Time to make our gongs truly Australian: the Great Bloke, the Grouse Sheila and more

Outstanding Australians are honoured at this time every year in recognition of their contribution to our country. The problem is that most Australians don’t understand the Australia Day Awards.

We are completely confused by what AOs, AMs, OAMs and ACs even mean.

And if Australians don’t know what AC or AO mean, then it’s unlikely the rest of the world will either.

But, with a little imagination, our honours system could be simplified for Australians and made the envy of the world.

Let’s begin with the first of the four awards we hand out every year, the Medal of the Order of Australia, or the OAM.

This could be replaced, for female recipients, by the “Top Chick” award, as in “She’s a top chick”, which means…