E&OE..........................................................................................
Well, thank you very much Mr President, to Ms Sile de Valera, your
grace Bishop Stewart, Pat McNamara, Ivan Deveson the Lord Mayor of
Melbourne, the other many distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
I really do regard it as quite a privilege and a pleasure to have
the opportunity of saying a few words on this St Patrick's Day
1999. It is really understating the history of this country and it's
misunderstanding the temper and the mood and the passions of the Australian
people to see the Irish contribution as merely being one of yet another
immigrant group.
Of all the many tributaries that have shaped the mighty river which
is the modern Australia none in a sense has been more distinctive
and more important than the contribution of the Irish to this country.
The Irish inheritance is part of the modern Australian identity. It
has brought many things to Australia, it has contributed in many distinctive
ways. It is impossible, for example, to hear the sort of music that
we have heard this morning and not realise the enormous contribution
that is made to shaping music in this country. It is impossible to
think of the footballing passion of this city, for example, without
acknowledging its Irish ancestry in part. And I say that as a rather
devoted rugby follower myself it is impossible to think of what the
shape of Australian politics would be like without understanding the
Irish contribution, and I'll come to that in a moment.
And one of the captivating, indeed endearing, things about being an
Australian in 1999 is that as we approach the Centenary of the Federation
of our nation all of us are reflecting more and more on what made
us as we are today. And all of us are coming together in celebrating
our history and part of that celebration, a massive part of it, must,
of course, be to acknowledge the Irish contribution. You have heard
it all before some 35 to 40 per cent of Australians claim an Irish
ancestry and do it proudly. In my own case, my maternal great grandmother
was born in County Westmeath and my paternal great grandfather was
born in Portadown in County Armagh. A fairly familiar pattern of so
many Australians.
And the Irish have really been part of the Australian story now for
more than 200 years. And they have become, and their culture, their
attitudes, their passions, their way of life has become inseparably
part of the Australian way of life. When Mary McAleese, the Irish
President, was in Australia early this year the only person, I said
at her welcome luncheon, that had the capacity to interrupt an Australian
election campaign which she did late in September of last year. She
spoke of the natural affinity that exists between our two countries.
But, of course, when we think of Ireland and we think of Australia
we don't only think of it nostalgically and romantically we also,
and historically, we also think of it of course in contemporary terms.
And today Ireland is a modern thriving successful economy. It is indeed
an economy with probably the fastest economic growth in the European
Union. It is an economy that has been transformed over the last 20
years. It has defied the critics. I first visited Ireland in 1977,
I went as an Australian Minister for special trade negotiations. I
was trying to get a better trade deal for Australian produce in what
was then the European common market and I got pretty lean pickings
just about everywhere I went to every capital. And at that time the
Irish economy was really struggling. And I remember talking to the
then Prime Minister, I think it was Mr Lynch, about some of the challenges
of the Irish economy. But since then things have changed and have
changed enormously and I am delighted as I know all Australians who
have an affection for Ireland and the Irish contribution to this country's
history and current day being I am delighted that the incredible success
that the Irish economy has achieved in recent times.
We honour, as Australians, the contribution of the Irish to the history
of this country. We recognise that it has not always been an experience
free of discrimination and intolerance. Like all societies through
the 20th Century we went through our experiences of the
divisions of sectarianism within our community. And for more than
100 years the Irish in Australia who were overwhelmingly catholic
have suffered the discrimination of being forced to pay for the education
of their children in their faith. And I am very proud, of course,
that that well known member of the Melbourne Scotts and self declared
humble Presbyterian, Robert Menzies, more than anybody else brought
to an end that discrimination.
And now Australia probably has a system of openness and tolerance
and freedom of choice in relation to the education of its children
second to none anywhere in the world. And we have all moved on from
that and we all hope as the Minister said that the fragile peace process,
and it is fragile, we were reminded again only this morning our television
bulletins that the mad men and women on both sides of the argument
are still to be found and those people are to be shunned and the example
of those two great Nobel Prize winners, John Hume and David Trimble
are to be very much admired and respected. And I know that all Australians
who have any affinity for Ireland and their Irish associations will
join in prayers and hopes for a successful fruition of the Good Friday
agreement.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is a great privilege to be the Prime Minister
of this country. It is a great privilege for me to acknowledge the
immense Irish contribution to our nation, we wouldn't be what
we are today. I can't conceive of Australian politics having
been anything remotely resembling what it has been over the last 40
or 50 years without the Irish contribution. For so long, of course,
the Irish contribution to Australian politics was seen as overwhelmingly
belonging to the Australian Labor Party for obvious historical reasons.
The Liberal Party that I joined in 1957 when I left school in Sydney
didn't boast an enormous number of people of Irish Catholic descent.
But I can say that over that 40 or 50 years that has changed and I
can say to all of you that there is an adequate supply of Faheys and
Heffernans and Herrons and McNamaras and indeed the list can go on
of people of Irish descent bringing their passion, their particular
view, to the lifeblood and to the existence of our political party.
It is a wonderful occasion, I salute the Irish contribution to our
nation it wouldn't be what it is today without it. And I hope
all of you have a marvellously enjoyable St Patrick's Day. Thank
you.
[ends]