Just before David Morrison received the Australian of the Year award one year ago, the heavens opened.
The rain poured down and the former Army chief beamed when the Prime Minister handed him the award on the lawns of Parliament House.
General Morrison has endured a torrid 12 months since that evening.
The National Australia Day Council said General Morrison had been “recognised internationally for his commitment to gender equality, diversity and inclusion”.
He first shot to prominence with a 2013 speech he gave as Army chief, which was written by another finalist for Australian of the Year, Catherine McGregor – who then worked as his speech writer.
The speech was a strong rebuke to misogyny and sexist attitudes within the Army, and quickly gained prominence online.
“The standard you walk past is the standard you accept,” he declared.
But Ms McGregor criticised the selection of General Morrison in a newspaper not long after the ceremony, calling him a “weak and conventional” choice for the award.
The former Army Lieutenant Colonel told the gay and lesbian publication the Star Observer, that she felt “really sad” the Australia Day council “did not have the courage to go with an LGBTI person”.
She swiftly apologised, but the new Australian of the Year was embroiled in more controversy within days.