Speeches
Condolence - Gordon Denton
12 February 2019
Mr Morrison: (Cook—Prime Minister) (14:02): I refer to the death of the Hon. Gordon Scholes and I move:
That the House record its deep regret at the death, on 9 December 2018, of the Honourable Gordon Glen Denton Scholes AO, a former Minister and a Member of this House for the Division of Corio from 1967 to 1993, place on record its appreciation of his long and meritorious public service, and tender its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement.
Gordon Scholes had a fighting spirit and a gentle soul. When he walked the corridors of this building and the more intimate ones of Old Parliament House, he wasn't hard to spot. He was a big unit, six foot three in the old measurements—190 centimetres tall. He was an imposing presence in the Australian parliament for a quarter of a century, and, as a former Victorian amateur heavyweight boxing champion, I'm sure he knew how to land a blow, but Gordon rarely brought, I'm told, that pugnacity to this place. Like Ben Chifley, he had been a train driver. He was inspired to enter politics after a local kindergarten was closed down. In 1967, Gordon won Corio for the Labor Party at a by-election—no small feat. In fact, former Prime Minister Bob Hawke had tried to capture that seat four years earlier.
Gordon said later in life, 'My prime interest in my early years in parliament was being in parliament itself.' He loved the parliament, and it was his lot to be the Speaker during what would become the most tumultuous time in our country's political history in 1975. But it says something about him that he was one of the few not diminished by those events nor embittered by those times. As we all know, the tide turned against his party at that election, but Gordon Scholes survived that term, having won by just 20 votes after three recounts.
Gordon Scholes served in the Hawke government as a minister, and during his time in this building and the other down the hill he was re-elected 10 times by his local community—a great tribute from his community. Gordon Scholes is remembered as a man who loved his family, who loved his community. He loved this parliament and he was a patriot. He loved our country. I offer the heartfelt sympathy of this parliament, of the government and the nation to Gordon Scholes' family—in particular, to his daughters, Kerry and Anne, and to his grandchildren.
Honourable members: Hear, hear!
National Press Club Address - 'Our Plan for Keeping Australians Safe and Secure'
11 February 2019
National Press Club, Canberra
PRIME MINISTER: Well thank you Sabra and thank you for the welcome here today and can I acknowledge the Ngunnawal people, elders past present and emerging.
Can I thank the members of the press gallery for being here today. As one of them remarked to me today, “Welcome back to the bubble.” Thank you very much for the welcome.
To all of my colleagues who are here with me today, thank you. There are too many to mention but I’m so pleased that you are able to be joining me here for today’s important address talking about a safer Australia.
A few weeks ago, I had the great privilege as Prime Minister of awarding Kate and Tick Everett the honour of being Local Hero Australians of the Year.
Now, Kate is with us here today, she’s up the back. Give her a round of applause. Every Australian parent can only try and begin to imagine the pain of Kate and Tick when they lost their daughter Dolly to online bullying just over a year ago.
Through Dolly’s dream, they are transforming what I can only describe as indescribable grief into a force for change to protect the children of our country.
For parents, security used to mean warnings of ‘stranger danger’ and keeping an eye on the kids as they played in the front yard or on the nature strip.
The online world has opened up a dangerous place for our children. It is the terror of parents everywhere, including Jen and me.
Just over a week before that, I met Saeed. He is the father of Aiia Maasarwe.
Aiia was a kind hearted, beautiful and generous human being who was brutally raped and murdered in Melbourne only a few weeks ago. It’s not the first time we have seen terrible acts like that.
Now, Saeed and I are from different nations, different faiths, different cultures, but we share one thing in common. And that is understanding the special place a daughter has in her father’s heart. And I can tell you, nothing prepares you for a meeting like that.
But despite his pain, Saeed reminded Australians to “see light in the dark” because that’s what Aiia believed.
But the other truth is that women in Australia are still the targets of violence, abuse and disrespect. And this must stop.
Last year I also visited the scene where a radical extremist Islamic terrorist murdered Sisto Malaspina on Bourke Street in Melbourne. Sisto was rushing to the aid of the man who became his murderer.
An act of violence not just against a fellow Australian, but against our very way of life and who we are.
And just this past week, as Linda Reynolds and I were together, we stood with those who had been fighting fires in Tasmania down there in the Huon Valley, and we stood with the families returning to their flooded homes in Townsville.
Across the range, farmers were being hit with something they had never seen in their lifetimes and the lifetimes of generations prior to that. The loss of their livelihoods as hundreds of thousands of cattle were washed away or died stranded in flooded mud.
It’s heartbreaking. Soul destroying. And it’s still happening right now, those animals are dying as we speak. And Linda and I and other ministers were on the phone to the mayors this morning once again.
That same week I joined hundreds in Melbourne to remember the Black Saturday bushfires, and we’ll do that again in Parliament tomorrow, where families still grieve and communities are still healing ten years on.
And just before Christmas, I had the great privilege of visiting our troops in Iraq.
Australians putting themselves in harm’s way to stabilise a land far away from here. But there they serve, as Christopher Pyne knows, who saw them in January, bravely and gladly in our nation’s interests.
I’ve told you those stories because the point I want to make is that keeping Australians safe and secure is not just about discussing the great geopolitical tensions of our time.
It’s much more personal than that. It’s much more meaningful than that. It affects your every day, it extends to our communities, our families, women, children and individual Australians.
That’s how I see my national security and safety responsibilities to the Australian people.
For the past five and a half years, our Government has taken these responsibilities extremely seriously, dealing with the world as it is. Uncertain, often dangerous, uncompromising and, at its worst, simply evil.
Every day we have been taking action to build a stronger and even more resilient Australia to deal with whatever comes at us.
That’s why today I am releasing our forward plan to keep Australians safe and secure in the future. Our plan to keep Australians safe and secure.
The plan builds on our achievements and addresses the newer and emerging threats we face. Plans must always be updated to achieve that.
Regional tensions between the world's great powers, heightened global instability; stiff headwinds facing, as Josh Freedenberg knows as Treasurer, the global economy, and Mathias Cormann; foreign interference; radical Islamist terrorism; people smuggling; natural disasters; organised crime; money laundering; biosecurity hazards, cybersecurity; the evil ICE trade; violence against women on our streets; online predators and scammers who seek to rip off older Australians; cyber-bullying and elder abuse.
Our plan to Keep Australians safe and secure, to address these threats, is straightforward.
Keep our economy strong to provide the surest foundation for our security.
Defend Australia with a record investment of over $200 billion in our nation’s defence capability over the next decade.
Continue to protect our borders with proven policies that work and not changing them.
Keeping Australians safe from terrorism, by disrupting and denying terrorists the ability to undertake attacks in Australia.
Combat violence against women and counter the culture of disrespect towards women that can lead to that violence.
Protect our children online and in the real world, going after sexual predators and countering bullying behaviour.
Secure our region and our sovereignty by prioritising cooperation with our Indo-Pacific neighbours and family, as Marise Payne does on a daily basis.
To protect Australians from organised criminals by ensuring we give police and security services the resources, technology and the powers that they need.
To fight the menace of drugs – especially ICE, with coordinated law enforcement and anti-gangs initiatives.
And to protect our communities in times of natural disaster by continuing to invest more in our preparedness and capability, so we can respond quickly and help Australians get back on their feet as we are doing even as we speak right now with the disasters that face us.
So let’s talk about that plan in a bit more detail. Economic strength and our country’s security are interdependent. You can’t have one without the other.
That’s why, a fortnight ago, I released our Plan for a Stronger Economy, up in Trevor Evan’s electorate in Brisbane.
It’s also a straightforward plan. A plan for lower taxes and strong budgets. Backing small and family businesses and building the infrastructure that we need to support our growth and maintain our quality of life. In particular that congestion-busting infrastructure that Alan Tudge has been putting together all around the country.
It’s a plan that has already generated more than one million jobs in less than five years, ahead of what we promised.
It’s a plan that will deliver the essential services that Australians rely on into the future, and it’s a plan that’ll deliver a million and a quarter more jobs as our pledge over the next five years.
But it’s also a plan that will ensure that we can underwrite our Government’s commitment to keeping Australians safe and secure.
This is our objective. This is our plan.
Australia’s national security is also intertwined with that of the Indo-Pacific region.
Australia and our partners face diverse security threats that challenge our interests, from North Korea’s long-range missiles and nuclear programs, to state fragility, and radical Islamist terrorism in our own region.
We want to see an open, rules-based Indo-Pacific where the rights of all states are respected.
So my Government, our Government is strengthening our partnerships in the region and beyond, to protect our security and our sovereignty, consistent with the 2017 Foreign Policy White Paper.
Our step-up in the Pacific reflects a simple reality - the Pacific is our home and our Pacific neighbours are our family. They are fuh mouh, they are vuvale, as we’ve spoken about in the region.
We are working with our neighbours and others to support the Pacific’s long-term stability and economic prospects, by re-focusing our aid budget on our neighbourhood, and supporting infrastructure development and bolstering maritime security capability, just to name a few.
When we took office in 2013 coming into government, Defence spending was at an all-time low. In 2012-13, as a share of our economy, it was just 1.56 per cent - the lowest level since 1938. Shameful.
Under our Government, we are delivering the biggest rebuild of our armed forces and their capability in a generation, and boosting Defence spending to 2 per cent of GDP by 2020-21 ahead of our promise.
The rebuild is based on the strategy laid out in our 2016 Defence White Paper - investing over $200 billion in our defence capability over the next decade.
A doubling of the submarine fleet, a new fleet of nine frigates, as well as a new fleet of 12 offshore patrol vessels and 21 Pacific Patrol Boats.
All 54 vessels will be built here in Australia - built by Australian workers with Australian steel.
It is one of the biggest naval transformations occurring anywhere in the world today - a stark contrast, I must say, with Labor’s failure to commission a single naval vessel when they were in office for six years. Asleep at the wheel.
And earlier today, Chris Pyne and I, together with other ministers who were there, signed our Strategic Partnership Agreement with the French Defence Minister which delivers on our commitment to build 12 new submarines. And Steven Marshall, the Premier of South Australia, had a particularly big smile on his face, as he should. But so should all Premiers, because this work extends right around the country.
The Air Force will gain unprecedented combat capacity through the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program.
And the Army is getting new body armour, weapons, night fighting equipment and new Armoured Reconnaissance Vehicles, which I know 3rd Brigade up there in Lavarack, Townsville are very, very excited about, particularly Brigadier Winter.
Operation Sovereign Borders has been one, I would argue, of Australia’s greatest national security policy successes.
I have had the privilege to lead it, as has Peter Dutton. I know what compromise and poorly thought through changes can do to our borders. Labor proposes to do both, again. They have learned nothing from their failures on border protection.
Our successful border protection framework has three core elements, and you’ve heard me say it before, but it bears repeating.
First, the denial of permanent residence and therefore citizenship to people who illegally enter Australia.
This was achieved by the restoration of temporary protection visas when we came to government. Labor has promised to abolish them.
When Labor did this in August 2008, thinking it would make no difference, it fired the starter’s gun for the boats to return, and the deaths, and the tragedy and the chaos.
Secondly, regional processing of people who seek to illegally enter Australia.
This is conducted at the Nauru regional processing facilities.
Labor have already voted in the Senate, as you know, to undermine these arrangements by removing authority for transfers to Australia from the Government. They will abolish regional processing as we know it.
And thirdly, disrupting people smuggling activities through the supply chain, as General Molan and I know as we did all those years ago, right up that chain using a web of intelligence and regional cooperation and the physical turn-back of boats.
Operation Sovereign Borders has worked, it’s delivered a human dividend that is both compassionate and fair.
We’ve stopped the deaths at sea – there were over 1,200 that we know of;
We’ve closed 19 detention centres;
We’ve removed all children from detention - remember over 8,000 were put into detention under the previous government - and the last four children on Nauru have their bags packed for the US. All the children are off Nauru;
We’ve expanded our humanitarian program;
And here’s some figures you might not have heard. Right from the outset, and I did this, as did Peter and David Coleman now following, we have expanded our Women at Risk program, which has seen 7,046 women and children find safe refuge in Australia since 2013.
That’s what strong border protection delivers when it comes to human beings.
Our plan is simple. We won’t change it, not one jot. Labor will.
Our Government will also continue to do everything that must be done to combat radical extremist Islamist terrorism.
So far our record includes 12 tranches of national security legislation passed.
But I’ve got to say, on almost every occasion, Labor has been dragged to support this vital legislation and then only, having sought to water it down, try and claim bipartisanship.
$2.2 billion in extra funding for our law enforcement, intelligence and security agencies. Restoring what was stripped away.
Funding for 100 more intelligence experts, over 100 more tactical response and covert surveillance operators and almost 100 forensic experts at the AFP.
$294 million to upgrade airport security around the country, including in regional airports, and $45 million in programs to counter radicalisation.
The creation of a new Office of National Intelligence and the Home Affairs Department, the expansion of the Australian Cyber Security Centre, and a significant boost in resources, all of this will ensure that our security agencies are stronger and better coordinated and integrated.
In the wake of the Burke Street terrorist attack, I decided more needed to be done when it came to countering radicalisation. I met with Muslim leaders in Sydney and I have since approved another $14 million, working with David Coleman as the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, for additional programmes to work with local community organisations and Muslim leaders who are prepared to take a stand. These are brave people, to prevent radicalisation destroying their own communities.
But the achievement we can take most comfort from is that since 2014, our security agencies have disrupted 14 major terrorist plots.
90 people have been charged with counter-terrorism offences, and hundreds of Australian families have loved ones with them - instead of facing grief, pain and loss because of the excellent work of our security agencies.
And under laws passed by our Government, we have stripped 12 terrorists of Australian citizenship.
That’s what keeping Australia safe looks like.
We might not thwart every attempt by terrorists to damage our democracy, but we have put our intelligence and security services on the best possible footing to do so.
Our Government is also fully engaged in working together to combat violence against women. And I acknowledge Kelly O’Dwyer who is here today, and I acknowledge the work she has done, as well as Paul Fletcher in this area as the Minister for Social Services.
As I said before, it must stop.
Nearly ten years ago, state and federal governments came together with the community to put in place the first National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and Children.
The Fourth Action Plan will be finalised in the middle of this year.
But where immediate action is needed we have delivered, including committing a further $20 million just in the past year for 1800RESPECT.
Today I am announcing the first of the Commonwealth measures towards the Action Plan - a $60 million investment in emergency accommodation and $18 million of continued support for state and territory governments to keep women and children safe in their homes.
These two measures reflect two important principles, and I can reflect on this back from my time in Social Services Minister, as Paul knows very well.
We can’t ask women and children to leave dangerous homes if they have no place to go. And where it is safe, women and children survivors should be helped to remain in their homes and in their communities. You’ve got to be safe in your own home.
We have listened to the frontline workers and survivors throughout the consultations we have had over the past year.
That is why one focus of our measures also we’ll be announcing soon will be on prevention - on changing the attitudes to violence, and on helping those who think violence is an option, to stop.
This new commitment will build on the more than $350 million our Government has invested since 2015 to stop this violence against women and children.
Our Government has also been at the forefront of efforts to keep children safe online with over $100 million invested so far.
Mitch Fifield will know that we’ve done this with the creation of the world’s first eSafety Commissioner who has tough powers to take down cyberbullying content, by funding new resources to support parents, and are making a new $10 million investment to allow charities like the Alannah and Madeline Foundation and the Carly Ryan Foundation to develop new tools to protect children online.
We have passed Carly’s Law that makes it a crime for an adult to use carriage services in relation to sexual activity with a minor.
And we have provided almost $69 million to establish the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation, which is a national approach led by the AFP, championed by Peter Dutton, to combat a global epidemic of child abuse. We’re serious about this stuff, we are very serious.
Our Government will continue to take action also to protect Australians from criminals.
Across my time as Immigration Minister and on Peter Dutton’s watch and now on David’s watch, we have cancelled the visas of the equivalent of the gaol population of South Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory combined.
We have cancelled the visas of 4,150 dangerous criminals, sent them packing. In six years, Labor cancelled just 643 visas. Labor were soft.
We cancelled around 800 last year alone.
That included 13 murderers, 34 rapists and sex offenders, 53 for domestic violence, 56 for armed robbery, and 100 child sex offenders, punted by our Government.
Specifically, we have cancelled the visas of more than 300 child sex offenders and stopped hundreds more at the border.
We have introduced a national approach to strip criminals of their illegally obtained wealth no matter which jurisdiction they operate in, which strikes at the heart of organised crime. And I particularly acknowledge Michael Keenan for his work when he was Minister on those issues.
We’re giving our law enforcement agencies the tools to read the encrypted messages that violent criminals and child sex offenders are currently using to evade detection, and we had to fight for it in the Parliament to make sure we got it. We are also seeking to legislate to ensure that police have appropriate powers to assess and disrupt potential security and criminal threats at airports.
Our Government is taking an uncompromising approach to fighting the menace of drugs.
Last financial year, the AFP and Australian Border Force seized more than 17 tonnes of drugs and precursors at the border.
The AFP assisted its international counterparts to seize more than 28 tonnes of drugs and precursors offshore. All of these efforts are protecting lives from being destroyed by drugs in our communities.
The scourge of ICE is one that I know affects communities right across Australia, not least the families and children of ICE addicts.
The Government has invested $450 million to help these communities fight the impacts of ICE, including funding for more than 220 Local Drug Action Teams.
Our joined-up strategy includes international cooperation to stop drugs at their source, with enhanced intelligence sharing, as well as better controls on precursor chemicals and stronger law enforcement.
In total, we are also providing more than $720 million over four years to help communities reduce the impact of drug and alcohol misuse. Forgive me for listing such a long list of actions, but there’s a long list there in terms of what we’ve been doing.
But finally, let me talk about natural disasters. It’s our job, together with States and Territories and local government, to support Australians when nature doesn’t.
We are investing in our national emergency capability and resilience through the government’s Preparing Australia Package – with support for emergency text alerts, aerial firefighting and bushfire shelters, which have come in very useful, as Linda and I have seen in recent weeks and months.
At the national level we have contracted over 130 aerial firefighting assets for this season, bringing the total to over 500 aerial assets available when state resources are counted.
Emergency Management Australia administer, on average, about $1 billion in disaster recovery payments each year, as well as operate our 24/7 Crisis Coordination Centre.
Our Government is also now funding up to 75 per cent of disaster assistance to individuals and communities, most of which is provided through State and Territory Governments. So up there in Townsville at the moment, those state agencies that are providing payments, 75 per cent of that is being funded by the Commonwealth Government, not just the individual payments that we do on top of that.
And once again we have seen the best of Australians in response to these recent fires and floods. It’s no surprise, but it never loses how impressive it is.
And I particularly want to thank, on behalf of our country all of the volunteer emergency services personnel, to state and territory governments, to the ADF, who have just been doing an extraordinary job, an extraordinary job, all around the country, for all that they have done. It’s just not what they do, it’s when they show up, it lifts the spirits of those who need help.
As of 5pm yesterday, over 32 thousand claims for disaster relief payments have been processed in Townsville alone, in just one week. And we have already paid over $39 million in assistance, just in one week. That’s cash straight into the pockets of those impacted by the floods.
Further, effective 11am today, we have extended the availability of disaster recovery payments to eight shires across Western Queensland - the funds will start flowing immediately and Centrelink are putting people on the ground ready to process it immediately.
This morning I again spoke, as I said, with the mayors of the flood impacted shires in Western Queensland where we are seeing a national disaster unfold in terms of damage to our beef and cattle industries.
As a result, and further to my announcement of Category D assistance, which is national disaster status - there is no technical national disaster declaration in any act. Category D is what it is, there is a national disaster unfolding in northern Queensland. And we announced that assistance on Friday, and today I am announcing that my Government will provide an immediate ex-gratia payment of $1 million to each of the affected shires. That is necessary for them to just get on and do the enormous amount of work they need to support their communities. They raised it with me this morning, it’s announced by this afternoon.
This payment will be for them to use on the priorities that they deem most urgent - whether that be rate relief for impacted properties, reconstruction of infrastructure, or the disposal of cattle that have perished, which is being coordinated and also assisted by the ADF.
Our disaster assistance funding to North Queensland in response to this flood is already over $100 million, in addition to massive support from the ADF.
I want those farmers to know up there in North Queensland that we will stand with them all the way through this disaster, but we will be standing with you on the other side as you rebuild the great prosperity that we know is there for you in the future. We will be there to rebuild with you.
So in conclusion, national security is all about making the right decisions. Because, as a Government and as a Prime Minister, you make them every single day.
You make these decisions - this is how I make them - based on your values, what you believe, your instincts, your experience and, when required, courage.
Our Government has demonstrated we have the mettle to make the right calls on our nation’s security:
Repairing our borders;
Investing in our defence forces;
Deporting violent criminals;
Taking on domestic violence to protect the women and children in this country;
Disrupting terrorist attacks.
We have led, we haven’t followed.
We have taken decisions rather than put them off to another day.
And we have embraced tough calls rather than seeking to buy weak compromises for the purpose of politics.
This is our form, not just of our Government. But as Michael McCormack knows, the Deputy Prime Minister, the form of Liberal National Coalition Governments going back 70 years.
It is why we are trusted.
The plan I have announced today is built on our strong record and sets out plainly what a re-elected Morrison Liberal Nationals Government will continue to do to keep Australians safe and secure.
Remarks, Last Post Ceremony
11 February 2019
Australian War Memorial, Canberra
PRIME MINISTER: We meet here today on the land of the Ngunnawal People and we acknowledge their elders past, present and emerging. I also acknowledge here today the serving men and women of our Australian Defence Forces and any veterans who are present here today. I simply say thank you for your service.
We gather in the most sacred location in our Commonwealth. Madame Parly, who I welcome today, it’s wonderful to have you with us on this important occasion. A century ago, the families of the 60,000 men and women who died in the First World War had no place to mourn. For many, it was almost impossible to imagine heading to France or Gallipoli or to Egypt. So this hallowed place became where Australians would mourn and remember those who were lost.
Today many of our Members and Senators are gathered here for the Last Post. We do so to remind ourselves that our affiliation is first to our country. Tomorrow, the chambers, halls and corridors of Parliament House will spring to life again, with the resumption of a new parliamentary year. But in this moment, we stand together, quiet and aligned. The founders of this capital ensured that the Australian War Memorial was built in a direct line of sight with the Parliament. It was done so to remind every single member that no decision should be taken lightly and that some decisions exact an incalculable cost. No cost runs deeper than the loss of life inflicted by war. The freedoms and values that Australians hold dear, the right to debate and determine our destiny in that House across the lake, have been hard-fought and hard-won, through courage, mateship, sacrifice and endurance.
Gallipoli, Kokoda, Long Tan, Uruzgan, the skies over Germany, the waters of the Pacific. The names of these places are etched, written on these walls. But there is one that we particularly remember today; in September 1941, Sister Alma May Beard left Australia for Singapore, with the other gallant nurses of the 13th Australian General Hospital. She never came home. Her fate was one of the most cruel and barbaric of any man, woman or child who perished in that war. An evacuee on the Vyner Brooke who escaped drowning when it was bombed, only to be captured, held prisoner and then slaughtered on the beach. A nurse, whose only motivation was to help and care for others. It is right that we remember her, and tell her story today. Her story, like all the others, kept here in this sacred place, speaks to us of how much has been laid down. We owe every member of our armed forces past and present our gratitude for their commitment to act in our name. Here, the parliamentarians who have gathered, are reminded of our great responsibility. We remember, and we dedicate ourselves once again to this country that we love and those who have served and lost so much.
Lest we forget.
Remarks, Strategic Partnership Signing
11 February 2019
Russell Offices, Canberra
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much for that introduction and can I begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal People, elders past and present and emerging. I also extend a very warm welcome to Minister Florence Parly, it’s wonderful to have you here with us today. I know you’ve made a special effort to be here with us today and I think that’s a mark of the wonderful relationship that has been formed as we’ve moved to this day and so thank you so much for making the effort to be here today and please pass on my kindest regards to President Macron. This is a day, as I was just mentioning to you, that he and I have been looking forward to as we discussed when we were in Buenos Aires not too long ago.
To his Excellency Christophe Penot, thank you very much for all of your efforts in bringing us to this point today, working so closely. To the Premier of South Australia Steven Marshall, it’s always good to see your smiling face whether in Canberra, South Australia, it’s wonderful to have Steven here, such a passionate advocate for this programme. To my ministerial colleagues who are joining us today, particularly the Minister for Defence Christopher Pyne, congratulations Christopher on your stewardship of this programme over a long period of time and it’s wonderful that we can join together with your other ministerial colleagues who are here today to mark this important occasion.
This really is a great day for Australia. It’s a great day for our Royal Australian Navy. I reckon it’s the greatest partnership between Australia and France since Nancy Wake was let loose on the Nazis in the Second World War. It really is a wonderful partnership. The Australian Government regards the safety and security of its people and its territory as our greatest duty and calling. As ‘a land girt by sea’, as our national anthem proclaims, a great Australian Royal Australian Navy is what is necessary.
What that means is that ensuring we are at the front of the pack when it comes to the latest naval vessels and firepower. As part of our Government's plan to keep Australians safe, we’re celebrating a milestone today with the next phase of our Future Submarine Program. In 2016 the Government selected France and Naval Group as our international partners to deliver a 12 strong fleet of cutting-edge submarines, as we promised to do. The signing today of the Strategic Partnership Agreement to deliver these submarines underscores the longstanding and strategic partnership between Australia and France.
A spirit of defence cooperation and collaboration between our nations reaches right back to the First World War. But this program brings a new depth to that partnership through a multi-decade program to build and sustain these submarines in Australia. It’s more than a contract.
This is a project that will not only keep Australians safe, but it will deliver Australian jobs. It will build Australian skills. It will be made and require Australian steel and it will mean a stronger Royal Australian Navy.
Our Government is committed to maximising Australian industry content in the Future Submarine Program. This was a conscious decision of our Government. Beyond construction, the program will provide Australia with an independent, sovereign capability to sustain our fleet, including the upskilling of Navy and industry workforces. We will see long-term strategic cooperation, not only in defence industry as I know Minister Ciobo will be excited about, but across other sectors, creating even more jobs through more high-tech, high-paying jobs.
Hundreds of Australians are already employed on the Future Submarines Program and thousands more will be through the supply chain during the construction phase. So, as pleased as I know Premier Marshall is about the jobs in South Australia, these jobs reach right across our great continent.
The signing of this agreement today demonstrates our Government is delivering on our promise on the naval shipbuilding plan. It is a $90 billion commitment to build in total 54 new naval vessels and grow a strong, sustainable and sovereign Australian naval shipbuilding industry.
This is a very audacious plan. This is what vision looks like. The number of shipbuilding programs we are launching is beyond what just about any other country - including the United States - has done since the Second World War. The number of new starts on these projects is almost without parallel. This is a big project, this is an audacious program that we have set before us and we are committed to achieving it. 12 attack class submarines will be a cornerstone of that plan and it’s all part of Australia's biggest-ever peacetime investment in defence. The strategies were laid out in the 2016 Defence White Paper and we are getting on with the job. Over $200 billion is being invested in Australia's Navy, Army and Air Force defence capability over the next decade. With the signing of today's agreement, we are strengthening our region, something I know Minister Payne cares about deeply and is part of her ongoing discussions not only in the Indo-Pacific region, but all around the world. This is a key part of our participation in creating a safer and more peaceful world.
Our region, which we keep secure, in close partnership with our valued allies. So we are delivering for our Navy, our nation and our people as we promised. We are delivering for our defence industry and jobs and we are delivering on our steadfast commitment to keep Australians safe and secure.
I conclude by thanking again all of those who have brought us to this point today, but I particularly want to commend Ministers Pyne and Parly for the wonderful working relationship they've had to bring us to where they are today and look forward to that relationship continuing into the future as we get this done. Thank you.
Press Conference - Sydney
8 February 2019
Sydney, NSW
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you for coming along. I wanted to provide you with an update on our actions in relation to the terrible floods we’re seeing in North Queensland. Earlier today and prior to coming here to provide this briefing I have spoken again with the Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk. We have been in close contact as we’ve ensured coordination and concurrence in the action we’re taking to provide support. We have all seen, I think, the images, the devastating scenes, of what's occurring in North Queensland. This is a very significant flood event. We are expecting hundreds of thousands in terms of stock losses. This will be heartbreaking to these communities, that have been experiencing years of drought, only to see that turn into a torrential inundation, which threatens now their very livelihoods in the complete other direction.
Already, as you will know, there has been work that is being done to support these communities through fodder drops, and through the supply of particularly gas to ensure that the fodder can be distributed from local community distribution places. The situation on the ground is very disparate. It's different in different shires, and so it's very important that the distribution of the fodder, and how it is done, and with what craft, is very much determined on the local level. And to that end, this morning, I convened a teleconference with all the key local shire mayors, together with Emergency Management Australia, Defence Force, the CDF, and particularly the Emergency Management Minister, Linda Reynolds, and the Agriculture Minister, David Littleproud, the Defence Minister, myself, the Deputy Prime Minister and the Finance Minister, to review how this distribution process was proceeding. It's very clear from that, and my discussions with the Queensland Premier, that the ground-up model of ensuring that we're getting this right is the way to continue to achieve this. The local shire mayors are in very close contact with the station owners and those running those stations, and they're in the best position to say where the feed should go, how it should get there, and how it should proceed.
In the short term, we have asked specifically about the supplies to those towns in terms of their current food stocks, and in the short term that is not an issue that they're raising. But we're obviously talking with them every day, and should that be a necessity, then we can obviously take decisions to support airlifts to that end, as the roads are cut off to those communities. Yesterday, we announced that we were moving to Category C recovery grants, together with the Queensland Government, in response to their request. That means that up to $25,000 can be provided in grants for a range of purposes - hiring, leasing of equipment or materials to clean premises, removing and disposing of debris, damaged goods, materials, purchasing fodder, salvaging crops or feed or stock, repairing or conditioning essential plant and equipment. Now, that was put in place in seven shires, local government areas: Burdekin, Cloncurry, Douglas, Hinchinbrook, McKinlay, Richmond and Townsville. That was extended today to Winton and Flinders.
I'm announcing today that, after further discussions with the Queensland Premier, together we are moving all of those local government areas to Category D. That will mean those payments of $25,000 will be available to $75,000. Our initial estimate of this cost will be $100 million from the Commonwealth's share perspective. But as we've seen in other disasters, whether it's Cyclone Yasi, that cost could end up being far greater than that. But the Government has been unhesitating in moving to ensure that the level of assistance that is needed will be provided, and that we will stand with these communities every step in the way, and stand in very close contact.
And what I'm also announcing today is that we will be providing $3 million in additional support to complement the measures already being put in place by the Queensland Government to support mental health services. Through a surge response team to support health professionals in north, central and western Queensland, including workers on the ground to work with those who are impacted. It will be a very, very difficult time. And while there are services in towns, those who are out in stations, those who are out dealing on the ground with their stock, who are dying in some of the most horrific circumstances, they will need our support. And they will need significant mental health support. And I would urge all of them to reach out for that support. It will be provided and it will be done by people who know how to help you in these circumstances.
We've seen the best of our communities in recent times, as they've supported each other through fires and through floods. And it's very important that we not only provide those services, but those who need them reach out for them. We are there to help you and to support you. Also in the call this morning, we were asked to raise with the banks, seeking their support to assist their customers through this period of time. The Finance Minister got in immediate contact with all the major banks, as well as Rabobank, who is a significant rural lender. All of those banks are in direct contact with their customers in these areas, and their clients. We have already in place the drought task force, where we're working with the banks, dealing with similar issues but from a very different weather context. And so that has enabled us to ensure that they'll be able to have ways of supporting their clients in those circumstances. They already have a range of policies in place which can deal with everything from deferral of interest and relaxing of interest, and putting those mechanisms in place for each of the clients' specific circumstances. So, I would encourage those affected to deal directly with their bank, and we will continue to work closely with them to ensure that they are doing the right thing in these circumstances, to relieve any possible anxiety or burden that might come from that commercial relationship, because right now we all need to be there for them.
So, those decisions have been taken today, through the National Security Committee of Cabinet, which I have just left now, to brief you. And so our prayers and support are with everybody up there in North Queensland. Not to forget, though, the disasters that have been occurring in other areas. The fires in Tasmania, where I was earlier this week. You know, there have been fires in Western Australia, in Victoria. It is a difficult time of the year, and we're seeing some difficult conditions. But particularly for those floods up in North Queensland, we will continue to do everything we can. Linda Reynolds, who is the Assistant Minister, she is on the ground up there in Townsville and working very closely with the local authorities. But what you are seeing is governments at all levels working closely together to support those most in need. Happy to take a few questions, but then I will have to leave.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, The Rocky Hill thermal coal mine planned for New South Wales Hunter Valley...
PRIME MINISTER: Can we talk about the floods, please?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, in terms of fodder, we're getting anecdotal evidence relayed to us from individual farmers - and I appreciate you're coordinating with the shire mayors - that fodder drops are useless to them at the moment because they get wet and there's nowhere for aircraft to land. So how effective is that at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: That's the feedback we have also been getting and that's why we've changed the practices to work through the local communities. In some cases, they want us to hold back on some of those fodder drops until, particularly in the black soil area, it dries, which they're hoping might occur by later in the weekend. The great risk is when you've got livestock that are in mud and they seek to move, they can do even more damage to themselves and of course, then you have the issues of where the fodder is and what happens to it. We also have to be careful that some of the bio risks about where we bring the fodder in from.
So, those things are being carefully considered in how we're doing it. You also can't go and land, you know, drop it with a Chinook in some of these places. I mean it blows buildings away and certainly isn't good for livestock in a very sensitive condition. That's why we're using local aviation providers and that's why getting the gas in is so important, so they can go out and do the fodder drops wherever they can get to. So, the shires are the right place to work through, because they're talking to the farmers all the time.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there are MPs on your backbench arguing that these events - floods, fires - are building community support for your Government to take a new climate change policy to this election. Will you do such a thing? Will you have a new climate policy?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we already have a significant policy on these issues and I'll be announcing more on that between now and the next election. But can we just focus on the recovery and the response to people who are in quite desperate situations in relation to the floods, please?
JOURNALIST: In terms of the funding and the mental health support, when can members of the public actually expect to receive that?
PRIME MINISTER: This is flowing pretty much immediately.
JOURNALIST: And what services, which providers are -?
PRIME MINISTER: We're providing that through the State Government's arrangements. The Queensland State Government has the infrastructure in place to deliver all of these services. Whether it's how we coordinate drought assistance and payments, or otherwise, and we'll work through their systems. The Queensland and the Commonwealth are working very closely together and the Premier and I are working very closely together.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, with full respect to the chaotic scenes that we are seeing up north, unfortunately there were some chaotic scenes as well at the franking credit inquiry in Chatswood today?
PRIME MINISTER: Can we please focus, how many times do I have to say it? There are people facing floods, I'm here to brief the country on what is happening to help them. They're worried about them, I'm worried about them. I'm happy to take questions on these issues, please. I'm going to take a question up the back here.
JOURNALIST: In terms of banking, banks right now. Right now banks are very much on the nose and farmers have the appreciation of the whole country. Are banks willing to do whatever it takes to help these people? We're also hearing evidence from farmers that they have lost three years' worth of income and there's no possible way they will be able to pay banks back for whatever lending in that time?
PRIME MINISTER: There's a very hard road ahead. The initial indications back from the banks, I think, are positive in terms of what they're prepared to do. I mean, they're basically locked into this process as well, with their clients. And in order to find a way through, there's going to have to be, I think, a lot of mediation done and remediation done to the financial position of these station holders. They need to get their breeding stock back in place. I mean, you can't pay off a loan if you don't have breeding stock. And what we've seen with the drought is that, where they have had to off-load, and where they've had to sell their livestock to actually stay ahead, or just keep their heads above the line, these are the stock that are now have been washed away or are dying, literally as we speak. And so they will need to be able to, to make these properties viable, get their breeding stock back in place. And so that's what we'll have to work closely with the entire sector, and with the State Government and the shires to ensure that North Queensland can get back up on its feet.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, has a foreign government breached the Parliament House computer network?
PRIME MINISTER: I might come back to that in one sec, unless there are any other questions on the floods. No? Okay look, that is a matter that we have been briefed on during the course of the day. I should stress that there is no suggestion that government departments or agencies have been the target of any such incursion. But on the other one, I don't propose to go into any sort of detailed commentary on the source or nature of this. Once further information is available, then we'll be in a position to provide further detail.
JOURNALIST: Can you describe what kind of data may have been - ?
PRIME MINISTER: No, we're not in a position to do that at this point.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Bill Shorten has accepted agreement on the Phelps bill. Do you think he will listen to that advice and possibly vote against it?
PRIME MINISTER: I hope he does listen to the advice. It's taken him five days - five days - to actually agree to have a briefing on the impact of the Phelps bill. So you can draw your own conclusions, I mean, they voted in the Senate for what is effectively the Phelps bill without even having a briefing and wanted to see that all passed before the end of last year. What I know is this; we opposed that bill and we will oppose that bill. We will do everything we can to ensure that bill - which is acceptable in no form, no form - because it will undermine our border protection. We believe in having strong borders and we put in place the system which achieves that. This bill is an attempt to undermine that and anyone who is supporting this bill is not for stronger borders.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how concerned are you by the Reserve Bank's revised economic growth figures? Do those lower growth figures undermine your economic argument going into the Budget and the election?
PRIME MINISTER: No, because they're now consistent with our Budget forecast.
JOURNALIST: Hakeem Al Araibi was granted refugee status by Australia. How concerned are you about his welfare?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I have been keeping in close contact with that issue. I've made two direct representations to the Prime Minister. It is within the executive authority of the Prime Minister, of the Government, to be able to have Hakeem return to Australia. We will continue to argue for the Thai Government to do that. We will continue to do it patiently, respectfully, because we want to see him get home. He has been granted protection here in Australia for very legitimate reasons and he should come home. And I think that's what the Australian people would absolutely want. So we will continue to press that case.
JOURNALIST: The thermal coal mine planned for New South Wales Hunter Valley has been rejected due to the "dire consequences of climate change" following a landmark ruling in the Environment Court. Do you think that this means that this is the end of coal, or new coal mines in this country? Because it's set a disturbing precedent. Will the Government intervene?
PRIME MINISTER: I haven't had the opportunity to review the case.
JOURNALIST: Should Ken Henry depart NAB immediately and is it appropriate he plays any role in choosing a successor?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I said the other day that the Royal Commissioner had some fairly sharp assessments to make and that people would reflect on those and they have. Thank you very much.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, were you warned about Scott Buchholz's behaviour on his defence trip before you promoted him?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
Remarks, Paralympic Funding Announcement
6 February 2019
Please forgive my husky voice at this early time in the morning and thank you all for joining us this morning which enabled me to be here. And to Bridget and to all our distinguished guests, particularly the athletes, their families and supporters who are here with us today and all the officials from the Paralympic movement.
This is a very special day. Some years ago - and Kurt and I discussed this - it was 10 years ago in fact, I walked the Kokoda Track. Now for me, it was tough. But it wasn’t courageous. What you do is courageous. There’s lots of people who play sport, there’s lots of people who give everything they have. There’s enormous stories of great feats of endurance and physical performance of our elite athletes. And sure it takes determination and persistence and commitment and dedication. That’s the starting line for you guys. When you achieve, it’s more than that. It’s a courage that goes beyond anything I have seen in sport. Anything that I have seen.
So when Kurt got himself across the Track - and he told me he’s not going to do it again in a hurry, by the way - that was courage. I was down at the Australian Open this year with Bridget and we saw amazing performances. Ash Barty, we were there on that day to see Ash hit herself into the final round, and we saw the great Roger Federer, emerging new talents coming through. But I got to have a hit with Dylan Alcott, and not only is he cheeky as, but he is a five-time Australian Open winner. Again, it’s the difference between being an elite athlete and being someone incredibly special.
The reason I am announcing two elements of funding today - there’s $12 million in total for Paralympians today - $8 million to support the team to Tokyo and your preparation. But $4 million also down in Melbourne to support the ongoing training facilities and engaging people in Paralympic sport in this country. The inspiration that you provide to Australians is something this country needs.
Australians are a very special group of people and I saw that first-hand yesterday when I was up in the floods in Townsville and down in the fires in Tasmania the day before. But what you do demonstrates that spirit every day you train, every day you set your mind to that goal. It doesn’t matter whether you’re playing bocce or you’re playing wheelchair rugby out of Port Macquarie or whatever you’re doing. You are every day doing it, saying to the rest of Australians, regardless of what their ability is, their background is, you can do it. You can do anything you set your mind to. And all Australians need that message. Not just those with disabilities who turn them into abilities, all Australians need that inspiration.
And that’s why as a Government we are so pleased - I mean, they had me at hello when they came to see me last year, they really did. I already got it, and so I want to thank you for what you’re doing. This is our investment in an investment you’re already making in our country and a contribution you’re already making through what you do. My parents always taught me life is about what you contribute, not what you accumulate, and you’re living that principle.
So I’m incredibly proud of what you’re doing. I can’t wait to see when you’re there in Tokyo. It isn’t just about the competition, as you know. At the Paralympics, everybody cheers for everybody. Because everybody is a champion. But I’m pretty sure we’re going to have some champions beyond that as well with a lot of medals around their necks which will be your reward, your own personal reward and your own acknowledgment of the wonderful things that you have been doing.
So $12 million dollars, it is a contribution we’re pleased to make it out of the Budget. We took the decision towards the end of last year and I’m just so pleased that I could be with you today. I wish you all the best for your preparations over the next few years, I wish the movement all the best as you continue to raise your profile and you get more and more recognition. Whether it’s from the broadcast networks or others, that they see what is the amazing story that is Paralympic sport here in this country. We’re a world leader athletically and I think more than that, in terms of how we run the show here, and I think we have things to teach the rest of the world. But in Tokyo, I’m looking forward to you teaching them a few things as well.
Thank you very much.
Remarks, Opening Ceremony of Melbourne's Official 2019 Chinese New Year Festival
2 February 2019
Melbourne, Victoria
Nǐ hǎo. Gong hei fat choy. It’s wonderful to be here - can everybody hear me? It’s wonderful to be here with the Lord Mayor, it’s wonderful to be here with my wife Jenny who has joined me and come down from Sydney today. It’s great to be here with Gladys Liu, my Liberal Candidate here for Chisolm and Kate Ashmor, the Liberal candidate here for Macnamara and all the other distinguished guests who are here. Members of the committee, those who have been part of this celebration for so many years.
It’s a great thrill for me to be here as a Sydneysider because so often we come down to Melbourne to see how these things are done and they’re done so well here in Melbourne. And it’s wonderful to come and enjoy the celebrations for Lunar New Year, as Jenny and I have often enjoyed the celebrations for Chinese new year up in Sydney and Chinatown there with our magnificent Chinese community as well. So it’s great to be able to bring those two together here tonight.
Now, Chinese New Year has a very long history here in Melbourne. Indeed, right across Victoria, as you go back into the 1860’s where the Chinese has been celebrating this most important time for their families and their communities. And there was the famed Imperial Dragon Loong who was brought to Melbourne from Bendigo in 1901 to take part in the procession and to celebrate Federation. So when our very nation, our very nation was formed, there in the middle of the procession was Loong the Chinese dragon that was a part of those celebrations and continues up until 1970. I understand the same dragon was part of the celebration here in Melbourne every single year.
So this is a wonderful time for family, it’s a wonderful time for community and it’s an opportunity for me as Prime Minister to say to all Australians of Chinese heritage and to those who celebrate the Lunar New Year out of Vietnam, out of Korea, out of other places, to say thanks for the wonderful contribution that all of you have made to Australia over so many generations. Not just recently, but over 160 and more year where we have seen the Chinese community first of all coming and making a great contribution.
Now I look over here at the emblem of the pig, the twelfth of the Chinese zodiac as I understand it. And it is the year of prosperity, it is the year of working hard, it is the year of wealth and that’s why Chinese immigrants came to Australia so long ago. To understand that they could have the opportunity to work hard, to start businesses, to support their children in education and to be able to go on and do such tremendous things. Helping build our cities, helping build our regions. This is the great legacy of Chinese Australians over such a long period of time.
We have 1.2 million Australians of Chinese heritage here and Gladys Liu is of course one of them. When she first came here in 1985 as a student and studied speech pathology and went on to become an Australian citizen in 1992 and raised here family here as so many Chinese Australians have come and done that very thing.
So that’s what we celebrate. Chinese New Year is now a great Australian celebration, not just a celebration within the Chinese community. And as I look out tonight, I see Australians of all backgrounds. I see Indian Australians, Namaste to all the Indian Australians who are here tonight. And Australians from so many different backgrounds. I see children, I see people of all generations and that’s so wonderful that we can celebrate it here as a true Australian community tonight. So xièxiè and thank you all very much.
Remarks, Box Hill 2019 Chinese New Year Opening Ceremony
2 February 2019
Box Hill, Victoria
This is the year of the pig, which means it’s the year of prosperity and wealth, and this is something that I know the Chinese community understands here well in Australia, coming to Australia more than 160 years ago to find both prosperity and wealth here in Australia.
There are 1.2 million Australians of Chinese heritage here in Australia. There are some 200,000 more Chinese students studying here in Australia and almost 560,000 or thereabouts who have been born in China and come to Australia.
You have worked hard for what you have achieved here in Australia. You’re working hard here in Australia and I want to thank you on behalf of all Australians for making Australia stronger, for making our economy stronger, and for making Australia a more prosperous and wealthy nation.
Australia brings stories from all over the world and our timeless indigenous stories to make Australia what it is today, and the Chinese Australian story is a very strong one and a key part of who we are as a modern nation. And it is important that we celebrate here, as a local community, this wonderful Chinese heritage here in Australia. May it forever prosper.
So to all of you, to the organising committees, to the sponsors, to the leadership of the local Chinese community here in Box Hill and the city of Whitehorse I say thank you very much on behalf of Jenny and I for your welcome here today and the wonderful presentation that you have put on. I trust you will enjoy today, I trust you will have a very prosperous, a very happy new year with you and your family.
Xièxiè, come and say hello to me on WeChat at ScottMorrison2019.
National Flag Raising and Citizenship Ceremony
26 January 2019
Canberra, ACT
Well good morning and happy Australia Day.
Today of all days I want to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, the Ngunnawal people. To elders past and present, I say thank you for the wonderful inheritance you have given to us today, and to the elders of the future, I say thank you as well.
To Your Excellency the Governor-General and Lady Cosgrove, to all our honoured guests here today, colleagues, those who are serving all around the country today and right around the world.
To our new citizens, Australians all.
It was more than a century ago Sir Henry Parkes, the father of our federation, put forward a vision of a united and diverse Australia, intergenerationally bound together by a liberty that transcended race, ethnicity, history and even religion.
Parkes said:
“What we are doing by this great Federal movement is not for us, but for them, for the untold millions that will follow us; until this land of Australia shall gather within its bosom all the fruits of the culture of the world; and until the flag of freedom shall be planted here so firmly and guarded with such a fervent patriotism, that all the powers on earth shall never assault it.”
Today, on Australia Day, we celebrate Parkes’ vision for our nation. A nation that indeed has gathered the cultures and peoples of the world, the most successful multicultural nation on earth, that began with our first peoples.
Yesterday, Jenny and I took our girls to join with the Ngunnawal people here in Canberra, not far from here, to acknowledge and pay tribute to our first Australians and 60,000 years of Indigenous culture and history.
We honoured their resilience, their wisdom, their custodianship and stewardship. The world’s oldest living culture.
A stewardship of sea, mountains, rainforest, deserts, river and rock.
We sat together, Australians all, paying our respects – to those with us now, those who come before and for the future we share together. Acknowledging the first peoples who began our great Australian story.
The next great chapter in that story began 231 years ago today.
It was not a good day for my fifth great grandfather, William Roberts.
Bunkered down in the light starved bowels of the Scarborough with 207 other convicts, he had arrived in Port Jackson after a long and treacherous voyage from Portsmouth.
He was transported for stealing 5 and a half-pound of yarn valued at 9 shillings. It was January 26, 1788. It was a new beginning for him, but it would have seemed a particularly grim one at the time and life was indeed about to get a lot tougher.
Sick, poor, destitute, thrust into an unknown place and an uncertain future.
When the Scarborough returned to New South Wales with the notorious Second Fleet, below deck on the Neptune was Kezia Brown. She was a gardeners’ labourer who’d been transported for stealing clothing. She was my fifth great grandmother.
Seventy-eight female convicts, some with children and infants, were all accommodated on the Neptune, as were some 420 convict men.
The contractors were paid a bit over £17 for each convict embarked. There was no financial incentive to ensure those convicts arrived safe and healthy in New South Wales.
During her voyage, more than a quarter of the convicts died and over a third were hopelessly sick when they landed, with 124 to die soon after arriving.
The Rev Richard Johnson reported the misery of the scene of their arrival as “indescribable ... their heads, bodies, clothes, blankets, were all full of lice. They were wretched, naked, filthy, dirty, lousy, and many of them utterly unable to stand, or even to stir hand or foot”.
These were very humble and the worst of beginnings.
William and Kezia were married at St Phillips in Sydney a few years later. They then carved out a future for them and their family in a harsh colonial environment we now know as western Sydney. They are buried at St Matthews in Windsor together.
The wonder of our country is that out of such hardship and cruelties would emerge a nation as decent, so fair and so prosperous as ours today.
That is what we celebrate.
While our beginnings were marked with the cruelties and dispossession of empire, they were also accompanied by the idealism of the enlightenment age. Australia was to be a great project.
As Doctor Kemp has written this new settlement was “the ideal place to experiment with such radical ideas as broad individual liberty and equality, universal education, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, a new land without slavery, the rule of law, the classless society, private enterprise and later, the political and social equality of men and women”.
It was these ideas, not the cruelty and the dispossession, that prevailed to make Australia great.
These great ideas are the foundation of our modern Australia and that have transformed us into this most recent chapter of our great story – the one we write together today in the spirit of Parkes great vision.
It’s the one that the men, women and children who will join our company today as citizens will now have a hand in writing.
Across our land today 16,212 men, women and children will become citizens today in 365 ceremonies.
They – you – will be endowed with the same rights, the same opportunities, the same privileges and the same responsibilities as each and every other Australian.
You will be passed the inheritance of our history of over 60,000 years in all its chapters and those freedoms.
Recently I received a letter which to me captured what this day and this ceremony are all about.
It was a letter from a man named Vernon, who realised it had been 25 years since he had escaped war and he simply wanted to say thank you.
He wrote of his family’s Australian journey.
“We have not looked back since then, keeping our promise to Australia and its people.
“My wife is a nurse, my older son a teacher. I engage in my passion, art, and my family duties while also helping youngsters in cricket. Like the majority of migrants we pay our taxes without grudge, obey the law, and are grateful for the opportunities offered by this country to live as free and independent citizens.”
Vernon and his family, and the families and individuals here today are all making Australia a better place.
We can be so proud of our national story. Sure it is not perfect, but no country is.
The story of Australia is not the story of a land mass. It is the story of a living, breathing, good-hearted people making the best choices we can, but always striving to be even better.
And now as we begin this citizenship ceremony, you too get to become part of this great story of Australia.
I am glad William and Kezia made the journey, and I’m glad you have too.
Welcome.
Happy Australia Day.
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.
National Flag Raising and Citizenship Ceremony
26 January 2019
Canberra, ACT
Well good morning and happy Australia Day.
Today of all days I want to begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet today, the Ngunnawal people. To elders past and present, I say thank you for the wonderful inheritance you have given to us today, and to the elders of the future, I say thank you as well.
To Your Excellency the Governor-General and Lady Cosgrove, to all our honoured guests here today, colleagues, those who are serving all around the country today and right around the world.
To our new citizens, Australians all.
It was more than a century ago Sir Henry Parkes, the father of our federation, put forward a vision of a united and diverse Australia, intergenerationally bound together by a liberty that transcended race, ethnicity, history and even religion.
Parkes said:
“What we are doing by this great Federal movement is not for us, but for them, for the untold millions that will follow us; until this land of Australia shall gather within its bosom all the fruits of the culture of the world; and until the flag of freedom shall be planted here so firmly and guarded with such a fervent patriotism, that all the powers on earth shall never assault it.”
Today, on Australia Day, we celebrate Parkes’ vision for our nation. A nation that indeed has gathered the cultures and peoples of the world, the most successful multicultural nation on earth, that began with our first peoples.
Yesterday, Jenny and I took our girls to join with the Ngunnawal people here in Canberra, not far from here, to acknowledge and pay tribute to our first Australians and 60,000 years of Indigenous culture and history.
We honoured their resilience, their wisdom, their custodianship and stewardship. The world’s oldest living culture.
A stewardship of sea, mountains, rainforest, deserts, river and rock.
We sat together, Australians all, paying our respects – to those with us now, those who come before and for the future we share together. Acknowledging the first peoples who began our great Australian story.
The next great chapter in that story began 231 years ago today.
It was not a good day for my fifth great grandfather, William Roberts.
Bunkered down in the light starved bowels of the Scarborough with 207 other convicts, he had arrived in Port Jackson after a long and treacherous voyage from Portsmouth.
He was transported for stealing 5 and a half-pound of yarn valued at 9 shillings. It was January 26, 1788. It was a new beginning for him, but it would have seemed a particularly grim one at the time and life was indeed about to get a lot tougher.
Sick, poor, destitute, thrust into an unknown place and an uncertain future.
When the Scarborough returned to New South Wales with the notorious Second Fleet, below deck on the Neptune was Kezia Brown. She was a gardeners’ labourer who’d been transported for stealing clothing. She was my fifth great grandmother.
Seventy-eight female convicts, some with children and infants, were all accommodated on the Neptune, as were some 420 convict men.
The contractors were paid a bit over £17 for each convict embarked. There was no financial incentive to ensure those convicts arrived safe and healthy in New South Wales.
During her voyage, more than a quarter of the convicts died and over a third were hopelessly sick when they landed, with 124 to die soon after arriving.
The Rev Richard Johnson reported the misery of the scene of their arrival as “indescribable ... their heads, bodies, clothes, blankets, were all full of lice. They were wretched, naked, filthy, dirty, lousy, and many of them utterly unable to stand, or even to stir hand or foot”.
These were very humble and the worst of beginnings.
William and Kezia were married at St Phillips in Sydney a few years later. They then carved out a future for them and their family in a harsh colonial environment we now know as western Sydney. They are buried at St Matthews in Windsor together.
The wonder of our country is that out of such hardship and cruelties would emerge a nation as decent, so fair and so prosperous as ours today.
That is what we celebrate.
While our beginnings were marked with the cruelties and dispossession of empire, they were also accompanied by the idealism of the enlightenment age. Australia was to be a great project.
As Doctor Kemp has written this new settlement was “the ideal place to experiment with such radical ideas as broad individual liberty and equality, universal education, freedom of the press, freedom of religion, a new land without slavery, the rule of law, the classless society, private enterprise and later, the political and social equality of men and women”.
It was these ideas, not the cruelty and the dispossession, that prevailed to make Australia great.
These great ideas are the foundation of our modern Australia and that have transformed us into this most recent chapter of our great story – the one we write together today in the spirit of Parkes great vision.
It’s the one that the men, women and children who will join our company today as citizens will now have a hand in writing.
Across our land today 16,212 men, women and children will become citizens today in 365 ceremonies.
They – you – will be endowed with the same rights, the same opportunities, the same privileges and the same responsibilities as each and every other Australian.
You will be passed the inheritance of our history of over 60,000 years in all its chapters and those freedoms.
Recently I received a letter which to me captured what this day and this ceremony are all about.
It was a letter from a man named Vernon, who realised it had been 25 years since he had escaped war and he simply wanted to say thank you.
He wrote of his family’s Australian journey.
“We have not looked back since then, keeping our promise to Australia and its people.
“My wife is a nurse, my older son a teacher. I engage in my passion, art, and my family duties while also helping youngsters in cricket. Like the majority of migrants we pay our taxes without grudge, obey the law, and are grateful for the opportunities offered by this country to live as free and independent citizens.”
Vernon and his family, and the families and individuals here today are all making Australia a better place.
We can be so proud of our national story. Sure it is not perfect, but no country is.
The story of Australia is not the story of a land mass. It is the story of a living, breathing, good-hearted people making the best choices we can, but always striving to be even better.
And now as we begin this citizenship ceremony, you too get to become part of this great story of Australia.
I am glad William and Kezia made the journey, and I’m glad you have too.
Welcome.
Happy Australia Day.
Address, University of the South Pacific - Fiji
18 January 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, everyone. It’s wonderful to be here at USP and to see so many of you here. It’s a great privilege to be here as the Australian Prime Minister and to bring the greetings and the kind affections from the Australian people to all of you.
Can I start by saying vinaka to Professor Pal Ahluwalia for his very warm welcome earlier, and congratulate him on his new role as Vice-Chancellor. Professor, I know you’ll do a tremendous job leading this very important and prestigious institution. I’d also like to acknowledge the sterling efforts of Professor Rajesh Chandra, both to this University and to the Pacific during his decade-long tenure as Vice-Chancellor. To The Hon. Rosy Akbar, Minister for Education, Heritage and the Arts, it’s a pleasure to meet you here today and thank you also for your welcome. To Mr Winston Thompson, the Pro-Chancellor of the University of the South Pacific as well as my colleagues who join me here from Australia, Senator Anne Ruston, the Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific and the High Commissioner John Feakes. I congratulate you again, John, on the tremendous job you have been doing here representing us as our High Commissioner.
I’ve given plenty of speeches at universities in my time but never in a garland like this. I think it’s quite good.
[Laughter]
But it’s all part of the welcome and the culture of respect that is so evident in Pacific cultures all around our region. It’s fair to say there is a lot of affection here today and I appreciate that very much. I understand that is an affection for Australia and while Jenny and I have greatly appreciated the very warm personal welcomes we have had since we have been here, what we understand and all of my delegation understand is that’s a reflection of the affection and the kindness and the warmth that is extended by the peoples of Fiji to Australia and our people.
We are more than neighbours, we are more than partners. As Prime Minister Bainimarama and I have said on each of our discussions so far, we are family. We are vuvale and this principle of vuvale is something we feel very deeply about. It’s a different kind of relationship. Australia has many relationships all around the world and they come by many different names. Some of them are spoken in that special language of diplomacy which diplomats understand and the rest of us would shake our heads at I suppose. But to talk about vuvale is to go beyond diplomacy, it’s to talk about something deep and something rich, something that is very local, something that is very ‘home’ and something which connects peoples more than any words or any documents can.
When you see yourselves as family, a relationship moves beyond a shallow transactional lens. Our relationships, what we do as countries, can’t just be the sum of our transactions and our deals any more than our engagements with each other are the sum of deals, transactions. They extend far more than that and we need to look at them far more than that and our Government is doing exactly as we look out into the Pacific and particularly here in Fiji.
Because when we see things, I think, in a very transactional way, we sell ourselves short and we sell our opportunities short. So it’s an approach, vuvale, in the Pacific that I intend to follow and our Government intends to follow and Australia intends to follow because we believe that is the way that will have the deepest and richest of relationships, because it will reflect our character and our values.
Now it’s true that Australia and Fiji as we are tied also by our geography and our history and for many years our coins even pointed to a shared history as they pointed to a shared crown. Evidence of the confluence of our early histories as nations. On different trajectories when it comes to those issues today, but when you share those beginnings as nations, when you share the beginnings of colonisation and these issues there is an understanding there is an appreciation, I think, whether it’s Australia or New Zealand can have with Pacific nations, particularly Fiji, that many others will struggle to understand. But we have lived it so we get it and I think that provides for a very open and honest and very meaningful dialogue and conversation.
Every day new stories are being created about the connections that are being forged between us. There are thousands of them. They happen on our sports fields, in our churches, in our schools and indeed in our universities. They emerge between our defence and our police forces, our businesses. They are great stories of human connectedness, which is why we are so committed.
I have seen firsthand the enormous potential here in Fiji over a long period of time and I very much welcome the vibrancy of the economy here. Nine years of uninterrupted economic growth bear testament to this, and it’s a credit to all of those who have been able to achieve it, be it through the leadership of the government and their policies or indeed the hard-working people of Fiji, every single day. They’re going out there, running businesses, working hard. That is work that’s respected, delivering an important dividend for Fiji and indeed for our region. A relatively small country, but a big country in many other ways - a diverse and dynamic tourism sector, a country that has produced iconic global brands like Kookai and Fiji Water.
I’ve experienced the talent, the generosity and the energy of the Fijian people and of course - I suppose particularly our rugby players - don’t want to see too much of that energy on September 21 when the Flying Fijians meet the Wallabies in the opening round of Rugby World Cup.
[Laughter]
But somehow I suspect we will and it will be a great contest as always. I saw some of the boys down on the rugby league site there this morning. Of course, we can’t forget the fine young men and women who serve alongside Australians as part of the Australian Defence Force. Three of them, Apaitia Matalau, Tevita Vula and Apete Turuva, proudly returned to Fiji as part of the Australian Navy HMAS Canberra relief operation team assigned to help in Koro Island during 2016’s Cyclone Winston.
Fiji’s leadership role in the region is welcomed and it is understood. Fiji has earned respect for its decades-long commitment to UN peacekeeping operations in some of the most dangerous parts of the world. Let me place on record my deep appreciation and that of Australia, for the sacrifice of Fijians in keeping the peace around the world. More than 50 Fijians have lost their lives, sacrificed their lives serving in peacekeeping missions all around the world. Yesterday my wife Jenny and I went and paid tribute to them. Not only to them, but also to lives lost in the First and Second World Wars in Malaya and other places. But I must admit I was struck by just how many and how great a price has been paid by Fiji serving the cause of peace with the UN. That is something that should be deeply respected by all nations who form part of the UN and by the United Nations themselves. Fijians have paid a great price and they deserve great respect. That is certainly the position Australia holds.
I know it’s a relationship worth nurturing and the same goes for all nations in our Pacific family and that is reciprocated. That’s what we’re doing. Playing our part in our region to secure its strategic place in the world, a stable economically and sovereignty, independence. I saw this firsthand when Prime Minister O’Neil as Chair of APEC drew together the leaders of Pacific nations from right across this region to hear their clear and articulate voice advocating the outlook of the Pacific peoples. It’s a voice we need to hear and pay attention to.
So here, I’m attending to voice my commitment and that of my Government, to listen and to hear all of you. It’s fitting that I’m doing it here at this remarkable university, which is owned by the governments of 12 island nations, proud nations, and has locations in all of them. The University of the South Pacific understands respect, equality and openness. Indeed, it thrives because of all of these things. There is unity of purpose, whether it’s here in Suva, or in Port Vila where I was earlier in the week, or Atafu in Tokelau or any of the other eleven campuses.
We need to take that spirit, and apply it to the leadership of our region as indeed USP is raising up the leaders of Pacific nations in so many roles in business, in politics, in sport, in culture, in family. They’re important jobs, but there are many challenges, global challenges confronting us - and I say ‘us’, and not ‘you’, because we live here. Australia is not a remote observer of the Pacific, it is our home also and we’ve got a stake in what happens here. So we stand with you as we look to those challenges. We know that to succeed, we must work together.
Climate change is one of those challenges and it is an important priority for the Pacific and for Australia. We recognises this and the need for global action. We have a role to play and a responsibility and we’re playing it. If there’s anything that Australia should be known for - and I believe are known for - is that when we make commitments, we stick with them. We have made commitments in the area of climate change and we’re keeping them and we’ll keep them and stick with them and act on them. We will do that particularly here in the Pacific. We remain firmly committed to our international agreements and the targets we’ve committed to under those agreements. We’ve committed to reduce our emissions by 26-28 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030. This is an ambitious target but we will meet it as we have met Kyoto 1, as we will meet Kyoto 2 and as indeed I have said on many occasions, we will meet our 2030 targets at a canter. All so, because we will do what is necessary to meet them. But as we have shown though those earlier protocols, when Australia makes those commitments we have a track record of getting there.
We have helped amplify the voice of the Pacific in critical climate talks, as indeed occurred at the recent APEC meeting in Port Moresby. I particularly want to commend Prime Minister Bainimarama for his role in Fiji’s Presidency of COP23, where you were instrumental in guiding the world’s progress on the rulebook underpinning the Agreement. Just over a month ago at COP24, that hard work paid off with an agreement reached on that very rulebook. We now have a common platform for all countries to account for their commitments and this will guide global climate action for years to come. Fiji’s leadership was critical to this outcome and it would not have been possible without Prime Minister Bainimarama’s drive and energy. He’s a forceful advocate, I’m sure you all know that.
Australia’s commitment to the agreement sits alongside our other efforts across the Pacific to respond to and address climate change with our family partners.
We’ve already committed $300 million on climate and disaster resilience support for the Pacific, more than $200 million of which has already been delivered. In Fiji, Australia has spent $13 million on climate-related activities over the last two years alone, from the reconstruction of health and education facilities following Cyclone Winston, to building climate-related skills and knowledge through Australia Award scholarships. This work will continue well into the future but it will continue directly and in partnership with our Pacific neighbours, partners and friends and family.
So climate change is a significant challenge and an important priority both for us as Australians and for us as a region and I know that is shared with Fiji.
But there are other challenges where we must work together as well. Oceans management is another. We’ve done well to date. The Pacific Ocean is one of the best-managed oceans in the world. In fact, you could even say it’s the best managed. That’s a credit to all of us who call our ‘Blue Pacific’ home. We’re a blueprint for the world - no pun intended - and that’s because we have the right architecture in place and we’re taking the right action. We must do more. For instance, Australia is working with the Forum Fisheries Agency to maximise economic benefits from tuna fisheries for Pacific island countries. We’re also working with the Secretariat for the Pacific Regional Environment Program to support marine conservation. We proudly support the Office of the Pacific Ocean Commissioner in its role strengthening regional oceans governance.
Australia’s interest is not commercial, and never has been. Our only interest has been to support the region and maximise the incomes for Pacific countries that come from your resources in a sustainable way. Fisheries in the Pacific is not unlike resources and mining in Australia and they both have to be sensitively managed for the future prosperity and sustainability of those sectors and for our economies. So we’ll do that by working in partnership.
Now, beyond climate change and oceans, the years ahead will see us confront continued uncertainty around the global economy and trade. We’re very alert to this uncertainty and as a former Treasurer having dealt in many of the international forums, whether it’s the G20 or others. As we face 2019, the global economy is a much more uncertain place than it was 12 months ago and 12 months ago you wouldn’t say it was the most certain of all time. So, we do face a troubled global environment, whether it’s the trade tensions we see between the great powers, or what we’ve seen more recently in Great Britain and Europe. These are interesting times and they do require careful economic management to secure the prosperity of our people. Because it is a strong economy and only a strong economy that you can rely on to ensure that the health services and the other important social services that are provided throughout the Pacific and at home in Australia, can be delivered. Economic management is a necessity, it’s not a luxury, it’s not an add-on. It’s the central and most important challenge of governments.
We’re alive to this and that’s why we’re focused on putting the “P” into “APEC” and to make sure our region’s voice is heard loud and clear, as it was most recently. We’re pushing the ratification of PACER Plus - Australia ratified it at the end of last year. Fiji will make up its own mind, but I think it’s a good deal, I commend it to you. A regional trade agreement that will open new markets and economic opportunities for the Pacific, PACER Plus will be a better and stronger regional agreement with Fiji in it. We see Fiji very much as an economic hub in our region. Every deal is better with Fiji in it in the Pacific, for the leadership role that Fiji plays. I welcome and thank Prime Minister Bainimarama and his Cabinet for the discussions we had on this yesterday and as I announced yesterday, we’re undertaking a new joint study of both the trade and economic impacts of these arrangements and to further pursue those discussions in the weeks and months ahead to assist, facilitate I think, a good outcome in that area. But we’ll do it by partnership, we’ll do it with patience and we’ll do it with respect.
I’d like to also say that human rights and supporting the equal participation of Pacific men and women is also important to our collective future and I congratulate Fiji on your election to the UN Human Rights Council. As the first two members to serve on the Council from our region, I look forward to Australia and Fiji working together to elevate Pacific issues on the Council’s agenda.
Let me now turn to that new chapter I talked about, the vuvale chapter in our relationship now in the Pacific. I’ve returned the Pacific in Australia’s outlook to where it always should have been be; front and centre of Australia’s strategic outlook and foreign policy. This new chapter, our ‘Pacific step-up’ as I’ve termed it, is genuine and authentic. It’s fair dinkum, as I would say. It’s based on respect, equality and on openness. It doesn’t mean we will always agree - I think this is one of the important principles of vuvale - hands up those families in which everybody agrees all the time?
[Laughter]
Not many hands. But you know, the principle of vuvale is that families stay together and they stay at the table, as Prime Minister Bainimarama said yesterday, and they continue to work together and they put family first. That’s how we will work together in this new relationship. If you’re going to step up, you’ve got to show up, as I’ve said in these recent days. Here we are, showing up and the Assistant Minister Anne Ruston will be showing up, our officials and our High Commission will be showing up in the weeks to come. There are more senior officials who will be coming and working through various issues, whether it’s on education, culture or sport, the economy, security, all of these areas. In 1990, the then interim Prime Minister Ratu Sir Kamisese Mara said that Australia and Fiji had “a very strong relationship that may bend, but not break.” I would say it does bend and it must not break and we have a responsibility. They were very wise words.
So when we disagree, we disagree as equals with candour and respect, as family does. The Prime Minister and I have each other’s mobile number, we text each other, we talk about our families, we talk about football and it is a very warm relationship. When we pick up the phone when we have differences, we have a chat and we talk it through. The days of ‘take it or leave it’ are over when it comes to resolving issues. It’s not my style, it’s not Australia’s style, it’s not Fiji’s style. So this is truly a new chapter.
In keeping with our commitment to the Pacific last year I announced a package of measures to deepen Australia’s engagement in the Pacific. One of our most important new initiatives is the joint redevelopment of the Blackrock Peacekeeping and Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Camp into a regional hub for police and peacekeeping training and pre-deployment preparation. It’s an important project and later today, I’ll be travelling to Nadi to break new ground and mark the start of construction.
Australia is also cooperating to develop the PNG Defence Force’s Lombrum Naval Base on Manus Island, a move that will improve the interoperability between our defence forces and deepen regional maritime security cooperation. In Vanuatu, Australia is providing support to the police force so it can train more than 300 new recruits, and pursue other policing priorities. I was there to open the college earlier in the week.
On the economic front, I announced two major initiatives. The first was the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific, a $2 billion infrastructure initiative to significantly boost Australia’s support for infrastructure development in Pacific countries. Just yesterday, when we spoke with the Prime Minister, we have put the Nadi River Project as one that we would very much like to progress and discuss further. We’re looking forward to those discussions. It will be a very important project, I believe, to Fiji’s future prosperity. It will use grant funding, this $2 billion infrastructure initiative, working together with longer-term responsible and sustainable loans to support high-priority infrastructure in areas like energy, transport and water.
In addition to that fund, there is also the announcement regarding the Australia Export Financing agency Efic, with an extra $1 billion in callable capital and increased flexibility to support investments in the Pacific. Efic has always played an important role, it was announced as part of this package from the outset, to work together with the new measures that we announced as well.
Australia’s diplomatic footprint is also changing. We’re extending our diplomatic presence to every Pacific Islands Forum member and over the next few years, we’ll work with countries to establish five new diplomatic missions in the Cook Islands, French Polynesia, Niue, Palau and the Republic of the Marshall Islands. These missions and the ones already established across the Pacific will boast Australia’s best and brightest diplomats with the skills, the energy and the dedication to move our relationships forward. We’re going to clone John Feakes in a special laboratory at the University of the South Pacific.
[Laughter]
We have outstanding people who work in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and in our missions across the South Pacific. You know John, but John and his male and female counterparts around the region are also well respected, as you know, and you would have come across them in various parts of your work. So together with the ones already established across the Pacific, we will have that infrastructure in place.
We’re also creating a dedicated Office of the Pacific within the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to give a loud and authoritative voice with my backing, to be working within or Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Following my commitments to step up our Pacific engagement, the Office will drive the implementation, not just from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, but from a whole-of-government perspective. Countries will continue to engage, no doubt, essentially with each of the individual partners and agencies of the Australian Government. But there will be a champion sitting within the Government which is the Office of the Pacific. And I’m pleased to announce, and he is with us today, that the Office will be headed by Ewen McDonald, whom the Government has asked to return early from his current position as High Commissioner of New Zealand where he has been doing an outstanding job with accreditation also to the Cook Islands and Niue, to take up this important role. Mr McDonald has engaged closely with Pacific counterparts on foreign policy, development and humanitarian issues and has worked hard to ensure Pacific perspectives are heard in international bodies, including the UN. He will build on this even further in his new position. I commend you on this appointment and I thank you very much for taking up the role.
There are practical steps that will make a difference in the Pacific and yesterday, Australia and Fiji took further steps forward in our relationship. They were historic, they were win-win, they were vuvale. That agreement, the Australia Fiji Vuvale Partnership Agreement, will now be negotiated by officials in the coming months, and we look forward to signing it when we welcome Prime Minister Bainimarama to Australia as our official guest later this year.
We also found a lot of common ground as you’d expect, with our shared interests and values and reached agreements across several other areas. We agreed to hold more regular ministerial and high-level meetings and exchanges to explore new opportunities and discuss challenges. We agreed to continue to strengthen our defence and security cooperation. We agreed to deepen our trade and investment relationship and explore future opportunities. We welcome Fiji into the Pacific Medicines Testing Program and we committed to immediately start work on Fiji’s entry into the Pacific Labour Scheme later this year.
And no doubt we will continue to work on our relationship to ensure we can compete on the sporting field, but also building capability with Fiji there. We’ve seen wonderful success with the Fiji Drua in the
National Rugby Championship, winning the grand final in the competition’s second year. So with that in mind, Australia will fund NRL pre-season trial matches in the Pacific in 2020, ‘21 and ‘22 and will support team travel costs for Fiji to compete in the NSW Rugby League Intrust Super Premiership in 2020 which I announced this morning. Netball Australia will receive funding so it can help the Fijian national team prepare for the Netball World Cup later this year.
Before I finish - you’ll be pleased to know it’s almost done -
[Laughter]
I’d like to add one more thing to the measures I’ve listed. Today I announce a new partnership between Australia and the University of the South Pacific - see, it was worth waiting for - $84 million over the next six years.
[Applause]
We do this because it matters and it counts and you get results. USP has a unique role in developing the skills needed to drive the region’s development and economic growth long into the future. Last year, USP - as you noted earlier - celebrated its 50th Anniversary. So did I, by the way. This is a remarkable achievement - not for me, for you -
[Laughter]
Australia is proud to have been associated with USP over the longer term. This agreement will see Australia support efforts to invest in the young people of our region, passionate people, vibrant people, intelligent people, through the focus on improving the quality of teacher education and through the education of students at the tertiary level in fields such as economics, human resource management and tourism management.
It will also promote greater linkages between the USP and Australia’s tertiary education sector. These resources will enable USP to fulfil its bold mission to make higher education accessible around the region, by making university more affordable for young Pacific students. It will also enable USP to lead research of the region in the region, and to showcase Pacific heritage and talent worldwide, like the wonderful performance we have just been able to experience in our time here.
One of the great qualities that Australians admire in Fijians is they have a great sense of what matters in life; family, relationships, community, faith, being connected to home and caring for the environment of home.
I have learned much from Fijians over a long period of time and Fijians and Australians have learned much from each other. Our countries are deeply connected, we are there for each other when things are tough and when things are great.
That’s why I’m confident, together, we can make our region and all of our communities stronger and more prosperous – wananavu, I would say. A common effort, united leadership and purpose. So vinaka vakalevu everyone for coming today and to the University of the South Pacific for being such a generous host and a fine institution.
Thank you.
Remarks at Blackrock Camp, Fiji
18 January 2019
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. I’m very proud to be here at the Blackrock Camp. I have known for some time about these plans, the plan to develop this camp into a world-class training centre. For the past few days, my wife and I and our delegation have been here and we have been talking and progressing many important issues for the relationship between Australia and Fiji. I have spoken a lot about how committed we are to that relationship, for the benefits that flow to both countries and in particular to remark on the benefits to Fiji. But today I also want to talk to my countrymen and women in Australia and say why it is so important that we are here today. A stable and secure Pacific is important for the prosperity of Australia, as much as it is for Fiji and the other Pacific Island nations. The participation that has provided for by Fiji all around the world, is a demonstration of their commitment to a peaceful world but also a stable and secure region.
So this is in our interests too, as Australians. This is in our national interest. I am not just here because I love Fiji - I do, I think that is fairly evident - but I love Australia and having this partnership particularly in these areas for the redevelopment of this site for the purposes for which it is being committed, is very important to Australia also.
Australia and Fiji’s partnership and the partnership between our defence forces is grounded in a shared history of service and sacrifice. Jenny and I were reminded of that sacrifice yesterday afternoon in Suva. 53 Fijians have lost their lives serving in peacekeeping missions around the world and just as I was inspecting the guard and asking them where they had served - Syria, Golan Heights, places such as these - I was reminded again of the great passion for service there is here. Our soldiers have deployed together from Bougainville in the Second World War to peacekeeping operations in the places I have mentioned and also including the Sinai. So I commend Fiji for it’s global contribution to peace and security and acknowledge the great, ultimate sacrifice paid by so many. It must be respected. I know it is here in Fiji, it is respected in Australia and it must be respected by the United Nations also.
You have gone the distance. Last year Fiji celebrated 40 years of continuous peacekeeping service. Your soldiers have served with great bravery and distinction, including in places where others have refused to venture. Not the Fijians. They have come, they have served, they have turned up and shown up and I know that because you often serve alongside Australian Defence Force personnel in these peacekeeping and humanitarian operations. It’s a record of service and sacrifice for which you should be very proud. You have lent a hand also when natural disasters have struck and this camp will be also a place where the skills are learned and passed on about how those roles can be most successfully performed.
The redevelopment of Blackrock is not just about the bricks and mortar. It is a symbol of our partnership, a long-term and enduring commitment. Blackrock will increase the interoperability between our militaries as well as our police forces. Crucially, it will also build the personal links between the men and women of Australia and Fiji who serve in our uniforms, under our flags, to protect our values all around the world. Those men and women who serve in our defence forces are the ballast of our friendship.
So again, I want to say vinaka to you for hosting me and Jenny, my wife, here at Blackrock and all of our delegation. I know this base will help to achieve our shared aspirations for a more prosperous, resilient and secure Pacific. This is what we want for our region - because we want it for our region, but in saying that, we also acknowledge that this is very much in the interests of protecting Australia and ensuring Australian interests are able to be pursued and the prosperity and partnership and peaceful relationship that we share in our region can be maintained as much for Australia as also for Fiji. So I commend those who have got us to today, we have done out bit, we’ve dug a hole, put a bit of concrete in there. The Defence Minister showed a lot of talent there. It’s now over to you to train the men and women who will continue the great work to which they have been called.
Thank you very much. Vinaka vakalevu.
Remarks, Albert Park - Fiji
18 January 2019
Albert Park, Fiji
PRIME MINISTER: Well bula vinaka, it’s great to be here. Back home I’m quite a rugby league tragic, particularly when it comes to my Sharks. But I’m more passionate frankly about how sport can play such a wonderful role in communities. Not just in Australia, but here in Fiji and across the Pacific and we see that in the wonderful boys and girls we’ve just been seeing running around showing us their skills. Some great champions there no doubt for the future. But the great thing when you see kids playing sports - whether it’s rugby league or rugby union or it’s football or netball or any of the things - the great thing you see particularly among the kids here in Fiji, are these teeth! All these smiles, big smiles, they’re having a great time. They’re getting on with each other and it’s a great way to bring communities together, it’s a great way to bring countries together around sport. And nowhere more important than here on this very important oval here in Fiji, which has seen many great contests for Fiji and particularly in the contests domestically here in the local season.
So I’m very pleased to be here and I’m very pleased to be making a number of announcements as part of our arrangements here as part of our Pacific ‘step-up’ program. I said that if you’re going to step up, you’ve got to show up and that’s why I’m very pleased to be showing up here with the Assistant Minister for International Development and the Pacific Anne Ruston, who is also here with me as part of this visit as we’re making a series of announcements.
Over the years, my own local club has had great arrangements and great associations here with local Fijian football. Over the years, we’ve boasted the likes of Junior Roqica as well as – you know Junior well of course – but right now, there’s Jayson Bukuya and I have got to know Jayson quite well over the last few years. He’s not just a great player with a lot of heart and a lot of spirit, he’s a great bloke as well and he shows a real example of leadership within the club and within the community. Beyond the Sharks of course we’ve got the talents of Lote Tuqiri and Noa Nadruku and Petero as well who is well known. It’s great to have everybody here celebrating the great achievements of Fijian rugby league.
So it’s not hard to see why Fiji’s national team the Bati, is such a powerhouse, now ranked fifth in the world and a World Cup semi-finalist in 2017. I know that was a great sense of achievement and the whole nation was very excited about that at the time. Few can forget the win over the Kiwis in the quarterfinals, how good was that?
[Laughter]
Sorry Jacinda, I couldn’t help it and nor could our Fijian friends as well. Australians want to see more of the Bati. Australians, we love the team that does so well and showcases such great sporting talents and we want to see Fiji’s best playing week in, week out against Australian opposition. That’s why today I’m excited to announce that as part of the new Australia-Pacific Sports Linkages Program, Australia will facilitate Fiji’s pathway into the Intrust Super Premiership in NSW in 2020. It’s a dream of many, including Petero who has long wanted to see Fiji compete in one of Australia’s most beloved competitions and I know that I will be tuning in to watch and getting along to a few games, maybe when they’re playing the Jets out there on the weekend, which is a link to the Sharks club.
We also know that we want to see Australian players too enjoying more of their rugby league right here. So we’re going to have preseason NRL matches here, played in the Pacific, starting with PNG in 2020 and Fiji in the following year. I want to particularly thank the NRL and Jaymes Boland-Rudder who is here today, I want to thank them for their participation with the Government in facilitating the entry of those preseason games here in the Pacific and specifically here in Fiji.
And of course, we’re celebrating women’s sport. How good is it see the girls out there playing and matching it up with the boys there, equal skills if not better. We have just had the women’s Rugby League World Cup in Australia just recently and many of the games were played down in my local electorate in Sydney. It was great to see the talent on display and how that part of the code is developing year on year. To see so many girls out there enjoying rugby league and being part of the rugby league community I think is a very positive thing. But in addition to that, they love their netball as well and they’re very, very good at it as we’ve seen with the Fijian players that are participating in our national league.
Our weekends for me and Jenny and our family are very much mixed up between Church, netball during netball season and getting down to see the football when we can. So this morning, it’s a great combination of all three, having just come from the prayer breakfast across the way. Netball is a great sport, it does have a rich history here in Fiji as it does in Australia. Not just for kids, but for adults as well. Over half a million Australian women play netball, it’s second only to swimming in participation and it’s great fun. It’s great to tell you that the Australian Government will be working with Netball Australia so we can help the Fijian national team prepare for the Netball World Cup later this year. We’re also looking forward to seeing the Pearls compete in Liverpool and hopefully go toe-to-toe with our Aussie Diamond girls.
And for our two sporting–obsessed nations, this is really about sharing our common love of sport. These are one of the many values and one of the many things that we share in common as peoples. It lies at the heart of the new relationship, the new stepped-up relationship, the landmark relationship, the Vuvale Partnership that Prime Minister Bainimarama and I have been able to bring together, not just in this visit but in the last few visits that the Prime Minister has made to Australia as well.
So I think it is very fitting that this is part of the new relationship and a growing part of the relationship and I want to thank everybody who has played a role in bringing these announcements together today. Thank you very much to the Minister for your kind words and we look forward to working closely with your Department and your Ministry as our nations become even closer. Thank you very much, vinaka vakalevu.
Joint remarks with the Prime Minister of Fiji
17 January 2019
PRIME MINISTER BAINIMARAMA: Thank you members of the press, I am confident when I say that today’s bilateral was not only a clear success, it truly marks a new chapter in the Fiji-Australian relationship.
The Fijian economy is in the midst of record growth, our people are welcoming unprecedented opportunity and our voice is being amplified around the world. It’s refreshing to see that with Prime Minister Morrison and this new ‘step up’ in diplomacy, this new era of Fijian achievement is finally being given the attention it deserves.
I don’t need to dwell on the fact that in the years after 2006, the Fijian-Australian relationship was put to the test. From my conversation with Prime Minister Morrison, it’s clear now more than ever that we can put this behind us in the past, letting bygones be bygones. As our diplomatic relationship deepens from this meeting, it is my hope that our economies, our people and our partnership will rise to new heights.
Now that we have established a relationship based on trust and mutual respect, I am glad that we will no longer see diplomacy through headlines and hurried phone calls. I look forward to building on this progress with a more open, candid and direct line of communication with Canberra. I am proud to say that Prime Minister Morrison and I have dubbed a new Fiji-Australia Vuvale partnership aiming to consolidate our two countries’ relations in order to leverage new opportunities and address common challenges. In the Indigenous i-Taukei language, Vuvale means family. So I cannot think of a more appropriate name as we reset our relationship with the nation that more than 70,000 Fijians now call home, maybe a little bit more than that.
Prime Minister Morrison and I discussed security and defence cooperation including peace-keeping, border and maritime security, to strengthen relations in this area Fiji and Australia will jointly develop the Blackrock peace-keeping and humanitarian assistance and disaster relief camp in Nadi, something we will see much more of at tomorrow’s site visit. Once completed, the facility will provide an unprecedented level of assistance and safety to Fiji and the Pacific region.
Meanwhile it’s important to recognise that our partnerships today are broadening far beyond security, with Australia offering invaluable technical assistance and capacity-building to reshape and modernise Fijian institutions. Nowhere will this be more evident than in the Fijian classroom as we continue to build upon our ongoing education revolution that is transforming the way Fijians teach and learn, using lessons from the Aussies along the way, to make a more efficient and effective education sector.
We are also committed to further deepening trade and investment between Australia and Fiji. I am passionate about opening up new markets that will allow a new age of ambitious Fijian farmers and entrepreneurs to financial success, while giving Australians access to the quality of Fijian-made goods.
On this note, I thank the Prime Minister for yesterday’s landmark announcement that Australia will be easing restrictions on kava imports, a move that will undoubtedly enrich the lives of Fijian farmers for generations to come. As we look to loosen the flow of goods, we hope to do the same with our people, from easing visa applications, to enacting the Pacific Labour Scheme for the benefit of Fijian workers and Australia.
I hope to see great progress in the establishment of our people-to-people relationships across a broad front in 2019. I’ll have more to say tonight and I look forward to seeing you all at our official welcome dinner this evening. Vinaka vakalevu, thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: It is a great privilege and pleasure to be here with Prime Minister Bainimarama. As we’ve already said today I congratulate him on his re-election and I also congratulate him on his leadership of COP23. It is a privilege to be here with a leader of the Pacific and a leader of his nation and for us to be now taking our relationship between Australia and Fiji to a landmark level, a new level. I want to thank you Prime Minister for the way you’ve described where we’re now heading and what we’re going to achieve in the years ahead. To elevate our relationship, our bilateral relationship to a Fiji-Australia Vuvale partnership, this is really a centerpiece partnership in the Pacific, which speaks volumes about the type of relationship Australia is now looking to establish right across this region. We are different in our association with the Pacific, than almost any other developed nation anywhere else in the world, with the exception of New Zealand; and that is, we live together as a family of nations in the Pacific. Our interactions with each other, our engagement with each other, our partnership with each other, has to be done in the spirit of a family relationship. I think that’s what we’ve been able to achieve here today, in addressing the many issues that are before us and as the Prime Minister has said, they encompass quite a few issues.
Now I’ve learned a few things about the Prime Minister over the last couple of days and in our other meetings we’ve had in Australia. I’ve worked out particularly on this visit that we’ve both chosen well, in terms of Mrs Bainimarama and Jen and it was great for them to be able to meet here and I think we’ve done pretty well, you and I. Maybe punching a bit above our weight, but nevertheless I think we’ve done well and it’s great to have Jenny here as part of this visit. I know she’s been enjoying what she’s been doing this afternoon, visiting schools and other places. But also we share a very strong commitment to understanding that unless our countries have strong economies, then we cannot achieve what we want to achieve for our people.
A strong economy is what delivers our health services, our educations services, our schools, our nurses, our doctors, our disability support, all of these things. I want to commend the Prime Minister for the work that he has done here in Fiji, to strengthen the Fijian economy, an economy which can be battered by natural disasters and Australia is always the first to turn up and assist Fiji when those disasters strike. But it’s the resilience and the planning for the Fijian Government and its leader that enables and has enabled Fiji’s economy to strengthen, particularly over recent times and become able to deal with challenges that we all face into the future.
That’s why our economic relationship is so important to the Vuvale partnership. An economic relationship which sees Fiji very much as a hub in the Pacific economy. That’s why we were pleased today to announce and discuss the new trade and economic scoping study that will assist and inform both parties as we work through the Pacer Plus programme and to also deal with any double tax treaty arrangements which have been raised by Fiji with Australia.
So we have a process to carry those issues forward as to how we can strengthen our economic relationship. But that economic relationship is also strengthened by our investments in education, by our investments in stability within the region more broadly. Because out of stability, prosperity always flows and that’s what our economic agreements - whether they relate to the Seasonal Workers Program and the Pacific Labour Program, it is designed for the shared skilling of our labour forces. In Australia, we have major demands, particularly in our agricultural sector, our hospitality sector, our aged care and disability sector and we believe these programs can really provide support to both skill Fijian workers who will have the opportunity to work in Australia, but also share those skills when they come back and work in Fiji. Dealing with our short-term skills requirements, as well as dealing with the longer-term economic needs of Fiji.
Our comprehensive border security assistance package will help reinforce the integrity of Fiji’s borders and in the weeks ahead there will be high-level delegations coming from our border officials and others across our agencies, who will begin the work of putting the details into those arrangements. Of course there’s the Pacific Maritime Security Program which includes a $2 billion program over 30 years which consists of the replacement of the Guardian Class Patrol Boats, integrated aerial surveillance and enhancements to regional cooperation. Fiji will receive two replacement Guardian Class Patrol Boats under this program.
We’re beginning work on Fiji’s entry into the Australian Pacific Labour Scheme as I’ve mentioned. That has already occurred and we look forward to that playing out over the course of the next year and beyond.
We also welcome Fiji into the Pacific Medicines Testing Program. That’s a joint initiative of the Therapeutic Goods Administration and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Fiji will join nine other Pacific Island countries that are participating in that program.
The Australia University of the South Pacific Partnership will be worth more than $84 million over the next six years and that is Australia’s investment ensuring the tertiary education system that has been provided here, will be able to meet future needs.
We’re also announcing the Australian Government, in partnership with Free TV Australia will commit some $17.1 million to provide 1,000 hours of new Australian television content each year for three years to Pacific broadcasters across the region. That would include opportunities obviously here in Fiji.
Finally, one thing we also have greatly in common is our passion for sport. I welcome the fact that Prime Minister Bainimarama is a Wallabies fan before he’s an All Blacks fan, but he’s always a Fiji fan first. But it is very encouraging to our boys, I’m sure Michael Cheika will be very pleased as I’m sure he already knows about your interest in the Wallabies. But what we’re pleased to say is, that shared passion has a practical element to the relationship between our countries; our Government will be providing support for the travel costs associated with Fiji entering a team to compete in the NSW Rugby League Intrust Super Premiership in 2020. We also look forward to pre-season NRL matches being played in the Pacific, including a match in Fiji in 2021. We’re also celebrating women in sports, particularly in these codes but also the Australian Government will work with Netball Australia to assist the Fijian national team prepare for the Netball World Cup in the UK in July 2019 through in-country support.
So you can see across all these initiatives, whether it’s in the economy, whether it’s in security, whether it’s in culture, whether it’s in sport, this is a broad based relationship. Today I’m just so pleased that Prime Minister Bainimarama and I were able to take that relationship to a new landmark level in the spirit of Vuvale and for that I say to him, vinaka vakalevu.
State Dinner Speech - Fiji
17 January 2019
Suva, Fiji
PRIME MINISTER: Bula. Your Excellency Major General Konrote, President of the Republic of Fiji, who I had the honour of meeting earlier today.
Your Excellency Vice President with us tonight. Prime Minister Bainimarama and Mrs Bainimarama, can I thank you on behalf of Jenny and I and our entire delegation for the warm embrace with which you have met us today and on so many other occasions.
Prime Minister Bainimarama, it has been a wonderful start to our friendship over the past few months. We come here today together with Jenny and our delegation, you have expressed a warmth that has laid the foundation for everything you have just spoken about. Thank you.
The other Ministers who are here this evening to distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attendance.
It is a great honour to attend the State Dinner tonight at this marvellous hotel. This venue and locality, for many of you I know, has a great place in the story of Australia.
Just over 90 years ago, the intrepid and fearless Charles Kingsford-Smith set out on the Southern Cross to make the first trans-Pacific flight.
The flight was to have three legs.
The first: California to Hawaii.
The second: Hawaii to Suva.
And the third was from Suva to Australia.
The longest leg was from Hawaii to Suva and during it Kingsford-Smith and his crew encountered storms, mighty storms.
They were in the air for about 32 hours and mid-flight it appeared for all intents and purposes there would not be enough fuel for them to reach Suva. According to their mid-flight calculations, they were short by about 170 miles.
Not good news. But they improvised, as Australians do and fortunately the weather and fate turned their way and luck was a bit on their side too.
And on that day, 90 years ago, thousands of Fijians waited patiently at Albert Park just next to this hotel.
But it’s not really the place to land a plane, particularly one that doesn’t have any brakes.
One of the crewman laid a rope that from the sky Albert Park was about ‘as large as a pocket handkerchief and not half as useful.’
And with fuel low, Kingsford-Smith flew close to the earth. So close, he scurried over the top of the roof of this very hotel and I suspect if he had hit this hotel you wouldn’t have invited an Australian Prime Minister to have dinner here.
[Laughter]
But thankfully he cleared it.
On that fateful leg, one of the crew had a catastrophic wardrobe failure, a disaster. Let’s just say it was the result of the extreme turbulence.
It was so bad the crewman had to strip naked for the last part of the flight and so as they were landing the plane bounced on the ground and as it hit the ground so hard, that naked crewman fell out of the back of the plane.
He survived, but his pride, I suspect, may have been a little hurt. I can tell you though that Australian national pride wasn’t injured because of the naked crewman.
He was an America.
[Laughter]
To this day, Charles Kingsford-Smith and his memory - and that of his crew - are revered in Australia and Suva played a pivotal role, a vital role in that ultimate achievement [inaudible] about Fiji and Australia and our peoples and our relationship.
And in this Fijian-Australian relationship there is another son I think we should revere tonight and he is Trooper Edgar Wright.
He is a son of Fiji and he is a son of Australia.
He was born in 1892 and home to Edgar was the lush green coconut plantations of Bua. He attended school in Levuka and Suva.
During his formative years he and his brothers made it to Australia.
And Edgar, with his brothers Maitland and George joined the Australian Infantry Force after the start of the First World War.
George landed in Gallipoli and was subsequently injured.
Edgar and Maitland fought in the Sinai as part of the 6th Light Horse.
On the 4th of August 1916, Edgar was in hospital having taken sick and he was in no fit state to be on the front.
But in hospital he heard that fighting had erupted at El Maler and that’s where his brother was and that’s where his mates were.
So Edgar left his sick bed, he obtained a horse, and he rode out to join his mates.
That day Trooper Edgar Wright was struck down by enemy fire.
He was just 24.
This son of Fiji and this son of Australia has written on his tombstone the words, “Not what I am but I do is my kingdom.”
Tonight we pay respect to our peoples, who demonstrate every day that it’s what we do that counts.
What we do as government, and indeed, Prime Minister, what we do as leaders of governments as we are demonstrating.
It should be for them, our peoples as our objectives are here together as we have met today and on other occasions.
Deeds more than words.
Our relationship is anchored by geography, but it is much more than that.
We are not just our geography, we are not just the sum of our deals or funding arrangement, our transactions.
We are the product of values that we share as peoples.
We are both island nations united by a love of family, of community, of sport, of faith, a deep respect for each other in the very proud words but very true words spoken by Prime Minister Bainimarama - that no Fijian is greater than another and no Australian is greater than another.
These are deeply-held values that we share as countries and that when we come together, we demonstrate as to how things should be done.
Our societies are shaped by these beliefs and common traditions and ours is relationship that is the result of deep respect and understanding.
I want to pay respect in particular to Prime Minister Bainimarama’s international leadership on climate change and oceans, I should also note. And your earnestness and passion about this this evening and it was that same passion you took into the leadership of the whole process over the past 12 months.
But not just on behalf, I know, of Fiji, but as a true leader in the Pacific.
So in coming together in the way we’ve done over these months, I’ve come to recognize not just the Prime Minister and leader of Fiji who has shown exemplary leadership and the achievements he’s been able to deliver for his people for so many years.
But a leader in the Pacific, a leader that other leaders of the Pacific look to as well.
Now we also respect Fiji’s service as peacekeepers in some of the most challenging parts of the world.
Jenny and I earlier this evening had the real honour to be able to go and pay our respects to those Fijian servicemen who have laid down their lives in the cause of peace, whether it was in Lebanon, Syria, the Sinai.
Few Australians would know just how many Fijians have made the ultimate sacrifice for world peace in each of these missions, at very difficult times.
It was a great honour as Australia’s Prime Minister to be able to be able to pay our respects, not just for their service but also those Fijians who served in conflicts in World War I, World War II, Malaya and serving in many other nation’s militaries.
But still defending the same values and beliefs they held so dearly and motivated their service.
We pay respect to your government’s ambitious programme of economic reforms. We both have a strong view about a strong economy.
Because without a strong economy, as Prime Minister Bainimarama has been able to lead here for nine years, then you can’t deliver on the health and education services and many other things that progressive societies need to ensure they can deliver for their people.
And we respect – or I should probably say fear – the prowess of Fijians on the sporting field.
For many Australians including me, the links between Australia and Fiji are deeply personal.
360,000 Australians visit Fiji every year.
Jenny and I are often two of them and with Lily and Abbey, four of us.
We’re also proud to be home in Australia, to 70,000 Fijian-born Australians and it’s because of these deep and enduring personal links that Australia and Fiji are more than partners or neighbors.
We are family: vuvale.
One of the risks of close relationships is that sometimes they can be taken for granted and there are periods in our past where that has been the case.
Not now and not in the future, if there’s anything my Government has to do with it.
One of the risks is we take it for granted and we cannot allow those risks to be realised.
Which is why tonight, I announce that Prime Minister Bainimarama and I have agreed to enhance our bilateral relationship through the Australia-Fiji Vuvale Agreement, as we announced earlier also today.
The agreement will add structure to our bilateral relationship.
We will establish those mechanisms, those annual leaders meetings, so these events are not one-offs. That they are part of a process of how we manage our relationship together as family.
The agreement will identify new areas to expand our trade and our investment relationship.
To build our personal connections, including those between our schools and churches and expand our cooperation in areas like peacekeeping, policing and border security.
The agreement will be negotiated by officials in the coming months and we look forward to signing the agreement later in the year, when I have invited Prime Minister Bainimarama and Mrs Bainimarama to visit Australia as our official guest.
Through our Vuvale Agreement we will continue the enormous progress that has been made on the Australia-Fiji relationship.
It will further cement the relationship between our two countries.
Many years ago when I came to Fiji, I learned a word.
I’ve learned many Fijian words over time, I’m not that great at languages, so there must be something special about Fijian and our relationship with the Fijian language.
I was just checking it again today with the Prime Minister, because it does summarise how I feel about what Fiji means to me; it’s wananavu.
[Laughter]
Now, I’m glad people knew what that meant because that could have been very embarrassing.
[Laughter]
I had a friend here many, many years ago who used the word all the time and he would express it with such passion. Everything was wananavu.
And that I think, demonstrates the passion for life and the passion for family, for friendship, for fun and for sport, for togetherness, for fellowship that is so much expressed in the Fijian way of life.
That is something that I think Australians find and indeed I find, completely intoxicating.
It is a way of life that is a real lesson I think to people around the world, when we look at the simple appreciation of the most important things in life, you find that with the families and the people of Fiji.
Prime Minister, it’s been our pleasure to be able to come and share in this few days with you here and with the people of Fiji, as we have built on what I know will continue to be a great relationship.
So I thank you for your leadership and thank you for your hospitality, I commend you on your achievements and particularly on your recent re-election as Prime Minister.
I’m hoping a bit of that rubs off on me while I’m here before I go back to Australia.
But it’s demonstrated that you’re achieving in this country what Australia wants for Fiji and all the nations of the Pacific; independence, sovereignty, prosperity, a bright future, peace and stability.
To see a smile on our children’s faces, it doesn’t get any better than that.
So thank you very much. Vinaka vakalevu.
Joint Remarks with the Prime Minister of Vanuatu
16 January 2019
Port Vila, Vanuatu
THE HON. CHARLOT SALAWI TABIMASMAS MP, PRIME MINISTER OF VANUATU: Welcome Prime Minister, Senator Anne Ruston and other Ministers, senior officials, members of the media. Let me again take the opportunity honourable Prime Minister, to welcome you and the members of your delegation. To the Prime Minister's Office, the [inaudible] of Port Vila, welcome to Vanuatu. I wish to convey that the honourable Scott Morrison, I had a very fruitful discussion with this morning.
I also expressed my delight at meeting him again soon after our very cordial meeting in the margins of APEC in Port Moresby. We had a barbecue and he was kind to invite us leaders of the Pacific to his barbecue.
I also recall my very successful guests of government visits to Canberra in June last year 2018. The honorable Scott Morrison's visit to Vanuatu at this time not only comes at a critical juncture between Australia's and Vanuatu's relationships but also marks a historical milestone for the government to receive such a high-level visit of Australia to Vanuatu. Australia-Vanuatu relations have never been better and will continue to grow stronger on the basis of the principles of mutual respect and equal partnership.
During our discussions this morning, I had also conveyed my desire to this visit to continue to build on recent development in Australia-Vanuatu relations and to strengthen our strategic partnership and mutual development cooperation. Specifically, Australia's assistance throughout the years in the areas of economic governance and financial development, education, health and law and justice has continued to mean the difference of the average people in Vanuatu.
With regards to trade and economic relations, the Vanuatu Government continues to place a specific emphasis on increased trade with Australia. Particularly, incremental increases to its export base and other initiatives. The Productive Sector 2019 is one such initiative, which is aimed at increasing productions and promoting value addition, especially of primary products with cooperative and competitive advantages, both in the domestic and export markets, which is also in line with general efforts to adequately prepare Vanuatu’s smooth transition and [inaudible] status in 2020.
The Vanuatu Government also continues to value its participation in labour mobility initiatives such as the Seasonal Workers Program and the Pacific Labour Scheme, which not only provides important conduits for socio-economic development in Vanuatu but also hopefully address labour shortages in the Australian market.
I also convey the appreciation of the government of Vanuatu and the people of Vanuatu for Australian assistance in the infrastructure development, which remains one of the biggest priorities and challenges for the Vanuatu Government, particularly in the development of climate resilience and quality infrastructure.
The Australian Government also continues to remain an important partner in police cooperation and security, both at the national and regional level. This is also true for the Australian contribution to [inaudible] and assistance in times of great devastation and distress, something which Vanuatu is also thankful. We also discussed opportunities to enhance cooperation in the social sectors of health, education and increased cooperation in sports.
Finally, I would like to commend and thank the Australian Prime Minister for taking time out of his busy schedule to visit Vanuatu and for the ongoing commitment by the Australian Government and people, of Vanuatu's development priorities and aspirations.
Thank you. Thank you, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you, Prime Minister, and it’s a great pleasure for myself and my wife Jenny and the Minister to be here today, to be at this historic first visit between an Australian Prime Minister and a Prime Minister of Vanuatu on a bilateral visit outside of the Pacific Island Forum. It was indeed back in 1990 when Prime Minister Hawke visited here in Vanuatu as part of that Pacific Island Forum.
The first time I came here was off a cruise ship with my parents, I was under 10. It was pre-independence and it is a great thrill to see what has happened here in Vanuatu under independence.
Australia believes in an independent, sovereign, prosperous, free, stable, successful Vanuatu. That's why we're here. Late last year after some months of very detailed work, my Government announced that we were going to ‘step up’ in the Pacific. And if you're going to ‘step up’, you've got to show up, you've got to turn up. With the announcements that we have made last year about our infrastructure facility, about the work we're doing in the Seasonal Labour Programme, the work we're doing to expand skills development across the region, the work that had already been done on things like PACER Plus and initiatives such as this, security partnerships across the region.
Then the task is to show up, turn up and start to roll out the programmes and that's why I'm here today. That's why I was very happy to accept the invitation of the Prime Minister to come. When a family member or a friend invites you to visit their home, Australians more than often say: "Yes, of course we'll come,” and who would ever turn down an invitation to visit Vanuatu? So it’s wonderful to be here and to be with you Prime Minister and to talk about the multi-faceted nature of our very deep relationship. I would agree that it has never been in a better place than it has today.
Our people share so much in common, whether it’s culturally, whether it’s a diaspora of people from across the Pacific including here from Vanuatu, who have made their home in Australia or who come to work in Australia under the various programmes. There is a lot in common in sport, in religion, in any number of issues. So part of our programmes that we’re announcing here today involve those cultural exchanges. They involve supporting the broadcaster here in Vanuatu and the services they’re providing.
We have discussed a range of issues from the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister’s strong commitments to ensuring climate change is addressed here in the Pacific and we share his commitment and we share in our involvement in the programmes which we know can provide the resilience in the
Pacific. Australia has not only maintained our commitment to our targets when it comes to addressing climate change globally, we are stepping up on our commitments here in the Pacific to support Pacific Island nations, including here in Vanuatu, to build the resilience and the capability, whether it’s how roads are constructed, how schools are developed, to ensure that there is a resilience against the impact of climate change here in the Pacific. It is our intention into the future to ensure that more of that investment is done directly with Vanuatu, not through third party agencies or international organisations, but directly partnering directly with our friends and family here in the Pacific to deliver on the programmes which we know can make a real difference to addressing the impacts of climate change here in this region.
But whether it’s PACER Plus – and I’m pleased to announce that today, in response to some outstanding advocacy done by the Prime Minister, because I know this has been an issue for some time - we have agreed that we would be working to put a pilot program together to ease some of the limitations on importation of kava into Australia. But that is for personal use I should stress, and we will run that as a trial program and we’ll get the arrangements in place to ensure that’s properly managed. But that is an expression of our interest in developing trade in the region. Kava is an important product which is produced here and has a great and successful market around the world. We have done a lot of work with Vanuatu to ensure that some of those markets are opened up and that can include now, to a greater extent that has currently existed in Australia, for that to be realised as well.
But of course, our security relationship is incredibly important. Later today we'll have a bit more to say about the commitment we're making to community policing. I want to commend the Prime Minister for the work and the priority he has placed on law and order and community policing and the security of Vanuatu. We're very pleased to work with him and the internal affairs agencies and other departments here in Vanuatu to ensure that it remains the friendly, happy, safe place that visitors who come from all over the world have come to enjoy and come back to enjoy again and again and again.
So there are many commitments, it is a deep and wide relationship. It is one that is based on the principles of family, working together, sharing notes, seeing how we can assist each other as we continue to be independent, sovereign and prosperous countries in our own rights and great friends and equal partners.
Thank you very much.
Remarks, McGrath Foundation Tea
5 January 2019
Sydney Cricket Ground, Sydney NSW
Well thank you very much Adam and thank you for everything you’re doing here for us here today. Please thank Adam Spencer everyone.
[Applause]
Including being a part-time roadie there for a while mate, you’ve got a big future there as well. Can I particularly acknowledge Gladys Berejiklian the Premier of New South Wales, she’s here with us today, thank you Gladys, looking stunning in pink.
[Applause]
Can I also of course welcome our great hosts here, Glenn McGrath and Sarah. Let’s pay tribute to Glenn and Sarah for the wonderful job they do in leading the Foundation. I’m here with my WAG, Jenny Morrison, there she is.
[Applause]
In our house it’s wife and girls and our two girls are riding their bikes down the South Coast today, so they send their apologies. But this is a fabulous luncheon to be at. I remember not long after coming into Parliament, when Jane passed away. I didn’t know Glenn at the time very well. But both of us are from the Shire and I remember how it affected me. I remember how, I think, it affected blokes all over the country. Of course we had a sort of, we knew who Glenn was; he was the great champion and he is a great champion, he is. But in some way, shape or form, we all connected in some way to that great loss at that time.
We held special tributes in the Parliament to Jane, which I led as the local Member for Cook at the time, and it reminded us all - and it was a huge wake-up call - into the insidious issue of breast cancer and how it has affected so many lives, of so many Australians all around the country.
I didn’t come here today to talk about cricket - but I did appreciate the introduction Adam. I was bowled, but it was by Brett Lee – one of my mates said; “Oh you got clean bowled mate.” I said: “But it was Brett Lee for goodness sake!”
[Laughter]
Hope. When I look at this logo here for the McGrath Foundation, that’s the word that springs to mind and how good is Sarah and how good is Rikki?
[Applause]
Because that’s why we’re here today, to support the hope that comes through what the McGrath Foundation does all around the country. I’ve got two young girls, Jenny and I have got two young girls and I’ve been blessed to have my life shaped by so many wonderful women, whether it’s Jen – we’re going on 29 years married next week –
[Applause]
Yeah she deserves congratulations, I assure you, for that. That is quite an innings. But my young girls, who are nine and eleven, Abbey and Lily, if I think about those girls what do I want for them? I want them to have choices in life. I want them to have opportunities in life, like every single little girl growing up in the country today and every woman in this country today; to have that hope, to have those choices. But there are important things we have to do. Of course - as our Government is - of course we’ve got to address issues on everything from parental leave and child care and we’re doing that. We have to address the very difficult issues of things like domestic violence, which we’ve done with some $300 million worth of investment right across the board. We’ve got to invest in economic opportunities, protect women’s super. We’ve got to do all of these things and we are doing all of these things. We’ve seen record jobs growth for women and the gender gap closing on pay.
This is all great. But for that hope to be there, there has to be the health and the wellbeing of women all around the country when they are facing some of life’s biggest battles and there is no bigger battle, as we’ve just heard from Sarah, than when you confront cancer.
We’re making a lot of progress in this area today. Some 90 per cent in fact, of women who are diagnosed with breast cancer now over five years are surviving. That’s a big achievement. It’s the product of many years of research, treatments and advances. Yet 50 women are still diagnosed with breast cancer every day across Australia, making it the most commonly-diagnosed cancer among Australian women. While it’s true that the current five-year relative survival rate is now 90 per cent, I think we can do better. I think we must do better and I think we will do better. We also must remember, it’s not just breast cancer that confronts women, it’s also issues of ovarian cancer as well, which is a terrible claimer of womens’ lives all around Australia.
There’s a programme we recently funded on top of the more than $100 million we’ve put into breast cancer research over the last few years; we’ve just funded a programme which is called Traceback. This programme, this research programme, it’s estimated that genetics and family history are responsible for at least 15 per cent of ovarian cancers . This programme is focusing on women who have previously not been identified as at risk and is an effort to reduce the incidence of ovarian and breast cancers caused by gene mutations. The results will help understand their risks and allow them to take preventative action. Now, Ovarian Cancer Australia believes that this work could prevent more than 2,000 instances of breast cancer and 800 ovarian cancers. This is important research work which we must undertake and we are undertaking. In addition to that, some $17 million was put into PBS medicines in the first Budget I handed down back in 2016/17, for the treatment of ovarian cancer. We have just recently put on a new listing for a drug called Lynparza for serious, high grade ovarian cancer, fallopian tube and primary peritoneal cancer and that cancer has very low survival rates. That caused a reduction in the cost of those drugs for those women who are accessing those drugs, from $90,000 a year, to $40 dollars.
Now there are many things I think we can be very proud of in this country - but the fact that we can list these drugs on our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and because we’re a prosperous country with a strong economy and a sound Budget, we can invest in those lifesaving medicines. It makes all the difference.
In this year’s Budget, we invested $703 million to list Kisqali on the PBS. This is a breast cancer medicine, it’s life-changing. This will reduce the cost of that medicine from $71,820 a year for patients, now down also to just $40. This investment will mean more than 3,000 Australian patients with inoperable or metastatic hormone receptor positive breast cancer will benefit from the 1st of July last year. In addition we listed a new Medicare item on 1 November a few months ago, for 3D breast cancer scans, to help 240,00 women each year and a further Medicare item for the genetic testing of breast and ovarian cancer with a $1,200 Medicare rebate.
So we’ve been putting in. We really believe that we can do even better and today I’m announcing that we’re going to do better. As some of you already may have read, today I’m announcing that our Liberal National Government will increase the number of breast care nurses funded by the Federal Government to almost 100, with a funding injection of $27 million to the McGrath Foundation to support women with breast cancer.
[Applause]
We’re pleased to be able to do it but we can only do it because of the hard work of Australians. The Australians who have gone out there, started businesses, worked hard, generated the strong economy we have today. It means we can do this.
That’s what the strong economy is for; it’s for this. It’s for the same reason you’re gathered here today, the same reason Gladys and I often talk about this. It’s not an end in itself, it enables us to have a strong society where we can invest in the care and the medical needs of our people, whether they’re women suffering from breast cancer and living through and defeating breast cancer, as you’re hearing today from Sarah, or they’re young children dealing with other life-threatening diseases and conditions. A strong and prosperous society can win against these things and that’s why it’s so important we keep on that track. The doubling of funding will ensure 98 specialist breast care nurses by 2022/23. That builds on the $20.5 million already invested by our Government in this initiative. The funding will add another 41 nurses to the current team of 57 funded by the Government.
[Applause]
That means more than 30 specialist nurses will now be dedicated to supporting – I’m going to get this word right by the end of this speech – metastatic, metastatic – you can tell I’m not a doctor. But it’s important, metastatic breast cancer requires complex care and these nurses will now be able to spend more time supporting patients and their families, as you’ve already heard about how Rikki has done.
The McGrath Breast Care Nurse Initiative has supported more than 33,000 people since 2008 and was created to support women everywhere suffering from breast cancer, particularly in rural and regional areas. When I go out into rural and regional areas, there are so many places - particularly in New South Wales, but I know it’s all across the country - where people speak so fondly of the mercy and the hope that was delivered by the McGrath Foundation.
Now Jenny and I had the opportunity to host the Indian and Australian Cricket Teams at Kirribilli earlier this week and now I have the opportunity to say some things about Glenn McGrath. He’s a very special guy and it’s not just because he lives in the Shire – although that’s pretty good thing, as Glenn would agree.
[Laughter]
For most cricketers, their record is found in the stats. But there are a few whose record goes well beyond the stats of what is earned out there on the field and Glenn has done that. He’s a great cricketer, he’s a great Australian and he’s proudly still calling my beloved Shire home. He played in 124 tests and took 563 test wickets – “Ooh Ahh!”
[Applause]
A tremendous record. But it doesn’t compare to something I’ve gotten to know about Glenn over the last decade; he’s a great dad, he’s a wonderful husband and he’s a true community leader. He has turned the most – I couldn’t imagine and I don’t want to imagine, but we have to – he’s turned one of the most terrible of circumstances in life that you could imagine, for him and his then very young family, the loss of his wife and mum in Jane, to something amazing. Out of the ashes he has built something incredible; he has made other lives better and the country loves him for it. So they should.
[Applause]
In closing can I thank all the dedicated staff and the volunteers at the McGrath Foundation who are here working amongst you today, for their hard work and outstanding efforts. Congratulations to you.
[Applause]
I particularly thank all those amazing breast care nurses all across Australia for looking after up to around 200 cases a year.
[Applause]
What you do every day is inspirational. And finally, thanks to all of you for being here and showing your support for the McGrath Foundation. As your Government, we’re putting in and you being here, you’re putting in. As a country, as a community, we’re having a go so those with breast cancer get a go.
Thank you very much.
New Year's Day Cricket Reception remarks
1 January 2019
Kirribilli House, Sydney
Well thank you very much Bridget, welcome everyone. It’s wonderful to have you here at Kirribilli House. Can I particularly extend a very warm welcome to His Excellency the Governor-General who is here with us today. He is my neighbour, he has popped across. I was going for a swim yesterday afternoon and he said, “You got all those cricketers coming over tomorrow?” He was standing up on the balcony. I said, “Yeah.” He said, “Do you mind if I pop over?” I said, “Sure, that’s what neighbours do at this time of year when you have people around. So Your Excellency, it’s great to have you. High Commissioner, it’s wonderful to have you here. Consul-General, to Michael and Catherine, Deputy Prime Minister, thank you for being here today. Michael is an absolute cricket tragic, he is the one who you know keeps that spirit alive in our Government in particular and it’s great to have you both here, just come down from Queensland this morning. To Bridget and David, of course, to Marise Payne and Stuart Ayres - there’s fewer people more passionate about sport in New South Wales than Stuart Ayres, also the Sports Minister here in NSW - great to have you here with Marise. David and Dotte Coleman, the Minister for Immigration, thank you so much for coming.
Can I also particularly acknowledge all of the teams that are here today, both of them, and they will I think want to welcome a couple of legends of the game who are with us today. That’s of course Greg Chappell who is here, who I grew up watching, and Ravi Shastri of course, the coach of the Indian team. And there are few better than ‘Ooh Aah’, Glenn McGrath. Here he is. Glenn, it is wonderful to have you here today because you are not just here because you’re one of the greatest to ever play for Australia but you’re here because you have shown, I think, Australians that when you’ve achieved something remarkable in sport how you can translate that to an enormous gift to the Australian people that you have been able to do with the McGrath Foundation. So to Sara and to Glenn, we really appreciate having you here, and Holly as well who is head of the McGrath Foundation. Over 100 breast cancer nurses now right across the country. It is one of the organisations that I often refer to when I’m talking to people coming from overseas and they want to know about various organisations in the country. And it’s not just because he was born in the Shire but it is more to than that, it says so much about how in Australia we are able to link sport, the community of sport and to able to convert that into something, giving back to a community and to people who really need it. And Glenn is someone who have never forgotten where he is from, and to understand the challenges faced by women facing breast cancer in rural and regional areas, that’s something he knows about. In fact, when I was with Michael and we went up to Quilpie not long after I became Prime Minister, the family we met, the Tullys, they had had their own battle with breast cancer when we were there and they were very well aware of the McGrath Foundation and the work they do. So Glenn, it is wonderful to have you here.
I won’t go on too much today other than to say that this is a great tradition, having both of the teams, the Indian team and the Australian national team here together at Kirribilli House. It was something that was initiated by the first Prime Minister to make this his residence, John Howard, many years ago. And he was truly Australia’s greatest cricket tragic. And remains so to this day and he sends his apologies today. He was invited along today but he is away on holiday. But he wanted me to pass on his best wishes, and also from Jeanette. It’s also a great tradition of the Pink Test. The Pink Test has been completely embraced by Australians, particularly by Sydneysiders. And it’s going to be tremendous for those players who haven’t experienced it before who are visiting or even in our national team, you will be able to take part in something truly that is part of Australia’s both sporting calendar but also I think our cultural and community calendar. It’s a tremendous day that everyone gets involved in, we all don the pink as many of us have today and I think that’ll be tremendous.
It was Alfred Deakin, our second Prime Minister, who first talked about the relationship between Australia and India. He visited and he came back and he said that the distance will be diminished year by year between Australia and India. And that is no more true than where we are today. There is some - as David Coleman knows - there is some 700,000 people living in Australia today of Indian descent, and there is 87,000 Indian students here in Australia. Which explains all those cheers you can hear down at the G or anywhere else. There is a pretty big following when it comes to the Indian national team coming and playing here. And so it is a very strong people to people relationship. But the great thing about the relationship is it is built on shared values. We believe the same things. We have the same passions. And there is no greater example of that than our shared passion for cricket, our national game in both of our countries. And this particular exchange we have seen between our two teams over this Test Series has been enthralling. This is about the only time of the year I get to sit in front of the box and watch a bit of it, signing Christmas cards and doing those sorts of things as I enjoy doing over recent days and recent weeks. This series, despite the Australians loss in the Boxing Day Test, but to pick up the win in Perth and the first Test over in Adelaide, it has been an enthralling series. And I’ve got to tell you - particularly the Australia boys - when I was over in Iraq, visiting our troops, that was one of the first things that they wanted to know about. They wanted to know all about the Test and how that was going and what was going on back home when it came to the cricket. And the Border-Gavaskar Trophy has got a great history. Now, there is a lot to play for in this Test. There is a lot to play for. If the Indians can secure this Test Series, it’ll be their first win on Australian soil. So no pressure, no pressure.
[Laughter]
But also, it is a great thing for the Australians to defend that record, and I am reliably informed that in the Border-Gavaskar Series going back now over 20 years, India has won 19, Australia has won 18 and there are 9 draws. So looking forward, Justin and Tim, to seeing that levelled off as we wrap up the Test Series here in Sydney.
Can I congratulate Ravi Shastri and Virat Kohli for the way that your team have played in this Series and the great exhibition you have put on all around Australia. I think Australians have enjoyed it thoroughly and there is still a lot more to enjoy in what I understand will be a turning wicket. So Nathan, do you best mate. Do your best. Live up to that ‘GOAT’ nickname and ensure it turns to your favour.
[Laughter]
But also, can I congratulate Justin and Tim. Leadership comes to you on occasions and you’ve got to step up. And in very difficult circumstances, to both Justin and Tim, I want to commend you for the way you have conducted yourselves, for the way that you have led your team and for the way you have stood up into the role into the role that you’ve been called on to play. And you’ve done it, I think, with tremendous humility, with a real sense of purpose and despite the challenges that have come your way, you have the best of Australian cricket in both of your roles and I’d like everyone to congratulate Tim and Justin.
[Applause]
Buddy agrees.
[Laughter]
So look, thank you all for coming today. I wish the players all the best in the coming days as we go into this last epic Test. It’ll be a great showcase for the game, it’ll be a great showcase for the talent on display. But most importantly, I think it’ll be a great showcase for the heart of Australians as they all reach out and they seek to support the McGrath Foundation, Glenn, in memory of Jane in particular, and I think everyone will be out there remembering here great legacy and a legacy that has been able to be lived on through the McGrath Foundation and particularly through the Pink Test. It is going to be a cracker. Thank you very much.
Address to the Sydney Institute
15 December 2018
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you very much, Gerard, and particularly to my ministerial colleague Senator Payne, it’s great to have her back straight off the plane from Myanmar where she’s been over the weekend, to Nick Greiner who’s here as well, I see an old Treasury secretary over there John Fraser, good to see you Frase. Thank you all for coming together on a Saturday and I want to particularly thank Gerard and Anne for bringing the members of the Sydney Institute here together on a Saturday, and so I thank you for your attendance.
What is most important to me as Prime Minister is that I seek to humbly do everyday things that make Australia even stronger than we are today, both now and in the future.
To protect what we already have as Australians, and to do everything we can to ensure that we are stronger so Australians can realise their opportunities for the future.
Keeping our economy strong through lower taxes, supporting small and medium sized family businesses, supporting infrastructure in our cities and our regions and all across our vast country, so I can guarantee the essential services Australians rely on. That’s what the stronger economy’s for. Medicare, hospitals, schools, affordable medicines, aged care, support for our veterans. That’s why I am so focussed on achieving a stronger economy because that’s what realises those services.
Keeping Australians safe, whether it’s protecting our kids on-line from cyber bullying, keeping families safe from domestic violence, protecting Australians from the threat of terrorism, keeping our borders strong, and the institutions and frameworks that keep our borders strong, or defending our values and our freedoms at home and around the world through our Australian Defence Force.
And keeping Australians together, by ensuring we show respect for each other, for older Australians in residential aged care, removing needless- and preventing needless conflict and provocation in our workplaces – so employees and employers can work together for the good of themselves and their enterprise. Listening to young Australians, in particular, who want to ensure our environment is protected for the future – and that we address climate change. And respecting migrants who came to Australia, whether recently or many generations ago, because we are a successful multicultural society and because they believe we would respect religious freedoms.
Even stronger, that’s what I want Australia to be.
And to protect Australia from the things that would make us weaker - a weaker economy, weaker borders, weaker protections for our national security, weaker respect for the freedoms and the values that have made Australia the great country we are today.
A stronger Australia will always stand up for what we believe in. And that’s why I have come here to address you today.
In my first major foreign policy speech in Australia as Prime Minister, I said that our foreign policy “defines what we believe about the world and our place in it”. Foreign policy must speak of our character and our values. What we stand for. What we believe in and, if need be, what we’ll defend. And I made this point: Those who see foreign relations through a narrow, transactional lens sell Australia short.
Australian is more than the sum of our deals. We’re much bigger than that. We are a principled and pragmatic people. Clear about our beliefs yet realistic about the world that is around us. We pursue an ambitious agenda in the Indo-Pacific, we are a regional power with global interests. We have a responsibility to contribute to debates that shape our world, and the world does listen. And to do so in a constructive and innovative fashion. Always seeking to focus on the problem we are trying to solve.
So much of our prosperity and security is dependent on the world beyond our borders, we’ve always been an outward looking country. Almost 40 years ago, Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser, in the context of debates over the Middle East, the Cold War and Apartheid, explained why Australia should always participate in global debates.
He gave three reasons.
First, “Too many Australians have died in places remote from their home – in Europe, in the Middle East, in South-East Asia – for us to be unconcerned about the preservation of world peace. Their sacrifice not only confers a right but imposes a duty on Australia to speak on these issues”. Second, “the middle-ranking countries of the world should recognise they have a role to play. It would not only be foolish,” he said, “but a political and moral failing to assume that nations such as Australia should be seen and not heard on the great issues” as he described them. And third, “in a Western world characterised by a great deal of self-doubt and division, and by a degree of disillusionment which has not yet been wholly overcome, every contribution to clarifying issues and strengthening resolve is valuable”. I agree. In an age of renewed global uncertainty, Australia should seek to clarify issues and strengthen resolve based on the principles and the beliefs we hold dear.
To that end, today I want to update you on steps our Government is taking, as Liberals and Nationals, to add clarity to our voice on important issues, consistent with our values and our national interests.
The first issue I want to address is the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action or JCPOA as it is known – otherwise known as the ‘Iran nuclear deal’. Struck in 2015, the JCPOA resulted from a decade of negotiation. It included the United States, China, France, Germany, Russia, the EU and the UK, as well as Iran as its signatories. As we know, the United States withdrew from the agreement in May of this year.
Criticisms were made of the agreement including inadequate inspection and verification mechanisms and its narrow scope. In response to this, on the 16th of October I announced a without prejudice review of the JCPOA. We should take a look, we should assess these suggestions in light of concerns raised with me about its effectiveness including concerns raised here at home. I asked my department to lead a team of experts drawn from across government to examine these and other criticisms and potential weaknesses. The Review team consulted widely with Australia’s international partners in the US, Europe, Middle East and Asia and with the International Atomic Energy Agency. I sought views from experts outside government, I also discussed the matter with a number of foreign leaders during the recent summit season.
The review team examined if the JCPOA is delivering what is intended. The conclusion from the Review team is that, on balance, it is, and that’s welcome news.
Substantial restrictions on Iran’s nuclear activity remain in place. The International Atomic Energy Agency has verified on 13 occasions that Iran’s actions remain in keeping with the deal’s limits. The deal took Iran from the brink of having enough fissile material for a nuclear weapon to a place where the international community has daily oversight of its nuclear activities.
These are worthy achievements.
Iran is well-placed to expand its enrichment capacity rapidly if the deal were to break down. So maintaining support for the JCPOA serves our interests in nuclear non-proliferation and in reinforcing the rules-based international system. It is consistent with Australia’s position on other non-proliferation issues, for example, support for a negotiated deal on verifiable de-nuclearisation on the Korean peninsula. And it serves our interest in encouraging rules-based approaches to resolving other issues of international concern, including the South China Sea.
But as the deal was only ever designed to cover nuclear issues, it’s not the full story and that’s where most of the frustration I think has been.
Our concerns about Iran relate not to what is in the agreement, but what’s not in the agreement. The agreement does not address Iran’s destabilising activities in the Middle East and beyond. It does not address Iran’s proliferation of ballistic missiles and technology, and activities undermining Israel’s security, and support for terrorist groups. These activities are ones the global community must act on.
So today I am announcing that Australia will add to our already substantial support for international efforts, particularly in relation to Iran’s ballistic missile proliferation and Iran’s support for destabilising activity.
Australia continues to apply sanctions required under UNSC Resolution 2231 on nuclear and ballistic-missile related materials. We will also continue to apply autonomous sanctions on the export of arms and related materials. Working with our partners, and consistent with our obligations under UN Security Council resolutions, Australia will work to tighten the net on Iran’s missile proliferation networks and support for activities that are destabilising the region. We will keep the option of additional autonomous sanctions under active review.
In the Financial Action Task Force – an international body tasked with combating counter-terrorism financing – we will support the imposition of countermeasures if Iran does not meet its commitments to address its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing deficiencies.
Now turning to broader Middle East issues, I have also been concerned for some time about the ratcheting up of rhetoric and action aimed at isolating Israel.
We regard the biased and unfair targeting of Israel in the UN General Assembly in particular as deeply unhelpful to efforts to build peace and stability. The UN General Assembly is now the place where Israel is bullied and where anti-Semitism is cloaked in language about human rights. It is where Israel is regularly accused of what Rabbi Jonathan Sacks called the “five cardinal sins against human rights: racism, apartheid, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing and attempted genocide.”
Think about it: a nation of immigrants; with a free press; parliamentary democracy; financially prosperous; the source of tremendous innovation in the world; and a refuge from persecution and genocide, is somehow the centre of cruelty in the world.
It's ridiculous. It is intellectual fraud.
To the point where we seem to be heading closer, now, to the dispiriting decade of the 1970s when it comes to ritualistic denunciations of Israel, compromised and hypocritical global processes, a capacity to look the other way when it comes to terrorist organisations, and widespread fatigue in Western societies about the lack of progress.
Last year, there were 17 UN General Assembly resolutions critical of Israel. This compared with a total of five for all other countries: Myanmar, the Syrian Arab Republic, Russia’s actions in Crimea and Ukraine; Iran and North Korea. But 17 in relation to Israel.
This year, the UN Human Rights Council passed six motions condemning Israel, compared to a total of 14 across the rest of the world. And last month, at my direction, Australia opposed six resolutions that attacked Israel in the UN General Assembly. These included the ‘Jerusalem’ resolution, which contains biased and one-sided language attacking Israel and denies its historical connection to the city, and the ‘Peaceful settlement of the question of Palestine’ resolution, which confers on the Palestinian Authority a status it does not have. In the past, we had abstained on these resolutions. Not anymore and not on my watch.
The standard you walk past is the standard you accept. We all know that principle.
We won’t turn a blind eye to an anti-Semitic agenda masquerading as defence of human rights as a nation like Australia.
Last week, Australia supported a UN General Assembly resolution to condemn the egregious and ongoing violent acts of the terrorist organisation Hamas. Hamas are violent extremists. Terrorists who use the Israel-Palestinian conflict as an excuse to inflict terror. They should have no friends at the UN. The failure of the resolution to pass with the requisite majority was appalling.
Australia condemns Hamas’ activities in the strongest possible terms. Why others failed to do so is evidence of the stalemate that has been reached where sticking with your side is blind to denouncing terrorism. That’s how bad it’s got.
Now that is not to say that we are not ever critical of Israel. Indeed, we will, if need be, openly rebuke a sincere friend, because friends should speak freely. The Australian Government has expressed our strong concern over Israel’s land appropriations, demolitions and settlement activity. I indeed have done that directly, Prime Minister to Prime Minister. The settlements undermine peace – and contribute to the stalemate we now see.
But we make the point, the international community must move beyond ritual denunciations of Israel, to urge a return to negotiations towards a two-state solution.
If anything, the ritual denunciations are getting in the way of that progress. Australia’s national interests are well served by our productive and increasingly diverse relationship with Israel. Australia has always been one of Israel’s greatest friends and I intend for that to remain the case. This is underpinned by our nation’s shared values, including our commitment to democracy and the rule of law.
Australia also benefits from a vigorous, creative Jewish community here in Australia who most recently welcomed not that long ago, along with all Australians, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s visit to Australia in February 2017, the first by a serving Israeli Prime Minister. Modern Israel is a vibrant multicultural democracy with a strong economy and world-leading industrial, science and research capabilities.
Despite having the most powerful military in the region, Israelis live each day under existential threat. Since 1948 Israel has fought numerous wars with their neighbours and thousands of skirmishes which are a constant reminder of the daily threats they face. My own visit to Israel many years ago and my interactions since have confirmed to me the future is not something Israelis take for granted. It’s not something they can take for granted. We should also not allow ourselves the indulgence of thinking otherwise for our great friend. We should understand what they live with everyday.
Over the past two years alone, Australia and Israel have expanded cooperation in defence industry and aviation security. It remains in our national interests to see Israel succeed as a liberal participatory democracy in the Middle East, and we regard it as imperative that Australia continues to strongly support its right to exist within secure and internationally recognised borders.
So this brings me to the Middle East peace process itself, including the status of Jerusalem.
Australia has a deep interest in seeing the emergence of a successful two-state solution. Not just as a country seeking to strengthen resolve and clarify issues, but because of our history as well. Last year, Australia commemorated the centenary of the Battle of Beersheba – a battle that is a proud part of Australia’s history. We proudly recall that it was Australia that chaired the Committee that recommended to the UN General Assembly the creation of the state of Israel and then voted in favour of the partition of Mandate Palestine. We are also proud to have been the first nation-state to vote to do so – and we did so because after the horrors of World War II, we wanted a refuge from man’s inhumanity to man.
We have turned up; we have played our part; we have done our share and we have paid the price through great sacrifice. That’s what gives us a microphone on this topic.
As a practical demonstration of our ongoing commitment to peace in the Middle East, Australia has had military observers with the UN’s Truce Supervision Organisation since 1956. Our contribution to UNTSO forms the fifth largest contingent of the entire operation and represents Australia’s longest commitment to any operation. We continue to make substantial contributions to security and stability in the Middle East because it is in our interests to do so. Around 1,200 ADF personnel in the Middle East are promoting regional security including as part of the Global anti-Daesh Coalition and, at the request of the Iraqi Government, training Iraqi security forces. An Australian frigate patrols in the Gulf and Bab al Mandab Straits in support of regional security and freedom of navigation as part of a multinational naval force. An Australian commands the Multinational Force and Observers in the Sinai overseeing the Camp David Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel. We have made a difference to thousands of refugees in the region through our humanitarian contribution of over $600 million to Syrian and Iraqi refugees since 2011. And we continue donations to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East of $41 million in 2017-19.
In short, our credentials as a force for security and stability in the Middle East are beyond question.
Our commitment to supporting peace in the Middle East and for Israel to peacefully exist within secure and internationally recognised borders has always been accompanied by our commitment to the two state solution.
The UN Security Council has consistently endorsed a two-state solution, negotiated directly between Israel and the Palestinians, as the way in which ‘final status’ issues are to be resolved. These ‘final status’ issues include the status of Jerusalem, the right of return of refugees, the status of Israeli settlements, and the provision of security and the future borders of a Palestinian state.
Successive UN Security Council resolutions have laid down expectations of UN member states on a range of related issues. Since the Oslo Accords of the 1990s, public support for a two-state solution has now diminished inside both Israel and the Palestinian Territories. Today, neither Israel nor the Palestinians view the other side really as a genuine partner for peace. Though a two state solution remains the only viable way to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, the obstacles, we must admit, to achieving such a solution are becoming insurmountable. We hope not.
The lapse of time and the failure to progress the negotiations I believe has changed the Israeli-Palestinian situation.
A rancid stalemate has emerged. Slavish adherence to the conventional wisdom over decades appears only to be further entrenching this stalemate, providing a leave pass for continued inaction. For everyone to just keeping doing what they’re doing, and looking the other way. Don’t raise the issue, just keep doing what you’re doing.
Pious assertions about a commitment to a two-state solution strain credibility if we’re not prepared to question the conventional wisdom about how we believe this goal can be achieved. Expecting a different outcome while continuing to do the same old thing is not the way, as particularly my Cabinet colleagues know, is not the way I deal with problems.
So, Australia acknowledges that Jerusalem’s ultimate status, including its borders and boundaries, is a final status issue to be resolved between the parties. That’s uncontested.
We also know that as those issues are debated they are hotly contested in terms of their detail, and there are a range of strong views on these issues around the world. We acknowledge there are other views, and remain committed to engaging positively with all of our partners and neighbours who have different views on this topic. That’s OK. And we are confident that others will respect the views we ourselves form when we do so in a respectful and honest way.
Fundamentally, it is the right of every country to determine its national capital.
That is why the Government I lead asked the question about the position we have long adopted in relation to Jerusalem, with respect to achieving a two state solution. This very act of daring to ask that question drew the usual criticism. We hadn’t made a decision, we said we want to take a look at this, there are some rather persuasive arguments out there. As a country we should stop and look at this. And our very decision to do that was decried, it was mocked even, including from our political opponents. Now they either wittingly or otherwise wish to remain wedded to a status quo that is failing. They’re in the ‘leave it well alone category’. They can’t even tell us today whether they think we should ask the question, or even the answer we propose they can’t even agree with. Well people will know where we stand.
So on the 16th of October in asking this question I announced a review of Australia’s policy on the status of Jerusalem.
I asked the departmental secretaries from Prime Minister and Cabinet, Foreign Affairs and Trade, Defence and Home Affairs to conduct the review. They met with a broad range of Australian community representatives, including some eminent Australian policymakers: former heads of various agencies and departments whether in Defence, Foreign Affairs or Prime Minister and Cabinet; they consulted Australia’s partners and allies overseas, including those most closely involved in the Middle East peace process. I did similarly as I went through a range of bilaterals over the last month or so.
The starting point for their deliberation was Australia’s absolute commitment to a two-state solution, these are the guard rails, with a secure Israel and future Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security within internationally recognised borders. I also required that their deliberations respect Australia’s obligations under international law and UN Security Council resolutions – two things that are fundamental, I think, to Australia’s interests in a rules-based order. You can’t look at these things in isolation. Our foreign policy is guided by our fundamental interest in ensuring that internationally agreed rules continue to safeguard our security and prosperity. We don’t get to pick and choose.
In the United Nations and G20 we have promoted the benefits of a rules based order and in holding states to account. We have imposed sanctions on Russia in response to its violation of Ukraine’s territorial sovereignty. We have called on states to comply with Security Council Resolutions on a range of matters, including the downing of MH17, North Korea’s weapons programme and the Syrian conflict. Accordingly, respect for UN Security Council resolutions is a relevant factor for Australia that we can’t put to one side as we consider our position on these issues.
Now, Australia is subject to UN Security Council resolutions that apply to the Jerusalem issue, including Resolutions 478 and 2334.
The review team made recommendations after they’d completed their considerations to the National Security Committee earlier this week, with the resolution of the NSC then confirmed by Cabinet the following day. Since then the Government has engaged in briefings with our neighbours and allies to outline Australia’s new position.
The Government has resolved that Australia’s position is now as follows: Australia now recognises West Jerusalem, being the seat of the Knesset and many of the institutions of government, is the capital of Israel. West Jerusalem is the capital of Israel. And we look forward to moving our Embassy to West Jerusalem when practical, in support of, and after final status determination. We have decided to start the work though now to identify a suitable site for an Australian embassy in West Jerusalem.
Out of respect for the clearly communicated preference of the Israeli Government for countries to not establish consulates or honorary consular offices in West Jerusalem, the Australian Government will establish a Trade and Defence Office in West Jerusalem. With deepening defence industry ties and Australia-Israel trade now running at over $1.3 billion per year, this will help continue to build our strong bilateral relationship.
Furthermore, recognising our commitment to a two state solution, the Australian Government has also resolved to acknowledge the aspirations of the Palestinian people for a future state with its capital in East Jerusalem.
Australia believes this position respects both our commitment to a two-state solution and longstanding respect for relevant UN Security Council resolutions. It’s a balanced view, it’s a measured view, it’s a well considered view. It reinforces our clear view that the status of Jerusalem can only be resolved through direct negotiations between the parties consistent with relevant Security Council resolutions.
All of our actions, from our efforts in the Pacific to our peacekeeping forces and our presence in the Middle East, are reflections of our commitment to an international order that encourages freedom, peace and prosperity.
So in conclusion, I’m about hope for better. I’m optimistic by nature and by spirit. All of our actions, from our efforts in the Pacific – and I particularly want to commend Marise Payne and Christopher Pyne for the work that is being done on our ‘step up’ initiative in the Pacific – it has had an extraordinary response. From the Southwest Pacific nations themselves who we just see as family and who just see us as family. But to the broader world of France, the United Kingdom, the United States, Japan, Germany, all very keen to work with Australia and New Zealand in terms of our leadership of that initiative in the Pacific. To our peacekeeping forces and our presence in the Middle East. These are reflections of our commitment to an international order that encourages freedom, peace and prosperity.
Jerusalem - the home of the Al Aqsa Mosque, the Wailing Wall and the Via Dolorosa - deserves better than the rancid stalemate and better than the polarisation that marks its peoples.
When Anwar Sadat courageously addressed the Knesset just over 40 years ago, he said “there is no happiness to the detriment of others”. Those words are still true.
The Israeli and Palestinian people deserve a peace as worthy as the promise of their lands – and they deserve a lasting happiness that can only spring from a shared peace.
Australians have earned the right to call for such a peace and to make our contributions on how that peace can be realised, consistent with who we are and what we believe in.
At the end of the day, it all comes down to what you believe in.