{"id":547789,"date":"2026-03-18T06:12:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547789\/"},"modified":"2026-03-18T06:12:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T06:12:15","slug":"cody-schaeffer-writes-to-governor-general-to-have-order-of-australia-revoked-after-guilty-plea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/547789\/","title":{"rendered":"Cody Schaeffer writes to Governor-General to have Order of Australia revoked after guilty plea"},"content":{"rendered":"

A youth advocate has handed back his Order of Australia Medal honour after he pleaded guilty to assaulting several hogtied teenagers he met through the charity he founded.<\/p>\n

Cody Schaeffer, 32, assaulted five teenage boys, aged 14 to 17, at his home in Alexandra Hills between 2021 and 2023.<\/p>\n

In Brisbane Magistrates Court last week, he was sentenced<\/a> to 9 months in jail, wholly suspended for 18 months.<\/p>\n

The court heard Schaeffer paid each boy to be “hogtied” and “have their feet slapped with coat hangers”.<\/p>\n

Prosecutor Kacie Atkinson said the victims initially agreed, but when they asked Schaeffer to stop, he did not.<\/p>\n

“Some victims had duct tape placed over their eyes and mouth, which was not consented to,” she said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cody Schaeffer founded the charity Borderline Australia.\u00a0 (Supplied: Cody Schaeffer)<\/p>\n

Ms Atkinson said Schaeffer had targeted vulnerable youths he met through his charity work.<\/p>\n

“He was in a position of power and trust over these children,” she said.<\/p>\n

Schaeffer founded a youth charity in 2019 called Borderline Australia, which ran camps for young people to talk about mental health.<\/p>\n

In 2023, he was the youngest Australian to be awarded an Order of Australia Medal for service to youth and the community of Queensland.<\/p>\n

Schaeffer told the ABC he emailed the Governor-General’s office on March 14 to “voluntarily revoke” his OAM.<\/p>\n

“I am grateful for receiving that honour after years of community work from when I was 15 years old, but I agree that we should uphold the honours system and anyone who is charged and found guilty of any crime small or large shouldn’t have this honour,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cody Haywood Schaeffer says he has written to the Governor-General to “voluntarily revoke” his Order of Australia Medal. (Supplied: Instagram)<\/p>\n

The Governor-General can revoke Order of Australia awards and appointments if a conviction or crime has been recorded against the recipient.<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for the Council of the Order of Australia told the ABC the council “does not comment on its deliberations or individual recipients of an award”.<\/p>\n

But a webpage previously referencing Schaeffer’s OAM honour has been deleted.<\/p>\n

A petition calling for Schaeffer’s OAM to be stripped had racked up 7,000 signatures by Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n

Former youth advocated sentenced for assaulting teens<\/a><\/p>\n

The court heard Cody Schaeffer, who founded Borderline Australia, paid each boy to be “hogtied” and “have their feet slapped with coat hangers”.<\/p>\n

A former camp attendee and volunteer, Abby, said she hoped the victims felt supported by the wider community.<\/p>\n

“[Cody] received [his OAM] for his service to youth and the community but it was that very service that allowed him to identify and hurt people,” she said.<\/p>\n

Abby said when she attended the camp, she was looking for a “safe place” where she could be herself and “feel accepted.”<\/p>\n

“To think that Cody created a place that felt just like that and went on to assault children he met at camps is a level of betrayal that is hard to even begin to describe.”<\/p>\n

Another person, who also attended one of the camps, said he was “relieved” that Schaeffer had withdrawn his OAM.<\/p>\n

“I think it’s the right thing he’s done. He didn’t deserve it,” they said.<\/p>\n

“Cody referred to himself as a big brother, told you he was there if you ever needed it.”<\/p>\n

Neither of the camp attendees were complainants in the court case against Schaeffer.<\/p>\n

In response to their comments, Schaeffer said he “understood” how those who knew him felt.<\/p>\n

“I understand the emotions surrounding this news, and I do not shy away from them,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It is heartbreaking to know that the dedication of our volunteers has been undermined by my past mistakes, but I take full responsibility for that reality.<\/p>\n

“In the face of public outcry and conflicting narratives, I am choosing to stand in the truth.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I was immature, and I didn’t provide the protection that young people in my life deserved \u2014 some who I’ve known since I was 15 myself.<\/p>\n

“Accountability matters for everyone, regardless of the scale. I am sitting with my mistakes, learning from them, and committing to a path of radical change.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“I am remorseful for the past and entirely open to the person I must become.”<\/p>\n

A Queensland government spokesperson told the ABC earlier this week that while “the decision rests with the Governor-General, he should absolutely be stripped of the OAM.”<\/p>\n

“Queenslanders condemn these vile acts because they are not befitting of anyone in our community, and our thoughts are with his victims and their families.”<\/p>\n

Accolades highlighted during sentencing<\/p>\n

Borderline Australia’s charity registration has been revoked, and its Instagram page was also deleted after the ABC revealed last year<\/a> that Mr Schaeffer was charged with assault.<\/p>\n

A year before being awarded the OAM, Schaffer was a finalist for Queensland Young Australian of the Year and was named Brisbane’s 2020 Young Citizen of the Year.<\/p>\n

During his sentence, his lawyer Danielle Egan highlighted his multiple awards, including the OAM.<\/p>\n

She also told the court the allegations against him became public in his inner circle in the years before his arrest and he had attempted to self-harm.<\/p>\n

Magistrate Zachary Sarra said those submissions “seems like a contradiction”.<\/p>\n

“In one breath \u2026 his life’s not worth living and on the other breath there are all these wonderful accolades.”<\/p>\n

Magistrate Sarra questioned why he did not own up to the offending and decline the accolades.<\/p>\n

“If people are remorseful for their actions and if they are having some sort of conscience dilemma, sometimes people they confess,” he said.<\/p>\n

“[They say] You know I did the wrong thing, I’ve taken advantage of my position, I’m not worthy of these awards because I violated those children,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But that’s a dirty secret I’m not going to tell anyone because I’m here to receive these awards.”<\/p>\n

“Therein lies the contradiction.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A youth advocate has handed back his Order of Australia Medal honour after he pleaded guilty to assaulting…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":547790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[6017,24278,64,63,271073,36619,271072,24346,44,67532,162587,271074],"class_list":["post-547789","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-advocacy","tag-assault","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-borderline-australia","tag-brisbane-magistrates-court","tag-cody-schaeffer","tag-governor-general","tag-news","tag-oam","tag-order-of-australia-medal","tag-youth-advocate"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=547789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/547789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/547790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=547789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=547789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=547789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}