26 January 1999
E&OE………………………………………………………………………………………
Thank you very much Councillor Hull; to the Mayor; Councillor Graham and Mrs Graham; to Shane Gould, former resident of the city of Ryde and one of the greatest swimmers that Australia has produced, and the Australia Day ambassador to the city of Ryde. To my many parliamentary colleagues, Kerry Chikarovski, Michael Photios, Andrew Tink, John Watkins, Jan Burnswood, and all other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
This is not the first time that I have addressed a citizenship ceremony here in Ryde. But it is the first time I have had the privilege of doing so as Prime Minister. And it gives me an opportunity to say one or two things briefly to you about Australia Day and about the nature of being an Australian. But the first and most important thing that I would like to do as Prime Minister, is to extend to all of those who are choosing today to become Australian citizens, a word of welcome and the hand of fellowship and the hand of welcome. I want on behalf of all of those who have been Australians by birth or adoption for a long period of time to extend our thanks to you for choosing to live amongst us and to become members of the Australian family.
There are many things that Australia can boast of. And a national day is an occasion to feel proud of what has been achieved. It is not an occasion to hide our virtue and our talents as a nation behind a bushel. It is not an occasion to sell ourselves short. It is not an occasion to be apologetic to the rest of the world about what we have achieved. It is also though an occasion to recognise that our history has contained its blemishes, and there are those amongst us, fellow Australians who are in need of our continuing compassion and our continuing help.
But the Australian story is a story of remarkable achievement. The reality is that Australia and Australians have done things better than most other countries and most other groups of people around the world. Everybody has their own theory about what is the defining characteristic of an Australian, and the good news is that that argument will never be resolved emphatically in favour of one or other version and that is how it should be in a free society. The idea that in a democratic free society there should be a received version of the Australian identity or a received version of this or that particular pattern of behaviour that makes up the Australian character is of course quite objectionable.
But there are things about us that most of us identify in common. We quite properly see ourselves as a relatively classless society, and we have good reason to do that. Because one of the elements of genius of the Australian achievement has been our capacity to take from our inheritance those good features of that inheritance, yet reject those negative features of that inheritance. We owe a great deal to the people of Britain and the rest of Europe for a great deal of our heritage. We have been clever enough to take the good features of that inheritance, the rule of law, the English language, the respect for civil discourse in political life, although it becomes rather rambunctious in the Australian transition and the Australian tradition but still essentially democratic, a free and open press, and an incorruptible judiciary. Yet in taking those good things, we have been sensible and astute enough to reject the class-consciousness and the aristocratic bearing and attitudes of much of our European inheritance. And we have allowed it to develop in its own particular characteristic on Australian soil. We have a lot in common with the people of North America, particularly the people of the United States. We share many of the democratic values of that society, yet we have in Australia, a rather more sceptical and on occasions, reserved attitude towards those in authority than perhaps is adopted by our friends and cousins in the United States.
And to complete the trilogy, so to speak, here we are in the Asian Pacific region of the world. We are the only nation in the world that is simultaneously a nation that owes so much to the nations of Europe, has so much in common with the United States, yet geographically, strategically and politically is here in the Asian Pacific part of the world. And in recent years in particular, and today is no exception as I look around this room, the membership of the Australian family has been greatly enriched by tens of thousands, indeed hundreds of thousands of new Australian citizens who have come from the nations of Asia, from the nations of our geographic and strategic region. So we have some very special characteristics, and what we have been clever enough as a society to do is to pick the good things of our heritage and to reject the negatives and the not so good.
And there are some underlying principles that I think all of us hold dear. We do hold dear the principle of mateship, but we do believe fundamentally in an egalitarian society. We do believe in equality, irrespective of race, religion, gender or national origin. And it needs to be reaffirmed as a cornerstone of the Australian existence, that every man and woman succeeds or fails in this nation according to their personal dedication or their personal worth. Irrespective of the privilege or otherwise of their birth, and irrespective of their racial origin. And I want to particularly say to those who are becoming Australians for the first time today, how important that principle of racial tolerance and how important that principle of national cohesion as a consequence is to the Australian identity and to Australian society.
We have every reason, ladies and gentlemen, as we reflect upon the past year, and we look forward to the new year, the last of the Christian millennium, we have every reason to be immensely proud of what Australia has achieved. We do have our differences and that is healthy and legitimate in a democratic society.
We do owe to the original Australians, the indigenous people of this country, a debt for the contribution that they have made to our current identity and we need to work ever closer with them to achieve greater co-operation, greater harmony and a greater common understanding.
But I cannot as Prime Minister, speak with other than an immense feeling of pride and hope and optimism about the state of Australia as we enter 1999. We should never sell ourselves short. We have done things better, and we have created in this country a style of life and attitude of mind, a capacity for civil discourse and understanding that is the envy and the rival of nations all around the world. And that has been due to the efforts over the generations of millions of ordinary men and women of this country. And this gathering which is really at the heart of what a celebration of what Australia Day ought to be, here in the city of Ryde, an area of Australia that I have been privileged to represent for almost a quarter of a century in the national parliament. We bring together so many disparate elements of our society. We bring the new citizens, we bring the wonderful representatives of that heroic generation that defended and saved this country in World War II and to who we owe all in terms of our freedom and the way of life we now have.
We are reminded of the tremendous sports men and women that this city has produced over the years, exemplified by people such as Mark Taylor and Shane Gould. We think of the wonderful volunteer organisations. We are reminded here of the civic institutions, the local council represented by the Mayor, the state parliament represented by a number of state members and the federal parliament represented by myself and Philip Ruddock, my colleague, the Minister for Immigration. We have a lot as a society and a nation to be thankful for. We owe to our forebears a debt of gratitude for the society that they have created and we all have a common responsibility to ensure that the society that we build together as we go into the next millennium is even better than the society that we as Australians have been fortunate and blessed enough to inherit.
To the new citizens again, congratulations, I hope you find your future life in Australia very happy, very enjoyable and very fulfilling. I thank you for the privilege you have given to us of becoming Australian citizens and to all of you, whether you were born here or citizens by adoption or about to be, can I wish you a very warm and happy Australia Day.
Thank you.