I don't think I need to say Happy Australia Day. You seem very happy already.
Can I say this to Australians one and all? Let's acknowledge the First Australians on whose land we meet and whose cultures we honour and celebrate as the oldest continuing cultures in human history.
Think about that for just a moment, the oldest continuing cultures in human history. Our deep link with deep antiquity and we uniquely in Australia have the opportunity to share that heritage with our Aboriginal brothers and sisters. What a great privilege it is for all Australians.
I was told recently that in the traditional welcome to country in many parts of the country, the welcome translates a bit like this. The welcome says: ‘we offer you the fruits of our land for all that you need to live. The food, the water, the berries; all that you need to live.' We have much to learn from that intrinsic spirit of generosity and welcome.
As a kid growing up in a country town in Australia, I remember in that small country town of one or two hundred people, a similar spirit of generosity when people came to the town for the first time or when some left. That spirit was there which said ‘what's ours is yours because you're part of our community'.
And you know something? It's drawing on that great spirit and those great qualities, those great Australian qualities which we will need all to draw on in the year ahead.
These deep Australian qualities, qualities of courage, qualities of resilience and qualities of compassion. These are great Australian values and you see them writ large in Australian heroes past, Australian heroes today and those of tomorrow.
We see them in our volunteers, those out there fighting fires as we speak. We see them in our troops in the field in Afghanistan, standing in the line of duty. We see it in those who staff our hospitals and care for the sick and the dying. These are great Australian values.
And we see them also writ large in the lives of those whom we will honour in just a moment. Those who've become finalists in this great Australian of the Year contest.
In the year ahead my message is simple. It will be tough but if we as a country draw deep and extend out the hand of support and friendship to those who need it, then we as Australians and as a nation will come through.
To all of you gathered here in the nation's capital, to all of you participating in the great celebration that is Australia Day, can I say this? This great nation recognises that we are all in this together.
The challenges which lie ahead, we are all in this together.
Businesses, unions, indigenous Australians, non-indigenous Australians, those from diverse communities, governments at all levels, federal, State and local. Whatever the world throws at us in this year ahead remember this core truth. We are all in this together. And together we will come through this year more resilient than we have been even in the past.
Happy Australia Day.