Australia Day award for Father Bob Maguire Foundation CEO

CEO of the Father Bob Maguire Foundation Paul Brophy has been awarded in the 2024 Australia Day honours.

While humbled to receive a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), Mr Brophy wasted no time in emphasising that his mission remained unchanged and there was still much work to be done.

“There’s a job to do … you’ve got to make people feel they’ve got a life worth living,” he said, noting the collective effort of their volunteers helped make a difference to people’s lives. “Our team is the community, that’s what it’s about for me,” he said.

The OAM recognised Mr Brophy’s “service to aged welfare, and to the community”.

Mr Brophy has been the CEO of the Father Bob Maguire Foundation since 2018, a not-for-profit organisation that is dedicated to helping the disadvantaged through food relief, social inclusion, and advocacy programs located in the Montague Precinct at 204 Gladstone St, South Melbourne.

He continues to honour the legacy of the late Father Bob Maguire, a well-known and respected Catholic priest, who founded the foundation in 2003.   

Father Bob, who died aged 88 last April, was known for his wicked sense of humour and tireless efforts in leaving “no one behind” and was posthumously made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) for his distinguished service to the community in the 2024 Australia Day honours.

“Everybody got the same treatment, there was nobody better than another,” Mr Brophy said. •