Regatta Point, Canberra
Around the nation today, Australians will come together, and I believe on Australia Day, we do three things.
First, we celebrate Australian mateship. We celebrate friendship, the bonds that bring us and hold us together, and on this Australia Day, more than many, we will be celebrating those bonds of mateship because we've seen them on such strong display as the nation has come together in the aftermath of the Queensland floods and floods which have hit other parts of our country.
We've seen a remarkable extension of mateship from Australian to Australian, a reaching out of the hand of mateship to help someone in need, and during 2011 we won't let go. We will make sure that that hand of mateship is there as people recover from these devastating floods.
And on Australia Day we also reflect on our national characteristics and attributes: our courage; our humility; our humour; and our fierce determination to make sure that everyone gets a fair go in life, and in an audience containing so many children it's a great day to remind ourselves that truly believing in a fair go means that every Australian child should get the best possible start in life; that for no part of our nation should demography be destiny; that success in this country should be determined by a person's character and attitude and propensity for hard work, not the circumstances of their birth.
And on Australia Day, thirdly, we welcome new members of the Australian family. We will welcome some here today. We will welcome 13,000 around the country.
Now, no migrant's story is the same as another. Every story is unique. Every migrant family can tell the tale of what brought them here, the very special set of circumstances that led them to calling Australia home.
I can lend some insight into the migrant experience, being a migrant myself. We, of course, are Ten Pound Poms. I arrived here in 1966 with my family, with father John and mother Moira and my sister Alison, and whilst I never stood at a citizenship ceremony the way we will see people stand at this ceremony today, and the way 13,000 people will stand at ceremonies around the country, I do remember the debates in the family home as my parents determined that they would become citizens of this nation.
And having chosen this country, they've loved it with a fierce determination, with a fierce passion.
I know that the 13,000 people who join the Australian family today will do the same - love this country with a fierce determination. And we will be bound together by a love of country and by the Australian values that we hold so dear.
Australia Day is a wonderful day. A wonderful day here, a wonderful day for celebrations, whether they're formal citizenship conferrals or whether they're days with families and friends. Right around the country people will be marking Australia Day, and on Australia Day citizens old and new can re-affirm their pledge to this country.
I invite you to do that, no matter whether you've been born here or been here for many years. Today is a great day. Re-affirm your love of Australia, your embrace of this country, your embrace of your fellow Australians.
Thank you very much.