E&OE..................
Well thank you Dick. To you Pat I express the admiration, the esteem and
the thanks of the entire Australian nation for the superbly Australian way
in which you have promoted the cause of the centenary of federation. I can't
think of a more effective way than to have a sportsman much admired throughout
Australia to undertake a marathon run around our country, over a period
of five or six months, touching large and small communities, accompanied
on the entire journey by his children, his mother, and his brother, giving
innumerable speeches, promoting the notion of a united Australian community,
promoting the idea of honest effort, promoting the notion that all of us
are together as Australians commemorating 100 years of this nation's existence.
Pat you're a superb ambassador for what it means to be an Australian, and
I am very proud as Prime Minister having farewelled you back in May of this
year, to welcome you, to marvel at your physical fitness, to marvel at your
mental toughness, and to salute the very emphatic and symbolic way in which
you have carried the message of the centenary of federation to so many different
parts of our nation.
In the course of it you've broken innumerable records. But most importantly
of all you have symbolised in a very Australian way what it means to be
an Australian as we celebrate 100 years of our existence. On behalf of the
Government and the entire nation Pat, welcome back, well done, and thank
you for a sterling effort.
[Ends]