Your excellency, Lady Deane, Madam President, Mr Speaker, Mr Beazley Leader of the Opposition, distinguished guests, my parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight is an occasion of mixed emotions. It's an occasion to allow all of us collectively on behalf of the Australian people to express our regard and our gratitude towards Sir William Deane, the retiring Governor General of Australia. It's also of course an occasion that brings to an end an association between Sir William and Lady Helen Deane and so many of us in a personal sense and also in an institutional sense, the end of his very distinguished term as Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Commonwealth.
When Sir William Deane was appointed as Governor General of Australia on the recommendation of my predecessor as Prime Minister he capped a very long and distinguished career in the law. He served as an outstanding barrister at the New South Wales bar taking silk at an early age and then successively on the Federal Court and the High Court of Australia, he left his mark on a profession that he served with such great distinction and he loved so very much. And his appointment to the office of Governor General was a fitting climax to a very distinguished public career.
It is fair to say that there would be nobody of consequence who would argue with the proposition that he has filled the Office of Governor General with great compassion, great commitment and great sincerity. He has brought to that office a warmth and a dignity and a concern for the disadvantaged and a capacity to empathise with different sections of the Australian community that I know has won the admiration of people from all walks of life. I would want to say to you Sir William and to Lady Helen Deane on behalf of Janette and myself that in the nature of the two offices that we hold we have a lot of personal contact. And you have on all occasions displayed unfailing courtesy and warmth towards us and on a personal note I record our gratitude.
Sir William has represented the interests of the Office of Governor General and he has served the people of Australia with particular distinction over the last five and a half years. His evident compassion for and concern for the disadvantaged within the Australian community is something that has been a hallmark and a feature of his time in office. His identification with the cause of reconciliation to which he is very sincerely committed is also something which has been a feature of his term. His understanding of the relationship between the various arms of Government and the institutions of our nation of course is quite unrivalled and his background in the law has made that even more possible.
In so many ways he has been a person who has represented the passion of the nation at times of great sadness. It comes with the responsibility of the beholder of the apolitical office of Governor General to sometimes say things and to represent feelings on behalf of the nation that perhaps nobody else can. And that's an important character and feature of the office of Governor General within our system of Government. I don't think any Australian will forget the moving way in which he and Lady Deane represented the feelings of the Australian people at that very tragic service at Interlaken in Switzerland which was a memorial to the deaths of those young Australians who died so very tragically. And that particular event and the way in which the feelings of the Australian people were expressed by him is a metaphor for the way in which in similar situations he has by his words and his deeds and his gesture and his evident decency spoken on behalf of all of us.
It is therefore with a mixture of the happiness of having the opportunity of saying thank you and expressing our affection and admiration but also the sadness of the end of a very positive and very fruitful association that we are gathered here tonight. And gathered here tonight at Sir William's request are not only representatives of the Parliament, of the judiciary, of the diplomatic core, but also of course the representatives of many organisation with which he had a great deal of contact not only in the time that he was Governor General but also previously.
It is customary for Governments to present the outgoing Governor General with a gift. On this occasion and in accordance with Sir William and Lady Deane's expressed wishes the Government has decided that a gift be made in their name to Charles O'Neill House in Sydney, one of the charitable projects with which they are associated. Charles O'Neill House is an initiative of the Matthew Talbot Hostel. The building is currently being refurbished to provide long term accommodation for homeless men making the transition back to independent living. The gift from the Government and the people of Australia in the name of Sir William and Lady Deane is for the plants and gardens for the two courtyards of Charles O'Neill House to provide an attractive outdoor area for the residence.
Ladies and gentlemen can I say to you Sir William, Bill as we exchange to each other of course on a personal basis and to Lady Deane can I say to both of you thank you for the service that you have given to the people of Australia. Thank you for the integrity and decency that you have bought to the high office you have occupied, I know that you leave that office with the admiration and the affection and the goodwill of the Australian people. You have done well and faithfully by the oath of office you took five and a half years ago. We wish you good luck, God's blessing and a long life and great happiness in the future.
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