Remarks, Australian of the Year Morning Tea
26 January 2019
Canberra, ACT
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you very much and good morning everyone. Can I start by acknowledging the traditional owners, the Ngunnawal People here in Canberra, and their elders past, present and of course to acknowledge those in the future, who carry forward Australia’s oldest and indeed the world’s oldest living culture. This is a very important time to be acknowledging that.
Can I acknowledge my colleague who is also here, Steve Irons the Assistant Minister and can I particularly acknowledge Jen and the girls, who are very happy to be here hosting you all today for this very special gathering. To Danni Roche and all of her fellow board members and can I thank you in particular Danni on behalf, I think, of all of those who are participating here today, for the great work that you’ve done in bringing this all together. It’s such a big job to work through the incredible contributions that you have all made and it’s a great privilege for Jenny and I to host you here and welcome you here and most importantly, to hear all of your stories.
Doing this job is a wonderful privilege and you wake up each day in awe of the privilege you’ve been given and of course, the responsibility that you have. But today is a very special day, because today and tomorrow we remind ourselves of our shared history as Australians and we re-dedicate ourselves to Australia’s future. Our Australians of the Year, our Local Heroes, our Young Australians and Senior Australians of the Year, are a reflection of the very best of Australia. The very best of our stories. The very best of our contributions.
I was raised to understand that life wasn’t about what you accumulate, it’s about what you contribute – and everyone here is I think a model of that way of life and that way of thinking. You’re all incredible contributors to making Australia the strong nation it is today and even stronger into the future.
You’re very different. It’s a very eclectic bunch and you all got to know each other last night, I understand, on multiple occasions as the fire alarms went off at the hotel.
[Laughter]
You could all get together, so you’ve had some real togetherness time and I’m sure you enjoyed that on top of the additional chances you’ve had to meet in recent times. Paralympians are here, police officers are here, researchers, rescuers, mathematicians, mavericks, veterans, volunteers, footballers and fundraisers. You’re all here and you’re all Australians first and foremost.
In other ways you aren’t that different. As I’ve just mentioned, you’ve all grasped a very important truth; that a truly successful life is always one that embodies service to others. You love our country, as we all do. You love it so much that you’ve done exactly what you’ve done to bring you here today.
The story of Australia Day is the story of a country that is always trying to do better, that understands its past, it understands its failures and it understands how it has achieved its successes. No country is perfect. We’re not, but we have a lot to celebrate and we’re celebrating that in all of you and your contributions today. Our national story is one of good-hearted people making the best possible choices that we can, always striving to be better. You embody that. You’ve had a go. You’ve taken risks, you’ve suffered great setbacks. You’ve dealt with very difficult challenges in your lives, many of you and the most tragic and saddening of circumstances. But you’ve all gotten up, you’ve all risen up, you’ve all faced those challenges. Success in life is never linear, it’s always a result of struggle. It’s the resilience that comes from that struggle and learning from those failures and successes, that have brought you here today. In that, you are exemplars, demonstrating the power of a life dedicated to something bigger than each and every one of us individually.
I am very grateful for that spirit of generosity that you have demonstrated in each of your lives and I particularly want to thank the support people here today; wives, husbands, mums, kids, grandmas, whoever is here I want to thank you for the support that you’ve given those award recipients here today. They know better than anyone that those who are being honoured here today could not be standing here without your love and support and sharing their passion.
In politics it’s often said that we are the volunteers and our family are the conscripts. I’m sure that’s often the case in your service. But in your case also, you know that love and support and I’m pleased that you can come and share this with your family and your friends today.
So thank you for turning your own mistakes and your own misfortunes and struggles, turning that into making Australia stronger and better. So I honour you all. I particularly want to welcome today those who have been serving in these roles for the past year. I want to start by acknowledging Professor Michelle Simmons who is here with us today. I’ve had the opportunity to meet her on numerous occasions both in my former role as Treasurer and now as Prime Minister. Michelle’s work in quantum computing is opening new worlds. Not just for Australia, but the world and where we go as a world and our opportunities into the future. It’s incredibly exciting stuff. I don’t understand it.
[Laughter]
I’ve tried, I’ve got a pretty good idea of what it’s trying to achieve, which is the important thing. But so long as you do, I know we’ll get there.
[Laughter]
This time last year she was whispering to herself; “What on earth am I doing here?”I see a few nods of understanding today. She didn’t see then what we see; leadership, brilliance and above all, service. She’s got a pretty good sense of humour too. Service to science, to advancing our human cause and our nation. This past year, she has travelled right across our country, speaking to schoolkids about the wonders of science and seeing them just light up before her, as she opens their worlds to new possibilities.
She wasn’t the only scientist that we acknowledged last year, our 2018 Senior Australian of the year Dr. Graham Farquhar is also here. Graham, I want to thank you also for the great job you’ve done and your life of service, again. Graham, as you know, is a biophysicist who is helping reshape our understanding of photosynthesis.
I also want to acknowledge our young Australian of the Year Samantha Kerr, one of Australia’s great women’s soccer players. It’s so good isn’t it Samantha, to see the rise of women’s sport in this country? We’ve got our first women’s AFL umpire here today who has been recognised and when we were down there last Sunday with Jen and the girls, seeing Ash Barty play her way into the quarter final, it was not surprising that when we met Ash’s mum and dad, and groundedness she had, this is what is seeing, I think, the great success of Australian women’s sport. We want to see that go forward, so thank you Samantha for your year of service.
And of course, Local Hero and mathematician, teacher – sometime tutor to myself at various functions - Eddie Woo. Thank you Eddie again. Like most dads, it takes a lot for me to impress my kids. But when I told them I was meeting Eddie – and other kids around the country - they thought that was not bad.
[Laughter]
It was great to join you on Instagram and Facebook, social media and all of those things and hopefully I pass the test mate. What you’ve been able to do to enliven young minds to the wonder of mathematics and learning and to do it in such an exciting and accessible way, that’s what we need. It just shows that it is teachers that make the difference, because they’re people and they relate and they connect and you do that so well Eddie. I know you’ll keep doing it as you move on from this wonderful recognition that you’ve had.
So to our winners in past years and to our nominees this year, I want to thank you for everything you do for your country. I want to thank you, that you’ve done it for Australia and that we’ve joined today, Australians all, to celebrate the achievements of a nation, but in particular the contribution of you who are with us today.
So all the best for tonight’s announcements. It may surprise some outside of this place – you all know – but these awards are determined by the Australia Day Council, by Danni and her team. They don’t bring in a list and put it on my desk and say: “Prime Minister can you pick one please?” That’d be fun and I’d have a view I suspect, but that’s not how it works. This is an independent process, this is about Australians recognising Australians and to ensure we recongise the best in Australians.
I know you won’t consider yourselves as ‘winners’, because that’s not how you see your contribution. You just see it as service and that is a truly tremendous thing. I think that’s what we celebrate above all. So thank you all for being here today, it’s great to host you and it will be good to get around and have a chat to you.
I thank you again, for your wonderful efforts to make Australia even stronger.
Thank you.
