EXCLUSIVE
A leading campaigner against domestic violence who once worked closely with Andrew O’Keefe has called on the disgraced game show host to hand back his Order of Australia.
O’Keefe was convicted in January last year of assaulting a woman he called a ‘lying dog’ and a ‘c***’ during an attack described by a magistrate as ‘degrading’.
The former Deal or No Deal and The Chase Australia presenter then pleaded guilty in October to trespassing, possessing meth, and breaching a restraining order.
O’Keefe was a founding member and chairman of White Ribbon Australia, an organisation dedicated to the prevention of violence against women.
He was named in the 2017 Australia Day honours list as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM). The only higher accolades in the system are Officer (AO) or Companion (AC) of the Order.
Former federal MP and ex Aussie Rules great Phil Cleary has campaigned to stop male violence against women since his sister Vicki was murdered in 1987 by a former partner.
Mr Cleary got to know O’Keefe through White Ribbon and told Daily Mail Australia the fallen Weekend Sunrise host should return his AM if he wanted to show remorse.
‘I think if he wanted to reclaim his standing he probably should resign the position and then try to regain our trust,’ Mr Cleary said.
Disgraced game show host Andrew O’Keefe still holds one of the nation’s highest official honours a year after being found guilty of domestic violence offences. O’Keefe is pictured two days after surviving a heroin overdose in September
The former Deal or No Deal star was convicted last January of assaulting a woman he called a ‘lying dog’ and a ‘c***’ during an attack described as ‘violent and degrading’. He is pictured at court wearing his Member of the Order of Australia lapel pin
‘If I was speaking to Andrew I would be saying the first thing you should be doing is coming out and apologising for what you’ve done.
‘I believe in compassion and redemption but Andrew is in a position at the moment where he has damaged the campaign and he needs to apologise.’
O’Keefe’s honour was in recognition of ‘significant service to the broadcast media as a television presenter, and to social welfare and charitable organisations’.
The 53-year-old is due to face court again later this month on his third drug-driving charge, after being warned by a magistrate another criminal conviction would result in him going to jail.
There are precedents for Order of Australia recipients returning an honour voluntarily if they felt they no longer deserved the award.
Former High Court judge Dyson Heydon handed over his AC in 2022 following a 2020 inquiry which found he had sexually harassed junior staff members.
TV presenter and businessman Steve Vizard gave back his AM in 2008 after being fined $390,000 and banned from being a company director for insider trading.
‘I did it because it is the right thing to do,’ Vizard said at the time.
‘This is partially out of respect for the Order, to protect it, and partly to take this issue off the agenda for the Order and myself.’
Former federal MP Phil Cleary got to know O’Keefe through White Ribbon and told Daily Mail Australia the fallen Weekend Sunrise host should return his AM if he wanted to show remorse
Phil Cleary has campaigned to stop male violence against women since his 25-year-old sister Vicki (above) was murdered in 1987 by her abusive former partner Peter Keogh
Several Australians have also had their honours rescinded following serious wrongdoing.
Entertainer Rolf Harris was made an AM in 1989 and that was upgraded to AO in 2012. He was stripped of both awards after being convicted of sexually assaulting underage girls.
Former High Court judge Marcus Einfeld had his AO taken away in 2009 after he was jailed for claiming the driver of his speeding car was a woman who turned out to be dead.
The late billionaire Alan Bond lost his AO in 1997 after he defrauded Bell Resources of $1.2billion and was sent to prison.
Former Western Australian premier Brian Burke had his AC cancelled after being jailed for stealing campaign donations.
The Council of the Order of Australia is responsible for recommending nominations under the honours system to Governor-General Sam Mostyn.
Ms Mostyn can also act on recommendations by the council to strip recipients of awards.
The council previously confirmed it had received complaints from members of the public about O’Keefe still being a Member of the Order of Australia.
O’Keefe is due to face court again later this month on his third drug-driving charge, after being warned by a magistrate another criminal conviction would result in him going to jail. He is pictured at the 2006 Logies with Natalie Bassingthwaighte
‘Issues have been raised over Mr O’Keefe’s AM, therefore, in line with the process, they are under consideration,’ a council spokesman said in October, according to the Daily Telegraph.
On Friday, a spokesman for the council declined to comment on O’Keefe retaining his award, which is still listed on the government’s honours website.
‘The council does not comment on individual deliberations,’ the spokesman said.
‘Appointments and awards in the Order of Australia can be terminated or cancelled – the grounds and process are set out in the terminations and cancellations ordinance.’
That ordinance states an award can be cancelled if a recipient has been the subject of an adverse finding by any court or tribunal, regardless of whether the person was conviction.
Ms Mostyn can also terminate an award ‘if, in the opinion of the Governor-General, the holder of the appointment or award has behaved or acted in a manner that has brought disrepute on the Order’.
An occupational therapist told Daily Mail Australia he had been writing to the Governor-General’s office to ask that O’Keefe’s AM be revoked for the past 12 months.
Daily Mail Australia revealed last week that O’Keefe had been arrested again on a drug driving charge, three months after being warned he was one false step away from jail.
O’Keefe was a founding member and chairman of White Ribbon Australia, an organisation dedicated to the prevention of violence against women. He is pictured in a promotion for Deal or No Deal
He is set to face Waverley Local Court in Sydney’s eastern suburbs on January 20 after being accused of driving with an illicit drug in his system for the third time.
Last July, O’Keefe confronted a man at a Point Piper property he was banned from attending and was later arrested after a traffic stop.
He was released on bail but arrested again at Rose Bay police station in September when police found crystal methamphetamine in his car during a search.
A day earlier O’Keefe had overdosed on heroin at a party and needed to be revived by paramedics.
In October, Waverley Local Court magistrate Jacqueline Milledge sentenced O’Keefe to a 30-month community corrections order for breaching an apprehended violence order.
He was also fined $1,000 for possessing a prohibited drug and $500 for trespassing, as well as being made the subject of a two-year AVO to protect a person who cannot be identified.
Ms Milledge told O’Keefe he was facing time behind bars if he reoffended.
‘You have been given lots of opportunities to do something about your use of drugs,’ she said to him.
O’Keefe was named in the 2017 Australia Day honours list as a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) – the only higher accolades in the system are Officer (AO) or Companion (AC) of the Order
‘I can assure you the next step is jail. I’m not just saying that, I absolutely mean it.
‘It’s got to the state where the court would believe you just can’t be rehabilitated.’
Ms Milledge told O’Keefe his life had ‘just completely gone off the rails’ and it was his responsibility to fix it.
‘I know domestic violence is a factor in your offending and that is awful, truly awful,’ she said.
‘You got into the grip of something awful and the wheels fell off.’
The magistrate said she remembered telling O’Keefe ‘God help you’ during a previous court appearance.
‘I am personally disappointed that you’re where you are and you haven’t managed to get yourself back on your feet,’ she said.
‘I just wish you’d get yourself back to a position where you can do something for the community again.’
At the time, O’Keefe’s lawyer told Ms Milledge: ‘This, Your Honour, is what we say is the final crossroads.’
O’Keefe has waged a public battle against drug addiction and been in and out of rehabilitation centres for the past few years.
He was found guilty in January last year of domestic violence offences over a September 2021 attack on a woman he had called a ‘lying dog’ and a ‘c***’.
O’Keefe was convicted in Downing Centre Local Court of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault, contravening an AVO, and possessing prohibited drugs.
Magistrate Alison Viney described O’Keefe kicking, spitting, scratching and otherwise assaulting the woman, who cannot be named, as a ‘violent and degrading’ assault.
O’Keefe was ordered to serve 18 months on a community corrections order and fined $800 for the drug offences, which related to cannabis and synthetic stimulant mephedrone.
The drug convictions were later quashed but O’Keefe lost an appeal against the assault convictions in September.
O’Keefe faced six charges after he allegedly punched, kicked and choked another woman in January 2022 but by the time the matter was heard the alleged victim had left the country.
Having pleaded not guilty – claiming he acted in self-defence – charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and choking were withdrawn in February 2023 at Downing Centre Local Court.
O’Keefe previously avoided convictions for assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in June 2021 when those charges were dealt with under mental health provisions of the law.
Magistrate Ross Hudson heard O’Keefe suffered from bipolar disorder and was in a ‘hypomanic’ state when he spat at, slapped and kicked a woman in January 2021.
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