NT Will MacGregor
Thirty years ago Will MacGregor had three choices: death, prison or a mental institution. Years of drug and alcohol abuse had left him in a constant state of anxiety and insecurity.
Today, the youth worker and Northern Territory Australian of the Year nominee runs a 20-bed facility supporting young people battling through the same struggles that he came to know as a young person himself. It was after tackling his addictions that Mr MacGregor (pictured) began a dialogue with Aboriginal elders and community leaders from across the Territory.
His idea? To take young people into the bush for days at a time, help them dry out, detox and rebuild their lives. And so Bush Mob was created. With the option to remain in the program for up to two months, young people head "out bush" in central Australia, participating in horse riding, swimming and counselling, while tackling addiction, violence and suicide. "Here, kids are surrounded by strong people, responsible adults, who may be the first they have ever met because all the others in their life tried to bash them, rape them," Mr MacGregor said. 
"We're creating the space for them to think about what their choices are, because at the end of the day, these guys have to make their own choices."
"We need to acknowledge the fact young people are having a hard time in our country. My kids, the future for them is living today, survival."
ACT David Morrison
Battler for gender equality
Even a few years ago, it would have been inconceivable that the head of the Australian army, traditionally one of the most male-dominated institutions in the country, would have emerged as a leading voice in the battle for women's equality and staunch campaigner against domestic violence.
But a fierce determination to change military culture in the wake of a string of internal sex scandals shot then Lieutenant-General David Morrison to national prominence in mid 2013, when he took to social media to address those in his ranks who had not got the message.
His stern warning via You Tube that there would be no safe haven inside Defence for those who demeaned, preyed on, or otherwise discriminated against women went viral, reverberating throughout the country, and the world.
Change or "get out", he warned. "If you're not up to it, find something else to do with your life".
After a lifetime career as a soldier, he stepped down in   May last year and became the Diversity Council Australia chairman. He is also on the board of Our Watch, a White Ribbon ambassador and part of the Male Champions for Change.
In   November, the 59-year-old was named ACT Australian of the Year for leadership on gender equality and diversity, and says his mission is to "make sure that everybody, irrespective of their gender or their race or the god they believe in, has the chance to reach their potential."
TAS Jane Hutchinson
Holding nature very dear
For more than a decade, Jane Hutchinson has been deeply involved in one of the country's great environmental success stories that has delivered an enormous boost to Tasmania's precious wilderness, an area that is otherwise so often ensnared in bitter political battles. The avid conservationist heads the Tasmanian Land Conservancy (TLC), an organisation that protects 65,000 hectares of habitat for threatened wildlife species
"It is very pragmatic" Ms Hutchinson says of the organisation. "Sciences underpins all the work that we do, and we use business principles."
The TLC was started in 2001 when three "blokes" (as Ms Hutchinson calls them) met in a Hobart cafe to start a conservation-focused organisation for the state, each chipping in $50 to get it off the ground. Ms Hutchinson was drawn in almost immediately, with the founders needing somebody to prepare legal documents. From there she served on the board, then later joined the staff. She was named chief executive in 2011 and has overseen the addition of 15,000 hectares of land to the organisation's reserve estate and helping turn the TLC into a $30 million organisation.
"It makes me incredibly proud as an Australian that we hold nature conservation very dear and that somebody who really represents an organisation and an idea has been nominated to be Australian of the Year."