Remarks, National Federal Reform Council
11 December 2020
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Your Excellency, and thank you for joining us here today and receiving myself and Premiers and Chief Ministers last night at Yarralumla.
Your presence here today I think says a lot about the efforts that we are engaged in here as a Commonwealth, and as a Federation. And I also thank you, Cheyne, for your wonderful and [inaudible] words of welcome to Ngunnawal land, this is where our country meets on Ngunnawal land. And we acknowledge elders past and present, and of course the future. Where there is so much hope.
Can I acknowledge any serving men and women of our Defence Forces and veterans who are with us here today, and thank them for their great service to our nation.
To my colleagues, to the Premiers and Chief Ministers, to the Treasurers, who join us today as part of the National Federation Reform Council, and in particular can I welcome Sydney City Councillor Linda Scott, of the Australian Local Government Association who is also a part of the National Federation Reform Council.
This is our first meeting as you know Your Excellency, and I think it’s fitting that we meet here in this building. The last time our country faced the sort of crisis that we've faced this year, was when our Commonwealth Parliament met here in this building. When the likes of John Curtin and Sir Robert Menzies occupied these halls and these chambers. And here we find ourselves again all these years later, dealing with a significant crisis as we have all laboured over the course of this past year.
To save lives, and to save livelihoods.
They were the tasks that those before us had to face at that time of great crisis. Australia was tested in that time and Australians was proven in that time. And I think we can say together, and collectively that Australia has been tested again and Australia has been proven again. Not just as a nation, but I must say also we've been proven as a Federation and the leadership that has been shown by those who sit around this table, whether it be those who lead governments, those who manage the finances of governments, that are so important in the running of our governments and indeed at local government level as well.
All of us have had a role to play this year. But I think our greatest thanks as a group is not to each other, even not to those wonderful officials and directors generals and others who support us in our roles and the great expertise that we've had to guide us in the many decisions we have made over this past year.
But our greatest thanks is to our people. The Australian people.
From whatever background, from whatever - whatever the language background, indigenous or non-indigenous, regional or urban or peri-urban. It doesn't matter where they’ve come from or what their experience is. Australians have shown a strength this year that leads me to believe that this is the absolute proudest I’ve ever felt of my country. In my life.
We are privileged to lead an amazing country. And we are privileged to gather here around this table. So I extend my deep gratitude to my colleagues who sit around this table, but my deepest gratitude to the Australian people who have enabled us, who have supported us. And we look forward to 2021 where they will realise I think, their hopes for the future and we will be able to support them in their endeavours.
And with that, we’ve got a busy agenda. So I’m going to ask the media to depart.
