Rolf Harris stripped of Australia honours

Officer and Member of the Order of Australia honours removed from 84-year-old

Rolf Harris was convicted last year of indecent assaults, including one on an eight-year-old autograph hunter. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire
Rolf Harris was convicted last year of indecent assaults, including one on an eight-year-old autograph hunter. Photograph: Dominic Lipinski/PA Wire

Disgraced former children's entertainer Rolf Harris has been stripped of honours in his native Australia.

Harris was convicted last year of indecent assaults, including one on an eight-year-old autograph hunter.

The 84-year-old artist and musician has now had his Officer and Member of the Order of Australia honours removed.

A statement from the secretary of the order of Australia read: “It is notified for general information that the Governor-General has terminated the appointments of Officer and Member of the Order of Australia in the General Division, made to: Mr Rolf Harris.”

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Calls have been made for Harris to be stripped of his CBE in Britain.

Normal protocol sees honours from Buckingham Palace forfeited in circumstances where the person is considered to have brought the system into disrepute.

A recommendation can be made by the Honours and Appointments Secretariat to the forfeiture committee to revoke an honour if a person has been found guilty of a criminal offence.

The decision to revoke an honour must be approved by the Queen.

During sentencing last year, Mr Justice Sweeney told Harris: “Your reputation lies in ruins. You have been stripped of your honours and you have no one to blame but yourself.”

Harris’s Bafta fellowship was removed almost immediately after his conviction.