2024 Queensland Greats Awards Dinner

Premier of Queensland, the Honourable Steven Miles MP; Ministers and Shadow Ministers; Members of Parliament, Directors-General; Queensland Greats, your families and friends; distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.

I begin by acknowledging the Original Custodians of the lands around Brisbane, the Turrbal and Jagera people, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, and the First Nations people who are with us this evening for this inspiring annual event.

The search for this year’s Queensland Greats began eight months ago with a call for Queenslanders to nominate the individuals or institutions they believed were worthy of recognition for their significant contribution to the history and development of our State.

Once nominations closed, the independent panel of judges was kept very busy, and tonight we have all enjoyed hearing from the newest cohort of Queensland Greats.

Like many of you, Graeme and I have had the humbling experience of walking along that magnificent wall of Queensland Great plaques in the Roma Street Parklands.

It’s impossible to take that walk without pausing at every step to reflect on the enormous contribution that every one of those individuals and institutions has made to creating the Queensland of today.

When the Queensland Government launched the Queensland Greats initiative in 2001 it was to celebrate the Centenary of Federation; what it has become is an enduring way for us to honour the qualities that help define us as Queenslanders – our strong sense of independence; our ‘can do’; ‘no fuss’ attitude; our egalitarianism; our determination and resilience; and the entrepreneurial spirit that has been a constant theme in the development of this State.

To date, the Queensland Greats Awards have honoured around 140 of our State’s most recognisable sporting legends, Indigenous leaders, academics, and philanthropists, as well as men and women from business, the Arts and countless other fields of endeavour who have quietly made a lasting contribution, many of them over a lifetime and often as volunteers.

This contribution is something for which all Queenslanders should be grateful and, on their behalf, I thank the Queensland Greats of the past, both individuals and organisations.

I also thank the judging panel for their commitment to impartiality and to preserving the confidentiality of the selection process.

Assessing nominations for an award such as this is no easy task but for the past 23 years, the integrity of panel members has ensured that a Queensland Great award will always be valued and respected.

I also thank the Queensland Government for continuing to support this award.

Every recipient sets a fine example for us all, demonstrating what good citizenship means while making an indisputable and sometimes immeasurable difference in our lives.

Finally, I warmly congratulate the individuals and organisations who have been honoured tonight as the Queensland Greats of 2024.

It is an honour of which you can all be justifiably proud, and a splendid way to celebrate Queensland Day and what it means to be a Queenslander.