Hi everyone

The media coverage has quickly moved on over Cardinal George Pell but I (and many others) haven't.  

The Prime Minister has swatted off our concerns about Pell and his Australian Honours and stated that he won't consider backing our call until Pell has exhausted all his appeals.

This stance is not acceptable. For one, it is an incorrect reading of the law: Honours can be stripped by the Governor-General on conviction. Full stop. There is no mention of having to wait for all appeals to be exhausted.  And there is precedent for that to occur even when the person in question is appealing their conviction. Also, the Order themselves can strip him of his Honours simply based on the disrepute he has brought onto the Order.

I have passed on our petition directly to the Order of Australia.  They have acknowledged receipt of the petition but have only recited the law back to me and have provided no indication of when they will consider this issue.

They also indicated that Pell's Centenary Medal is a one-of-kind award that (oddly) doesn't come under their purview and we'd need to instead contact the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (which would likely be a waste of time given our PM's statements on the matter already).

If you would like to contact the Order to express your thoughts about Pell's Companion of the Order of Australia medals you can contact them via email at  honours@gg.gov.au. 

Thanks again for all your support so far.