awards system​ saw Australian recommendations for the Imperial awards decline, with the last

awards being gazetted in 1989. The Commonwealth of Australia ceased making recommendations
for Imperial awards in 1983, with the last Queen's Birthday ​Australian Honours list​ submitted by
Queensland​ and ​Tasmania​ in 1989. The Queen still confers upon Australians honours ​that emanate
from her personally​ such as the ​Royal Victorian Order​, apart from the Order of Australia. Only a
handful of peerages and baronetcies were created for Australians. Some were in recognition of
public services rendered in Britain rather than Australia. Hereditary peerages and baronetcies derive
from Britain. There have never been Australian peerages or baronetcies created under the
Australian Crown.​[6]
Individual Australian states, as well the Commonwealth Government, were full participants in the
Imperial honours system. Originally there was bipartisan support, but ​Australian Labor Party​ (ALP)
governments, both national and state, ceased making recommendations for Imperial awards – in
particular, appointments to the ​Order of the British Empire​ mainly after 1972. During the Second
World War, the Governor-General, on the advice of wartime Labor governments, made
recommendations for gallantry awards, including eleven for the ​Victoria Cross​. Appointments to the
Order of the British Empire were for officers and men engaged in operational areas.
In 1975, the ​ALP​ (which had been out of power federally from 1949 until 1972) created the
Australian honours and awards system. Recommendations were processed centrally, but state
governors still had the power, on the advice of their governments, to submit recommendations for
Imperial awards. From 1975 until 1983, the ​Liberal Party​ was in power federally, under ​Malcolm
Fraser​ and, although it retained the Australian Honours and Awards System, it reintroduced
recommendations for meritorious Imperial awards, but not for Imperial awards for gallantry, bravery
or distinguished service. Recommendations for Imperial awards by the federal government ceased
with the election of the ​Hawke Labor Government​ in 1983. In 1989, the last two states to make
Imperial recommendations were Queensland and Tasmania.​[7]​ The defeat of both governments at
the polls that year marked the end of Australian recommendations for Imperial awards.
Following the UK New Year Honours List in 1990, which contained no Australian nominations for
British honours, the Queen's Private Secretary, Sir ​William Heseltine​, wrote to the
Governor-General, saying "this seems a good moment to consider whether the time has not arrived
for Australia, like Canada, to honour its citizens exclusively within its own system". There followed
more than two years of negotiations with state governments before the Prime Minister, ​Paul Keating​,
made the announcement on 5 October 1992 that Australia would make no further recommendations
for British honours.​[8]​ The Australian Order of Wear states that "all imperial British awards made to
Australian citizens after 5 October 1992 are foreign awards and should be worn accordingly".​[9]
The Australian honours and awards system has followed United States rather than British practice in
allowing for late awards years after an action that is being commended. More than one hundred late
awards for the Second World War and Vietnam have been gazetted. In the British system, no
Victoria Cross has been awarded more than six years after the action commended. The longest
period between action and award of the US Medal of Honor is 137 years, when in January 2001
President ​Bill Clinton​ presented the Medal of Honor to descendants of a Civil War soldier. Although
'The Report of the inquiry into unresolved recognition for past acts of naval and military gallantry and
valour' released in March 2013 did not recommend any belated Victoria Cross for Australia awards,
it did recommend a Unit Citation for Gallantry to HMAS ​Yarra​ for February and March 1942.​[10]
Similarly, Australian Bravery Awards have been gazetted years after the action being commended,
including a Commendation for Brave Conduct awarded in 1987 to Robert Anderson for his courage
in rescuing a child from a burning car at Kalgoorlie eight years earlier in 1979.​[11]
The Australian honours and awards system has faced various criticisms over the years. In 1992, an
article appeared in the Australian Coin Review that stated: "It is disappointing... [that] most
Australian awards... [are] poorly manufactured and unattractive".​[12]​ Most criticisms however are to
do with who receives honours and awards, reflecting comments such as those made by Dr Nicholas
Gruen, where he said the honours and awards system had "far too much to do with how much status
you've already got ... [It's about] seniority, power, privi