A leading campaigner against domestic violence who called on Andrew O’Keefe to return his Order of has welcomed the disgraced game show host’s decision to hand back the honour.
O’Keefe was convicted in January last year of assaulting a woman he called a ‘lying dog’ and a ‘c***’ during an attack described by a magistrate as ‘degrading’.
The former Deal or No Deal and The Chase presenter then pleaded guilty in October to trespassing, possessing meth, and breaching a restraining order.
O’Keefe was a founding ambassador and chairman of White Ribbon , an organisation dedicated to the prevention of violence against women.
He was named in the 2017 Day honours list as a Member of the Order of (AM). The only higher accolades in the system are Officer (AO) or Companion (AC) of the Order.
Onetime federal MP and n Rules great Phil Cleary has campaigned to stop male violence against women since his sister Vicki was murdered in 1987 by an ex-partner.
Mr Cleary got to know O’Keefe through White Ribbon and in January, he told Daily Mail the fallen Weekend Sunrise presenter should return his AM if he wanted to show remorse.
‘I think if he wanted to reclaim his standing, he probably should resign the position and then try to regain our trust,’ Mr Cleary said.
‘If I was speaking to Andrew, I would be saying the first thing you should be doing is coming out and apologising for what you’ve done.
‘I believe in compassion and redemption but Andrew is in a position at the moment where he has damaged the campaign and he needs to apologise.’
The Secretary of the Order of has now announced on the Federal Register of Legislation that O’Keefe has acted in line with Mr Cleary’s advice.
A notice states the Governor-General, Sam Mostyn, has accepted O’Keefe’s resignation as a Member of the Order of with effect from June 4.
Mr Cleary welcomed O’Keefe’s decision to return his AM and described the move as ‘significant’.
‘It’s important that he has done this,’ he told Daily Mail .
‘There are men everywhere who refuse to apologise and are feted by the “boys’ club” in the face of allegations or convictions for violence against women.
‘By handing back his AM, O’Keefe has set a standard for other men convicted of acts of violence or coercive behaviour towards a woman.
‘I’m glad that he has done this.’
The Council of the Order of previously confirmed it had received complaints from members of the public about O’Keefe holding the honour.
‘Issues have been raised over Mr O’Keefe’s AM, therefore, in line with the process, they are under consideration,’ a council spokesman said in October.
O’Keefe’s AM was in recognition of ‘significant service to the broadcast media as a television presenter, and to social welfare and charitable organisations’.
He has had no association with White Ribbon since 2019.
The 53-year-old, who has a long history of substance abuse, last faced court in February, after being warned by a magistrate another criminal conviction would result in him going to jail.
He had flown back to after a stint in drug rehab overseas to plead guilty to having driven with meth in his system more than six months earlier.
Waverley Local Court heard O’Keefe had been the subject of a conditional release order for a previous drug-driving offence when he was arrested again on July 28, 2024.
He was pulled over for random testing on Cranbrook Road in Rose Bay about 11.30am that day and recorded a positive result but was not charged until late November.
The gap in time between the offence happening and O’Keefe being charged was because of delays in the crime lab.
On February 7, O’Keefe was convicted and fined $440 for drug-driving and disqualified from getting behind the wheel for six months.
Shortly before being pulled over on July 28, O’Keefe had confronted a man at a Point Piper property he was banned from attending.
He was released on bail but arrested again at Rose Bay police station in September when police found crystal methamphetamine in his car during a search.
Two days earlier O’Keefe had overdosed on heroin at a party and needed to be revived by paramedics.
In October, Waverley Local Court magistrate Jacqueline Milledge sentenced O’Keefe to a 30-month community corrections order for breaching an apprehended violence order.
He was also fined $1,000 for possessing a prohibited drug and $500 for trespassing, as well as being made the subject of a two-year AVO to protect a person who cannot be identified.
Ms Milledge told O’Keefe he was facing time behind bars if he reoffended.
‘I know domestic violence is a factor in your offending and that is awful, truly awful,’ she said.
‘You got into the grip of something awful and the wheels fell off.’
At the time, O’Keefe’s lawyer told Ms Milledge: ‘This, Your Honour, is what we say is the final crossroads.’
O’Keefe was found guilty in January last year of domestic violence offences over the September 2021 attack on a woman he had called a ‘lying dog’ and a ‘c***’.
He was convicted in Downing Centre Local Court of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault, contravening an AVO, and possessing prohibited drugs.
Magistrate Alison Viney described O’Keefe kicking, spitting, scratching and otherwise assaulting the woman, who cannot be named, as a ‘violent and degrading’ assault.
O’Keefe was ordered to serve 18 months on a community corrections order and fined $800 for the drug offences, which related to cannabis and the synthetic stimulant mephedrone.
The drug convictions were later quashed but O’Keefe lost an appeal against the assault convictions in September.
O’Keefe faced six charges after he allegedly punched, kicked and choked another woman in January 2022, but by the time the matter was heard the alleged victim had left the country.
Having pleaded not guilty – claiming he acted in self-defence – charges of assault occasioning actual bodily harm, common assault and choking were withdrawn in February 2023 at Downing Centre Local Court.
O’Keefe previously avoided convictions for assault and assault occasioning actual bodily harm in June 2021 when those charges were dealt with under mental health provisions of the law.
Magistrate Ross Hudson heard O’Keefe suffered from bipolar disorder and was in a ‘hypomanic’ state when he spat at, slapped and kicked a woman in January 2021.
There are precedents for Order of recipients returning an honour voluntarily if they feel they no longer deserved the award.
Former High Court judge Dyson Heydon handed over his AC in 2022 following a 2020 inquiry which found he had sexually harassed junior staff members.
TV presenter and businessman Steve Vizard gave back his AM in 2008 after being fined $390,000 and banned from being a company director for insider trading.
‘I did it because it is the right thing to do,’ Vizard said at the time.