E&OE..................
Well, thank you very much Minister, to his Excellency the Ambassador, to Mr Lionel Woodward the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Custom Service, Commissioner Mick Keelty the head of the Australian Federal Police, and all other guests, and very particularly the men and women of the Australian Customs service.
It's obvious that a country as large as Australia, and being an island continent, faces a particular challenge in relation to the protection of our borders. And in different ways over the last year or more, there has been an increased emphasis placed on different measures and different policies all designed to make Australia a more secure, a more protected country, while maintaining its traditional openness and friendliness towards people and countries that bear it no ill will, and want to share the benefits of globalisation and a world that is growing closer every year.
And I think it's particularly symbolic also that in this - the year that commemorates the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Australia and the Peoples Republic of China - that the state of the art acquisition that I commissioned today is of course the product of a Chinese company. It's also been a year in which Australia and China have signed a very large trade deal in relation to Australian natural gas and although the purchase of this wonderful X-ray equipment, valuable thought it is, won't quite match the size of that contract, it is a very important ingredient and a very important demonstration of the sophistication and the diversity of the trade relationship between Australia and China. This is world class, high tech, state of the art equipment and it will add enormously to the sense of security that Australians have. And the value that it will bring to our attempts to prevent the importation of illegal drugs, weapons and any other material that would seek to be used by people to do harm to this country or to do harm to the citizens of this country. It's also noteworthy that as well as providing superior protection it's also going to reduce the waiting time for people who are legitimately wanting their containers and their cargoes processed as quickly as possible. So, it has the double benefit of not only being far superior in its protection capacity, but also in speeding up the process of putting containers through.
So, can I say that I have a very special personal interest in this project. I was determined, along with my senior colleagues and the Minister, I was determined that we were going to, where possible, put more resources into a more comprehensive and a more failsafe method of x-raying and providing surveillance for containers that come into this country. This will make a contribution, obviously, to the fight against illegal drugs. And I';m very happy to acknowledge the presence also of Major Brian Watters, the Chairman of the advisory council for me on drugs. We are making progress as a result of the resources put into that campaign and this is going to be a further element. And it's also going to be an aid to the combined efforts of the Commonwealth and the States to make it even more difficult for handguns to be used in this country because what this will do will make it even harder for handguns to be brought illegally into Australia and that will supplement the efforts that are already underway and I hope they'll be brought to fruition over the next ten days between the Commonwealth and the State Governments to really take out of the community weapons that should not be freely available to people.
There is no case, in my view, for the ordinary citizens of this country to have access to lethal firearms whether longarms or handguns and they should only be available to the police and the security services, the custom services where appropriate, and people who are engaging in properly supervised sporting shooting activities. Beyond that, I just don't think they should be available and I think that's a view that is widely held throughout the Australian community, not only in the cities but also in the rural areas. Now in order to give effect to that, you need an agreement of all of the governments and you need to underpin that agreement with a capacity to detect guns improperly being brought into Australia, as well as a willingness to take them off the streets on the part of both the National Government and the State Governments. And of course, this wonderful new equipment will, because of the things it can do, coincidently make a contribution to the broader campaign we have underway in Australia to protect this country against terrorist behaviour. And although the facility was primarily designed of course for the reasons I've outlined, it is self-evident from the impact that it will have that it will make a very important coincidental contribution towards that.
So for all of those reasons ladies and gentlemen, I';m delighted to be here today. And can I take the opportunity of addressing an expression of gratitude to all of the men and women of the Australian Custom Service for the magnificent job they do in making our borders and therefore our country safer and more secure. It's meticulous painstaking work. It requires a great deal of individual responsibility and initiative. And I';m delighted that with the acquisition of equipment such as this, the personal intuition and initiative of the individual men and women of the service is going to be augmented by the most sophisticated equipment that is available anywhere in the world. And that will, I know, add to their sense of job satisfaction and the environment in which they will work will be enhanced by the acquisition of this equipment.
And can I also take the opportunity, ladies and gentlemen, and I know that all of you would like me to do so in the presence of the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police, to say to you Commissioner on behalf of the entire nation what a magnificent job your officers are doing in the investigation into the Bali atrocity. We read everyday of developments. I've chosen very deliberately and I intend to adhere very rigidly to that decision of not myself to make any operational comment, I leave that to the professionals. But I want to express our gratitude. It is obvious that there's been fantastic cooperation between your officers and the officers of the State police forces under your leadership and the Indonesian Police. We all hope that those responsible are brought to justice and we're all deeply grateful for the superbly professional way in which your officers have gone about that work. And you have the respect and the gratitude of all of the Australian people.
Well on that note ladies and gentlemen, I have very very great pleasure in declaring this facility open, it will make a wonderful contribution to better and further protecting our borders and Mr Hawe thank you very much for the hospitality that you've provided to us and I know that this equipment will be very useful and it will be professionally used by the men and women of the Australian Custom Service. Thank you.
[ends]