Former Labor senator Graham Richardson says it’s not the first time he’s been nominated for the Order of Australia but he couldn’t be happier to accept it today.

Mr Richardson has been appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia for distinguished service to the people and parliament of Australia, to the media, and to philanthropy.

He told Ben Fordham he’s ‘very chuffed’.

“It’s very nice to get a bit of recognition like that

“I was nominated once before but I declined it because I thought it was a bit early.

“But I thought now, a reasonable time to say, ‘yeah I’ll take that with a smile.'”

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