Reverend Brian Howe became an officer in the general division of the Order of Australia on Australia Day this year. This recognised his service as an academic, an advocate for social sustainability and his contribution to public administration, theology, and the arts.

Mr Howe and his partner Renate Howe, both researchers and writers, attend the UCA Church of All Nations in Carlton.

Mr Howe was appointed a member of the Order of Australia in 2001 for service to the Parliament and people of Australia through reforms in social justice, health and urban development.

He has contributed since then by serving on the foundation board of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, chairing the Victorian Disability Housing Trust, serving as a director of the Brotherhood of St Laurence and working as a professorial fellow with Melbourne University’s Centre for Public Policy.

Mr Howe was a member of federal parliament from 1977 to 1996. He was one of only four ministers who served continuously in the Hawke and Keating ministries from 1983 until 1996. He was deputy prime minister from 1991 to 1995.