Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons AO has been awarded with a well-deserved Order of Australia in the 2022 Australia Day Honours List.
He was honoured as an Officer of the Order of Australia by Governor-General David Hurley for “distinguished service to the community through leadership roles within fire and emergency response organisations”.
Previously Commissioner of the NSW Rural Fire Service, Shane was a former Bushfire CRC Director and prominent end-user in Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC research projects. He took on the role of Commissioner of the newly created disaster management and recovery agency, Resilience NSW, in April 2020 where he has continued to lead and advocate for emergency services.
He was especially instrumental in leading an effective state-wide emergency response in his role at NSW Rural Fire Service during the devastating 2019/20 bushfires in NSW, where he worked with government departments, emergency service agencies, community organisations and thousands of firefighters across the state, as well as conducting daily public press conferences.
Also honoured in the awards was Dr Alan Finkel, former Chief Scientist of Australia, who delivered the CRC’s annual Laurie Hammond Oration in 2020, a public talk during National Science Week.
You can read more about the awards and see the full list, including Australian Fire Service Medals and Emergency Service Medals, on the Governor-General’s website.