Magda Szubanski somewhat bizarrely felt both guilty and sad when she learned she was to become an Officer of the Order of Australia.
The veteran comic - who jokes people will have to now address her as "Your Magdesty" - says she felt a bit guilty because the honour acknowledges her work campaigning for marriage equality as well as her long entertainment career.
Szubanski, who came out publicly in 2012, was a prominent advocate for the Yes campaign during 2017's postal vote on gay marriage.
She likens her efforts to America intervening late in the two world wars and "taking all the credit".
The Melbourne-raised Sydney woman - best known for roles in Babe and Kath & Kim - is nevertheless immensely proud.
"This is the peak of awards, the accumulation of everything I've done," Szubanski told reporters.
"My first thought was, 'God, I wish my parents were here.' Sadly, they're not."
Her father, former Polish resistance fighter and chemist Zbigniew "Peter" Szubanski, passed away in the mid-2000s while Szubanski's Scottish-born mother, Margaret, died in late 2017.
The 57-year-old says the honour would have meant so much to her migrant parents who brought their three kids from England in the 1960s to settle in Melbourne's east.
Szubanski, whose memoir took out the Australian Book Industry's top book award in 2016, says the country's "live and let live" attitude was why her parents chose Australia and why the Yes vote succeeded.
"That is why I feel very proud to have come to this country and to be honoured in this way."
Former journalist and Australian newspaper editor-in-chief Chris Mitchell and food waste fighter Ronni Kahn have also been appointed Officer of the Order of Australia.
Bondi-based Kahn, whose social enterprise OzHarvest has saved the equivalent of 100 million meals from landfill since in 2004, says the honour is "incredibly awesome".
The movement is now established in New Zealand, the United Kingdom and her birthplace of South Africa. It may soon expand further in Asia.
"(The honour) is very precious," she told AAP.
"There is no doubt that before I started rescuing food, no one touched perishable or fresh daily food."
OzHarvest's purpose was to nourish the country, she said.
"Knowing that I am doing that every single day is my way of giving back."
Pop group Human Nature and late Home and Away actor Cornelia Frances were among other NSW recipients recognised in the Australia Day honours list.
