Former deputy PM John Anderson honoured

John Anderson has been through some hard times, but a certain week in September 2001 was the toughest.

The former deputy prime minister, who on Monday was appointed an Officer in the Order of Australia (AO), was acting leader while John Howard was on a visit to Washington DC.

"I was acting prime minister when the planes went into the Twin Towers," Mr Anderson told AAP.

"It was the same week that Ansett (Airlines) went into voluntary administration.

That was the toughest week for me personally." The University of Sydney arts graduate, who hails from rural northern NSW, lost his mother and sister at an early age.

In 1989 he won a by-election for the seat of Gwydir and went on to serve in parliament until 2007, including six years as deputy prime minister.

Mr Anderson rates being part of the Howard team that tackled economic reforms - such as the GST, workplace relations and overhauling dozens of industry boards - as his major achievement.

He now spends most of his time on his grazing and cropping property, which has been in family hands for the best part of a century. He says the average farmer is now better off for the reforms of the past two decades, noting that when he entered parliament some were paying 22 per cent interest rates.

However, he said changes to the way the government manages water, particularly along the Murray-Darling system, had undermined the basic principles of proper dialogue with users and adequate compensation.

Mr Anderson's award acknowledges his "distinguished service to the parliament of Australia, particularly through support of rural and regional communities, transport development, and water management initiatives".

But he humbly dedicates it more broadly to his family and those who worked with him.

"I share this with Julia my wife because she kept the homefires burning - we did it as a team," he says, adding that he also owed much to his four children, Jessica, Nicholas, Georgie and Laura.