Controversial bioethicist tops Queen's honours

Updated June 11, 2012 20:40:58

A Melbourne-based academic once likened to Hitler's deputy and described as "the most dangerous man on earth" is one of eight Australians to be awarded the top Queen's Birthday accolade.

As a philosopher and bioethicist, Professor Peter Singer, 66, is no stranger to controversy.

Today, he has been recognised for his varied contributions with a Companion in the Order of Australia (AC) for his communication of ideas regarding animal welfare, global poverty and the human condition.

The other Australians awarded the AC today are:

• former Victorian premier Joan Kirner
• former Queensland premier Peter Beattie
• former foreign affairs minister Gareth Evans
• medical researcher Ian Frazer
• former federal frontbencher Robert Hill
• biologist Stephen Hopper
• Western Australian Chief Justice Wayne Martin

In 1975, Professor Singer made headlines around the world with his book Animal Liberation, focusing on the animal rights movement. He has also spoken about abortion, euthanasia and the human condition - becoming the subject of heated debates and even death threats.

Disability activist Diane Coleman once described him as a "public advocate of genocide" and "the most dangerous man on earth today".

In 1989, while on a trip to Germany for a conference, he was compared to a member of the Third Reich for his views on disabled children and infanticide.

But he has also been referred to as the most influential philosopher alive today.

In 2006, in an interview on ABC TV, he explained his views on the exploitation of animals and the quest to live true to his own ethics.

Professor Singer says he is delighted to be recognised on the Queen's Birthday honours list and embraces the controversy his views generate.

He says it has been the philosopher's role since Socrates to force people to challenge their own assumptions that they have taken for granted.

"There will be people in the community who are opposed to [my ideas], but I think that what this shows is that you don't just have to be a conformist in order to get honoured," he said.

"You can dissent, and we respect that, we recognise diversity of opinion and even honour it."

Professor Singer is currently writing a book about the foundations of ethics, and the problems associated with trying to reason with ethics at all.

But he says today he is most interested in the issues of human suffering, as well as climate change, despite "nobody doing enough about it".

"That's a huge moral issue that I plan to go back to," he said.

"And I want to look at questions about how can we essentially reduce suffering in the world. It seems to me to be one of the key questions - how can we reduce suffering and make both people and animals better off?"

He says he will be celebrating the honour with his wife and family in Melbourne.