2026 Australian of the Year awards: WA recipients include Dr Daniela Vecchio, Professor Kingley Dixon AO

The founder of Australia’s first gaming disorder clinic and an internationally renowned botanist have been recognised at the State’s 2026 Australian of the Year awards. Digital addiction and gaming disorder specialist Dr Daniela Vecchio was announced as the 2026 Australian of the Year for Western Australian on Thursday night at an awards ceremony held at Government House. Dr Vecchio is the head of mental health and addiction services at Fiona Stanley Hospital and developed the first-ever publicly funded gaming disorder clinic in 2022. Her selfless work has seen more than 300 patients engage with a range of personalised treatment as society grapples with the emergence of digital technologies and resultant addiction. Dr Vecchio, 57, is also the director of the Australian gaming and Screens Alliance, helping educate and conduct research about harmful online use of gaming. Accepting the award, Dr Vecchio said she was “thankful for the recognition” of her clinic’s work. “I’m hopeful that we can continue to grow, to develop, to help our children who are in need, to help our community,” she said. “I would call these children almost the ‘invisible children’, because they are isolated in their room, they don’t participate anymore in activities. “We really needed to understand the extent of the problem, these invisible children, who do not attend school . . . there are some studies over east which indicate that 2.8 per cent of teenagers aged 12 to 17 have a gaming disorder, and more than 10 per cent are at risk.” Professor Kingley Dixon AO was also recognised, claiming the 2026 Senior Australian of the Year for WA. The 71-year-old is internationally renowned for his 1992 discovery that it was smoke from bushfires — and not heat as previously thought — that caused Australian plant species to germinate. In 2023 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia in the general division, recognised for his work in conservation biology, ecological research and tertiary education. Professor Dixon spent 32 years as the foundation director of science at Kings Park and Botanic Garden, the driving force behind a research unit which put the botanic garden on the world stage. Professor Dixon said his love for botany developed when he was young. “As a West Aussie kid, growing up in the bush, living in my parents handmade cement house, I watched the bush, I loved the bush, I watched Carnaby’s (black cockatoos) fly over, blackening the sky, and it was easy to fall in love with this extraordinary place we call Western Australia,” he said. Professor Dixon said everyone had a role to play in the future of the planet. “In this place we call home, is also the home to countless 1000s of other species, and their future sits in our hands and in the way we think and plan, and it’s up to all of us not to be bystanders in what’s coming, but to be participants in creating a better future for biodiversity for our planet, and for us to be beacons for the rest of the planet — I think we can do it, I know we can do it, and we must do it.” Positive masculinity educators Dr Haseeb Riaz and Gareth Shanthikumar were recognised as the 2026 Young Australians of the Year for WA after creating not-for-profit education service MAN UP — which empowers young men battling negative stereotypes. Dr Riaz, 25, and Mr Shanthikumar, 27, created the organisation after voicing concerns about negative views impacting young men — and the resultant need to strengthen their mental health. Mr Shanthikumar said using their own experiences was helping guide conversations with young people across WA. “Maybe initially we build some rapport, you know, kick the footy, have some fun, then all of a sudden we’re talking about our emotions, and they’re like, ‘wow, I’ve never seen someone who can do both’. “I think that’s really exciting,” he said. Dr Riaz said that in 45,000 sessions since their organisations was created, more than 22,000 boys across WA had been engaged by their education campaign. Frank Mitchell — an Indigenous construction leader — was named the 2026 Local Hero for Western Australia. The co-director of Wilco Electrical and director of Kardan, Baldja and Bilyaa in the industry, Mr Mitchell and his partners have created 70 Aboriginal upskilling positions. His advocacy and dedication has seen 30 electrical apprenticeships and more than $11m awarded to Aboriginal subcontractors. Mr Mitchell said there was “so many amazing stories” as a result of his business ventures, providing young people a pathway to success. “There’s just so many countless stories that I see every day at Kardan construction, at Wilco Electrical, in which people have grown from being a shy teenager to someone with confidence, someone that actually thinks I can be a project manager.” National Australia Day Council CEO Mark Fraser said all the recipients were deserving. “Daniela is at the leading edge of treating the quickly growing problem of digital addiction; Kingsley has made fundamental discoveries and continues to lead conservation practices; Haseeb and Gareth are positively impacting a generation of young men’s values and sense of self; and Frank is paying opportunities forward to create generational change,” he said. Thursday’s winners will go on to represent WA at the national ceremony in Canberra early next year.