E&OE...................
To John Moore, the Defence Minister, to Denis Burke, the Chief Minister
of the Northern Territory, Warren Snowdon, Senator Grant Tambling, Senator
Crossin, to Mr Fauntleroy, the Rotary Club of Darwin and everybody else,
ladies and gentlemen.
I have simply come here along with my wife Janette to say a very, very big
thank you to the families of our men and women who are serving in East Timor
and also those who are serving in Bougainville and indeed any other Defence
personnel who are serving overseas.
I know that at Christmas time you will miss your husbands and your fathers
and your sons and your lovers and all of your other dear ones who are in
Timor. I just want you to know that there's a very grateful nation that
admires and is immensely proud of what your families, of what our men and
women are doing in East Timor.
And we hope that this marvellous expression of community support for which
I thank the Rotary Clubs of Darwin and the businessmen of Darwin and the
Northern Territory Government for putting together as well as the RMC Band
and James Blundell and others who are going to entertain you in a moment.
I thank you most warmly for the sacrifice that you are making for the good
name of Australia and also for the contribution that your husbands and wives
and relatives and loved ones are making in East Timor.
Those men and women have done Australia proud and as Prime Minister I am
immensely proud of the contribution they have made and I am immensely proud
of the professionalism of the men and women of the Australian Defence Force.
And to the children, I hope you have a lovely day, I hope you enjoy Christmas,
I hope you hear from mum and dad between now and then and I know that you
will look forward to the day when you'll all be reunited when they come
home, when the job that they are now doing so magnificently is finished.
God bless you all. I hope you have a wonderful day and a wonderful Christmas.