Mr Beazley is one of only three people to receive the nation's highest civic honour this Australia Day, with the Aboriginal rights activist Faith Bandler and the philanthropist and champion of the visual arts, Marilyn Darling.

Mr Beazley's honour was awarded "for service to the Parliament of Australia through contributions to the development of government policies in relation to defence and international relations, as an advocate for indigenous people, and to the community".

"It's a heck of an honour and I'm really flattered," Mr Beazley said. "I consider myself pretty lucky receiving the award for a career I absolutely enjoyed."

His old foe, the former prime minister John Howard, received the same honour last year.

Mr Beazley, known colloquially in political circles as "the bomber" because of his time as defence minister, led Labor through two of its most difficult periods in modern times, in each case quickly restoring its cohesiveness and political competitiveness.

The affable West Australian and son of the Whitlam government minister Kim Beazley, he entered politics in 1980 and was in the ministry for the 13-year joint tenure of the Hawke and Keating governments.

In 1996 he inherited the leadership of a Labor Party shattered by its electoral drubbing by Mr Howard. In 1998 he almost won power back by winning the popular vote, but Labor did not take the number of required seats.

Mr Beazley stepped down as leader after losing the 2001 election which was dominated by the September 11 terrorism attacks and asylum seekers.

He returned to the helm during the particularly dark days of early 2005 after Mark Latham's leadership imploded. Within 18 months Labor was ahead in the polls, but Mr Beazley was never to lead the party to another election. He was defeated by Kevin Rudd in a leadership ballot on December 4, 2006, and retired at the 2007 election.

Mr Beazley retains a busy schedule. He works as a consultant and was recently appointed chancellor of the Australian National University in Canberra. He still spends about two out of every three weeks in the national capital. He is heavily involved with US-Australian dialogue and remains a contender to one day become ambassador to the United States.

Mr Beazley said although he enjoyed his new life, he still missed politics: "Nothing beats politics. Politics beats everything. However, what I'm doing is a good second."