about innovation meeting urgency. Dr. Gareth Baynam, a clinical geneticist at Perth Children's Hospital, has spent his career developing precision medicines for rare diseases—conditions that collectively affect around 500,000 Australian children and remain the leading cause of child death in developed countries. Of the 7,000 known rare diseases, 95 percent have no approved therapy. Baynam founded the Undiagnosed Diseases Program to find answers for families without a diagnosis, and he helped develop Australia's first National Strategic Action Plan for Rare Diseases. Kennedy Lay, thirty years old, took a different path: he's a physiotherapist who earned his commercial pilot's license and now flies to rural towns to deliver healthcare services that would otherwise require families to drive hundreds of kilometers. His company, Fly2Health Group, employs 145 professionals serving 6,000 families across more than 95 remote communities, including four Aboriginal communities, offering psychology, speech therapy, occupational therapy, and general medicine alongside physiotherapy.
Dr. Daniela Vecchio established Australia's first publicly funded gaming disorder clinic in 2022 at Fiona Stanley Hospital, recognizing that young people were struggling with addiction to video games and social media in ways that had no clinical infrastructure to address. She's fifty-seven and has built international collaborations with specialists in Korea, Germany, and Dubai while also shaping national policy as a director of the Australian Gaming and Screens Alliance. Dr. Tracy Westerman, fifty-five, became the first Aboriginal person to earn a master's degree and PhD in clinical psychology. She founded Indigenous Psychological Services and created the only culturally and clinically valid screening tool for at-risk Aboriginal youth. She has trained over 50,000 practitioners, published the first Indigenous youth mental health and suicide behaviors clinical database, and raised more than nine million dollars to fund her work. Her charity, Jilya, has supported 64 Indigenous psychology students and achieved Australian record graduation rates.
The Senior Australian of the Year nominees include Esme Bowen, sixty-five, who spent thirty-five years championing the rights of people with disability after a spinal injury from a car crash transformed her own life. She served as president of RAC and Wheelchair Sports Australia. Professor Kingsley Dixon, seventy-one, is an internationally recognized botanist who discovered that smoke triggers germination in Australian plants after bushfires—a finding that has reshaped fire ecology and conservation. He transformed Kings Park and Botanic Garden's research unit into one of the world's top five botanic garden-based science centers. Martin Meader, also seventy-one, founded Born To Sing community choirs more than twenty-five years ago after watching the film Paradise Road, which depicted female prisoners of war using song to sustain hope. His choirs have raised more than $250,000 for bushfire survivors, cancer patients, and children. Griff Morris, seventy-three, founded Solar Dwellings in 1991 to create affordable passive solar homes with universal access, and he's donated the company's proceeds to The Hunger Project for nearly forty years.
The Young Australian of the Year category recognizes people still building their careers. Alexis McDonald, twenty-three, is a Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur who founded HerHelp, an online platform addressing loneliness and mental wellness for young women, after struggling with bullying herself. She taught herself to code in her final year of high school and has built a community of millions. Brooke McIntosh, twenty-nine, ran 1,600 kilometers from the Pilbara to Perth in 2023, raising over $70,000 for mental health causes. In 2025, she ran 14,200 kilometers around Australia in 204 days, averaging 70 kilometers daily, becoming the youngest and fastest woman to do so while raising over $290,000 for the Blue Tree Project. Rodrigues Niyongere, twenty-three, was born with cerebral palsy and migrated from Burundi as a child. He now coaches through Football Futures Foundation, using the sport to build inclusion and confidence in young people at risk of social exclusion. Dr. Haseeb Riaz, twenty-four, and Gareth Shanthikumar, twenty-seven, co-founded MAN UP to help young men strengthen their mental health and build pathways to healthier lives, addressing the root causes of poor mental health and gender-based violence.
The Local Hero category includes Bronwyn Bate, thirty-five, who founded Mettle Women Inc in 2019 after recognizing that domestic and family violence is the single largest driver of homelessness for women in Australia. Her organization has employed 47 women in crisis recovery, with 82 percent remaining in stable employment after the six-month program. Frank Mitchell, forty-two, a Whadjuk-Yued Noongar man, co-founded companies in the trades and construction industry that have created over 70 Aboriginal upskilling positions, including 30 electrical apprenticeships, and awarded over 11 million dollars to Aboriginal subcontractors. Holden Sheppard, thirty-seven, is an award-winning author whose debut novel, Invisible Boys, drew from his own experience growing up gay in Geraldton and has been adapted into a critically acclaimed Stan Original series. He's mentored emerging writers and championed diversity and ethical standards in publishing. Dr. Lara Shur, fifty-one, co-founded Earbus Foundation in 2013 to address hearing loss in Aboriginal children, who experience ear infections at higher rates than non-Indigenous children. Under her leadership as CEO, mobile ear clinics now treat up to 5,200 Aboriginal and at-risk children for free each year across 200 locations in regional and remote communities.
Mark Fraser, CEO of the National Australia Day Council, called the nominees "extraordinary people" who are "entrepreneurial in their approach to helping others, changing public perceptions, creating positive futures and bringing people together." The 16 Western Australian nominees are part of 134 Australians being recognized across all states and territories. The state ceremony on November 13 will determine which four advance to represent Western Australia at the national awards in Canberra on January 25, 2026.
Notable Quotes
The nominees for the Western Australia awards are extraordinary people. They are entrepreneurial in their approach to helping others, changing public perceptions, creating positive futures and bringing people together.— Mark Fraser, CEO of the National Australia Day Council
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
What strikes you most about this year's group from Western Australia?
The range of it. You have someone flying a plane to deliver physiotherapy to remote towns, and someone else who discovered that smoke makes Australian seeds germinate. They're not all working in the same space, but they're all solving problems that nobody else was solving.
The numbers are remarkable—50,000 practitioners trained, 6,000 families served, 5,200 children treated annually. How does that scale happen?
It starts with one person seeing a gap and refusing to accept it. Tracy Westerman trained 50,000 practitioners because she understood that Aboriginal communities needed their own psychologists. Kennedy Lay flies to towns because families shouldn't have to drive 200 kilometers for physiotherapy. Once you build the first clinic or train the first cohort, the model works and it spreads.
Several of these people have personal stories—Brooke McIntosh's near-fatal truck collision, Rodrigues Niyongere's cerebral palsy, Holden Sheppard growing up gay in a rural town. Does that lived experience drive the work?
Almost always. They didn't solve problems from the outside. They solved problems they'd lived inside. That's what gives the work its authenticity and its urgency. You don't run 14,200 kilometers unless you truly understand what you're running for.
What about the ones who seem to come from different places—the botanist, the choir director, the sustainable housing designer?
They're doing the same thing, just in different languages. Kingsley Dixon is teaching people to see fire ecology differently. Martin Meader is using song to build community. Griff Morris is designing homes that let people age in place with dignity. They're all saying: this thing we've accepted as inevitable or impossible—it doesn't have to be that way.
Do you see a common thread across all sixteen?
They all believed something was broken and that they could help fix it. Not that they could fix it alone, but that they could start. And they did.