Dr Harry Cooper, Wilkins, Munro honoured

VET Dr Harry Cooper, news reader Mike Munro and showbiz ace Richard Wilkins are among seven entertainment professionals who received Queen's Birthday honours.

The other four were the late radio announcer Keith McGowan, film and TV director and producer Sandra Levy, radio presenter Angela Catterns and Canberra-based ABC sports reporter Tim Gavel.

Cooper and Wilkins both received Member of the Order of Australia (AM) honours.

Cooper says he feels more like an ambassador for veterinary science than he does a TV identity. It's his third award in less than a decade for his services to veterinary science.

"I've been honoured by the profession, I was honoured by the university last year, because of my achievements, and now I have been honoured by my country," Cooper told AAP.

While many know Wilkins because of his entertainment reports on the Nine Network's breakfast show Today, it's his charity work for which he has been largely recognised.

Wilkins was 18 when the first of his five children, Adam, was born with Down Syndrome.

Since then he has tried to help out as many charities as possible and use his profile in Australia for the cause of raising money for the less privileged.

"Because of Adam I see more reason to say yes whenever I can to helping than saying no," Wilkins told AAP.

Munro received an AM for his services to television but also for his charitable work that includes being a board director for Alcoholics Anonymous for 10 years.

Levy received an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for her work in the TV and film industry which dates back to 1971 when she was a director and producer of drama at the ABC.

Her other roles include CEO of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, executive director for development for the Nine Network and acting chair, deputy chair and board member for the Sydney Theatre Company (2001-2011).

McGowan, who died in December, received an OAM for his 54 years in radio at 17 stations across four states.

Like McGowan, Catterns (AM) has had an extensive career in radio, and among the stations she has worked at are Triple J, ABC Local Radio and 702 ABC Sydney.

Gavel (OAM) has worked with the ABC since 1988 and is a patron for the Early Morning Centre, which provides meals and services for the homeless and disadvantaged in Canberra.

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Hey there, it's The Seekers, AO

AS one of the few bands from the 1960s still with their original line-up, The Seekers have proved their staying power. Now they're being recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours.

Judith Durham, Athol Guy, Keith Potger and Bruce Woodley have been appointed officers in the Order Of Australia (AO) for their services to the performing arts.

Celebrating 50 years since they began their distinguished career, The Seekers have been on the road performing sold-out shows across Australia, the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Speaking from London after one of the supergroup's shows at the Royal Albert Hall, double bass player Athol Guy said there was a nice "royal connection" about their award and tour location.

"It was a perfect bit of timing because we've just finished our 50th-anniversary tour over here in London with two sell-out shows at the Royal Albert Hall, so there's a nice royal connection coming up to the Queen's birthday," he told AAP.

With each member being recognised for their career, whose hits have included Georgy Girl, I'll Never Find Another You and A World of Our Own, Guy said the honour was particularly special.

"It's a lovely moment for the four of us, to each individually be named in that way," he said. "Collectively, we've had so many honours as a group, it's hard to imagine that there'd be any more to come. And this one came right out of the blue for all of us."

The group suffered a setback in 2013 when singer Judith Durham was admitted to hospital with a cerebral haemorrhage after the first Melbourne show of their 50th-anniversary concert.

However, after three months of rehabilitation, doctors gave Durham the OK to perform.

"It's a very nasty thing to happen to anyone, but the lovely thing about it is I think it was her belief that she could always get back with us and finish that Australian tour," Guy said.

"It really kept her moving along in positive mode."

Durham said she hoped the award would encourage others.

"We were just four unknown, aspiring Australian musicians singing happy, uplifting, melodic and inspiring songs, and being true to ourselves," she said.

"We hope that this award might serve as encouragement to other Aussies to do the same.

"We are thrilled and delighted to accept such an honour."

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Clinton to decide 'when it feels right'

HILLARY Clinton says she will decide whether to run for president again "when it feels right for me to decide".

The former US secretary of state has told ABC News in an interview aired on Sunday potential Democratic rivals are free to choose what they would like to do.

Clinton said she was focused on promoting her new book and helping fellow Democrats in November's House of Representatives elections.

She said she will be "on the way to making a decision" on running for the White House by the end of 2014.

Asked whether she will testify before a select congressional committee investigating the deadly 2012 attacks on a US installation in Benghazi, Libya, Clinton said that would be up to the people running the hearing.

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Tertiary education more accessible: Ziggy

FORMER Telstra boss Ziggy Switkowski says tertiary education is now more accessible than ever before as he is honoured for his work in the sector.

Dr Switkowski, who is chancellor of RMIT University in Melbourne and chairman of NBN Co, has been recognised in the Queen's Birthday Honours as an officer in the Order of Australia for his service in tertiary and education administration, scientific organisations and the telecommunications sector, business and the arts.

He said universities and employers were now mindful they were addressing a generation that was well informed, ambitious and flexible with relatively short-term horizons.

"Tertiary education is more accessible now than ever before," Dr Switkowski said.

"That's a direction that all governments have encouraged.

"It's good for the nation. We build up our pool of trained and intellectually curious people and I think we are a better country and society for it."

Participation in the tertiary sector had grown, with more than one-third of year 12 students undertaking some form of higher education, he said.

Dr Switkowski said he had been fortunate to embark on a business career, which had included chairing the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

"That enabled me to engage in the debate around clean energy, climate change and be an advocate for nuclear power in Australia, which was a very worthwhile and stimulating period," he said.

Helping Opera Australia become resilient and engaging with students and academics as chancellor of RMIT in Melbourne had also been rewarding.

Meanwhile, Sydney businessman and environmental advocate Geoffrey Cousins and former Westpac chief executive and Santos director Frank Conroy have been appointed members of the Order of Australia.

Mr Cousins has been recognised for services to the community through the establishment of the Starlight Children's Foundation and to the visual and performing arts.

"The Starlight foundation has been a massive part of my life," he said.

"In the early days we had no money, no staff, no support."

Mr Cousins said he was pleased to see the organisation grow to have a national presence and grant more than 8000 wishes to extremely sick children.

"It's tremendously satisfying to see that happen," he said.

Mr Conroy has been recognised for his service to the finance and banking sector, to corporate administration as well as the arts, health and secondary education.

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Aerial reenactment caps D-Day celebrations

NEARLY a thousand paratroopers have dropped out of the sky in Normandy - but this time in peace, instead of wresting western France from the Nazis as they did in World War II.

Drawing huge crowds who braved hot weather and lined the historic landing area at La Fiere, the aerial spectacle re-enacted the drama of the Normandy landings on Sunday and served to cap commemorations marking the 70th anniversary of D-Day.

Among the planes ferrying paratroopers for the event was a restored C-47 US military transport plane that dropped Allied troops on the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise - a stone's throw from La Fiere - on June 6, 1944.

And the pilots who originally flew it took the controls again, 70 years later, remembering their experiences.

Sunday saw dozens of veterans escorted down a sandy path to a special section to watch the show alongside thousands of spectators - most of whom lined two sides of the field. Others took shelter in the shade as the lack of wind caused the sun to beat down hard.

Planes including the C-47 aircraft flew by loudly overhead several times, with two dozen military paratroopers - from countries including the US, Britain, France and Germany - jumping with each passage.

They were scenes reminiscent of the pivotal event, when around 15,000 Allied paratroopers were dropped in and around the village of Sainte-Mere-Eglise on D-Day. It became the first to be liberated by the Allies and remains one of the enduring symbols of the Normandy invasion.

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