Professor Tom Calma AO has been honoured as the 2023 Senior Australian of the Year.

The Kungarakan Elder has worked for almost five decades at local, state, national and international levels championing the rights, leadership and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The veteran human rights and social justice advocate had already been awarded the Australian Capital Territory's equivalent award for his service to the community.

Professor Calma's calls for Australia to address the stark life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples were a catalyst for the Close the Gap Campaign.

He was instrumental in establishing the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples; has led the Tackling Indigenous Smoking program; co-chaired Reconciliation Australia for over a decade; and co-led the co-design of a Voice to Parliament initiative.

Currently Chancellor of the University of Canberra, Professor Calma is also an active volunteer, consultant and the first Indigenous person inducted as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science.

The 69-year-old has long advocated education as the key to advancing the rights and quality of life of Indigenous peoples, and credits his father as the inspiration behind his life's work.

The Prime Minister, The Hon Anthony Albanese MP, announced the 2023 Australian of the Year, Senior Australian of the Year, Young Australian of the Year and Australia's Local Hero in a ceremony at the National Arboretum in Canberra on Wednesday evening.

The award recipients were presented with a glass trophy, a traditional Indigenous coolamon and clap sticks.

Chair of the National Australia Day Council, Danielle Roche OAM, congratulated the 2023 Australian of the Year Award recipients.

"The 2023 Australians of the Year are great examples of the Australian spirit. Their courage, determination and fearlessness are an inspiration to us all," said Ms Roche.

"(Professor Calma) has dedicated his life and career to being a champion of equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, lighting the path towards reconciliation," she said.

"These are an extraordinary group of Australians of whom we can all be incredibly proud."

The 2023 Australian of the Year is body image activist, director, writer and speaker, Taryn Brumfitt from South Australia.

The documentary director and author leads the Body Image Movement, an Adelaide-based organisation that teaches people to love and appreciate their bodies.

Ms Brumfitt's work has reached more than 200 million people. She is an internationally recognised keynote speaker whose work is recognised by UN Women.

The 2023 Young Australian of the Year is Australian Socceroo and co-founder of Barefoot to Boots, Awer Mabil, also of South Australia.

Mr Mabil was unable to attend the awards presentation in Canberra due to team commitments in Europe and his mother Agot Dau Atem and uncle Michael Matiop Dau Atem accepted the award on his behalf.

Mr Mabil is co-founder of the not-for-profit organisation Barefoot to Boots, which aims for better health, education, policies and gender equality for refugees.

He grew up in a Kenyan refugee camp after his family fled civil war in Sudan, before coming to Australia at 10. Only a year after reaching his dream to play for the Socceroos, his sister died in a car accident in 2019.

Mr Mabil says his experience of hard times, the memory of his sister, and the knowledge that young people see him as a role model drive him to do his best and to help others.

The 2023 Australia's Local Hero is the founder of Turbans 4 Australia, Amar Singh, from New South Wales.

In 2015 Mr Singh founded a charity after experiencing racial slurs and insults because of his Sikh turban and beard.

Every week, Turbans 4 Australia package and distribute up to 450 food and grocery hampers to people experiencing food insecurity in Western Sydney.

The group also raises awareness and funds for important causes while promoting multiculturalism and religious tolerance, and is best known for transporting emergency goods to those in need, including flood, bushfire and cyclone victims.