Dr Michele Bruniges has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia. Photo: Supplied.
Decades of valuable work have led to Dr Michele Bruniges appearing a second time in the Australia Day Honours List.
After being appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for public service in 2012, Dr Bruniges has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to public administration, to education policy and teaching practice, and to addressing educational disadvantage.
She passionately believes that quality education is a bedrock of a society because it makes a huge difference to the life choices and chances that people have. Without it, there is an erosion of choices people have.
Dr Bruniges, who grew up in Tumut, has spent her entire career in the field of education. Her early career spanned teaching in primary, secondary and tertiary education.
“Education is such a passion of mine and has been for many years,” Dr Bruniges said. “I have just followed that education dream and contributed in as many ways as I can to the education sector.”
She was Secretary, NSW Department of Education and Communities from 2011 to 2016 and Secretary, Department of Education, Skills and Employment from 2016 to 2023.
In addition to those government roles, Dr Bruniges has chaired several prominent educational groups.
Since 2017 she has chaired the Program for International Student Assessment within the Directorate for Education and Skills at the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and chaired the Tasmanian Lifting Literacy Outcomes Monitoring Group since 2023.
In 2023, Dr Bruniges was appointed Chair of the Australian Institute of Teaching and School Leadership and received the Paul Ramsay Fellowship, becoming an Industry Professor at University of Technology Sydney’s Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion. In 2024, she received an Honorary Doctor of Letters from the University of NSW.
With the support of the Paul Ramsay Foundation, she has been researching the factors that are contributing to clusters of educational disadvantage for Australia’s schoolchildren.
Her research revealed an increasing trend in students from disadvantaged backgrounds being clustered in the same schools.
In 2017, 17 per cent of Australian schools had more than half of their students in the lowest quartile of socio-educational disadvantage.
By 2023 that had risen to 20 per cent, taking the number of high-concentration schools to more than 1300 and directly impacting 555,000 children and teenagers.
“I have been doing research since 2023 into concentrations of disadvantage across the country and really looking at what that means for the Australian tradition of a fair go for all,” Dr Bruniges said.
She continues to be motivated by the possibilities that good education provides.
“What a privilege it is to stand in front of the class and think of all the possibilities of what those children and young people could be,” Dr Bruniges said. “As a teacher, you have the capacity to inspire them and change their trajectory and make an enormous difference.”
After 50 years, respected Queanbeyan lawyer Bill Baker retired from Baker, Deane & Nutt in 2023. Photo: BDN.
Other Eurobodalla residents to be honoured were Philip Armstrong and William Baker.
Philip Armstrong received the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the community through a range of organisations including Eurobodalla Meals on Wheels Cooperative, Rotary Club of Moruya and Rotary International District 9710. He also held roles with Campbell Page Australia and Banksia Villages.
Mr Armstrong was a board member of Aged and Community Services NSW and ACT and has been a life member since 2015.
Bill Baker, who now lives in Rosedale, received the Medal of the Order of Australia for services to the Queanbeyan community.
He has been president of Treehouse Queanbeyan since 2018 and founded the Treehouse Family Fund.
Mr Baker was also a founding member and former president of Queanbeyan Business Council.
He was former president of Telopea Swimming Club ACT, Triathlon ACT, and NSW Country Children’s Services Association, as well as Chair Selection Committee for the Australian Triathlon Team in the 2000 Olympics and is a member of the Karabar Housing Cooperative.
Mr Baker was heavily involved with organisations associated with children and youth including the Pre-School Association Advisory Board, Queanbeyan YMCA and Campbell Street Children’s Centre.
