Beijing, People's Republic of China
Tonight we celebrate forty years of education and science exchanges between Australia and China.
In turn, tonight we celebrate the work of all of you.
You have given our countries a new vision of each other.
So Expanding our Horizons is a most fitting title for the commemorative volume launched this evening.
It is a fine way to document what our countries have gained from your enterprising spirit.
I've come from my first meeting with Premier Li earlier today, where I took the opportunity to congratulate him personally on his new role.
We also discussed my Government's White Paper on Australia in the Asian Century.
The White Paper is an ambitious document: a blueprint for a deeper, broader engagement and a declaration of intent.
Yet its core principle - that Australia's security and prosperity depend upon engagement with Asia - is not a new one.
In 1948, the fourth session of what was then the United Nations Economic Commission for Asia and the Far East was held in Australia, in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales.
In his opening address there, Australia's Governor-General William McKell declared that for Australians, the ‘Far East' should be thought of as the ‘Near North'.
He said that the post-war world needed to recognise the “economic and political importance of Asia”.
He went on to describe the global benefits that would come from cooperating in Asia's development.
McKell was a visionary Australian and a great man.
We meet 65 years later and 11 000 kilometres north.
Yet the truth of his message stands unaltered - and the responsibility to understand it falls more widely than ever.
Our engagement today must be much more than the words of diplomats or the actions of political leaders.
Education and science, artistic and sporting links, perhaps human friendships above all, these are ultimately as powerful as summits and statecraft.
Through our exchanges in education and science, the people of both our nations combine the transforming human experiences of learning and travel.
These life-changing individual experiences also combine in nation-building partnerships.
Consider the China Advanced Leadership Program, exposing China's future leaders to critical strategic issues and forging links to Australia's public sectors.
This is an innovative collaboration between the Australian and New Zealand School of Government and the Organisation Department of the Chinese Communist Party.
I know ANZSOG is working closely with the Chinese Government on a reciprocal program for senior Australian and New Zealand officials.
Or consider the Australian Government's new AsiaBound program.
This will give three thousand six hundred Australian students the chance to do part of their academic program in Asia.
China - the most popular destination in Asia for Australians studying abroad last year - is likely to account for one thousand of these places.
Or consider the way our two countries are joining a number of other governments in building the Square Kilometre Array - the SKA.
You can see beside me here a photo of the Murchison site in Australia: Chinese-made dishes are part of the landscape.
I welcome representatives of our Chinese partners who are here with us this evening.
Through this collaboration, scientists and researchers around the world will share access to the world's largest telescope.
They will look back to the very beginning of the universe and map the cosmic forces at work.
The Square Kilometre Array is a marvel of collaborative science - combining the endeavour of our best minds.
Another very powerful example of scientific collaboration is the work which the late Jian Zhou of Wenzhou Medical College and Ian Frazier from the University of Queensland did together.
Their pioneering research in the early 1990s led to the development of a vaccine - Gardasil - which targets the virus that causes cervical cancer.
Their work is now saving the lives of more than a quarter of a million women and girls every year.
It is an inspiring example of what can be achieved by Australian and Chinese researchers together - one very close to my heart.
The Australia-China research relationship has now moved into a new stage of cooperation with the establishment of six joint research centres.
These six centres will tackle the big issues of our shared future: like sustainable economic growth in a low carbon future, like water management and food security.
I am very pleased to see so many of the researchers working on these new projects here this evening.
I will be proud to unveil these tonight.
In addition to these centres, I also want to acknowledge the Sino-Australian Joint Laboratory for Eco-agriculture, which has set up in partnership with the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences.
I attended the opening of the Australian home for this centre at the University of Sydney only a few weeks ago.
It's an inspiring example of the real substance of our relationship in education and science.
We are here to celebrate what forty years of hard work has won us, but even tonight, our focus is on the future.
So I am very pleased that BHP Billiton will provide $2.2 million over five years for new, reciprocal Australia-China scholarships.
The scholarships will be offered by the Foundation for Australian Studies in China established by the Australia-China Council.
They will work alongside the Government's AsiaBound and Australia Awards programs, to increase the flow of students and professionals between Australia and China.
BHP Billiton's support shows their commitment to cooperative learning in the region.
Their funding of the BHP Billiton Chair of Australian Studies at Peking University shows this too.
I acknowledge the inaugural holder of the Chair, Professor David Walker, who is here with us tonight.
I also acknowledge the generosity of Cheung Kong Holdings and Mr HL Kam for the Cheung Kong Endeavour Awards.
I am very pleased a number of the awardees are here this evening to celebrate.
This evening is a particularly fitting occasion to conclude my second visit to China as Prime Minister.
I am so delighted that so many people who built the Australia-China education relationship in the past forty years are here this evening to celebrate all that has been achieved.
Everyone who is here is here for a reason - because we know, I know, how much you have done to change our peoples' lives and to build our nations.
I hope tonight, as you swap stories and share a meal with old friends, you will find time to reflect on all you have achieved.
During these forty years our nations have gone from distant strangers to valued friends - and many of you have done the same.
Education and science have been at the heart of Asia's renaissance.
Your teaching and learning, innovation and research has been at the heart of our two nations' change and growth.
For your part in all of that, tonight you can raise your glasses with pride.
Thank you - and enjoy.