Thank you very much Marjorie for that very kind introduction. To the Honourable John Spellar a Minister in the Blair Government of the United Kingdom, your honours and my parliamentary colleagues, the Acting British High Commissioner, ladies and gentleman.
Can I hasten to reassure you Marjorie that I didn't forget my sporting roots when I visited that baseball game because I was interviewed on the dedicated baseball channel and somehow or other this wonderful old photograph of Sir Don Bradman and Babe Ruth taken at Yankee Stadium in 1934 was flashed up on the screen and I passed over the opportunity to say that they'd been a comparison between relative performances in cricket and baseball and Bradman came out ahead of Babe Ruth. The other thing I passed up was trying to explain to an American baseballer the difference between Rugby Union and Rugby League because the interviewer made the mistake of calling the St George Illawarra Club, of which I'm patron, Australia's premier rugby club.
But ladies and gentleman, it's a particular pleasure for me to be a part of this special luncheon and to say a few things from a personal, and also from a perspective of being Prime Minister of Australia, of the links between Australia and Britain. It's an association all of us know is as old as European settlement in Australia. It's an association that has many aspects and many manifestations. It's an association which is very deeply steeped in history and whatever may be the future paths taken by our two countries, nothing will ever alter the fact that we share much in common, we share a history, we share a present, and albeit in a different manifestation, we will share a future.
The contribution that Britain has made to Australia, the culture, the language, the law, the political system, the free press, all of those things, are the legacies that this country will always have. But it's very important to see our relationship in contemporary terms and it's very important to also see from an Australian perspective our relationship in the context of our associations with other countries. One of the notions about Australia's foreign relations that I've always found rather curious is the notion put around by many that somehow or other you have to choose between your geography and your history. I have never thought that that is something that should impel an Australian Prime Minister or an Australian Government or indeed the Australian nation. There is nothing incompatible with the close linkages that we have with nations such as Great Britain and the United States and our close proximity to, and our very close relations with, our neighbours and friends in the Asian Pacific region.
I've often described Australia in foreign policy terms as occupying a unique intersection of history, geography and culture. We are a nation of western European origin, particularly but not only, of course, of Britain and Ireland and also a nation that has very close relationships with the United States but we are forever, of course, part of the Asian Pacific region. And we have growing and very close links with nations such as China, and Indonesia, and Japan, and Korea and many others in our part of the world. And it's always struck me and the sense has increased as the time has gone by that those who would seek to create an artificial tension between those linkages are doing Australia a great disservice. And nothing more reminded me of that than the desperate attempts of many because of Australia's decision, correctly, to join the United States and the United Kingdom in the coalition of the willing to bring freedom to the people of Iraq, the constant attempts to juxtapose that with our associations in the Asian Pacific region. Because the reality is that the majority of countries that expressed a strong view in our region on that issue in fact supported the stance taken by the coalition of the willing. Nations such as Japan, and Korea, and the Philippines, and Singapore - some didn't, that is acknowledged. But the point I simply make is that the idea put abroad by some that there is an automatic and irresistible tension between Australia aligning herself with the United States and the United Kingdom to liberate the people of Iraq, that that put us at odds with our friends in the Asian Pacific region, was not borne out by even the most cursory of examinations.
Our relationship with the United Kingdom, is as I say a very contemporary one, but one of the pleasing aspects of the way the relationship has changed is that over the years the flows have begun to even up. When I sort of had the, almost obligatory for a bloke of my age, working holiday in the UK in 1964 and John won't mind me pointing out that I spent two or three months trying to help the conservative government get re-elected - without any success I might say - because I helped a Conservative Party candidate who lost his seat in Harold Wilson's victory in 1964, but the flow seemed to be all in that direction. But over the last 20 or 30 years that has begun to turn around, and the constant flow now of young people from the UK on backpacking expeditions and the like to Australia has meant that the two flows have begun to even up.
And that is a very important part of the relationship, because no longer is it simply in terms of Australians spending time in the UK and doing Europe and then coming home. It's now a situation where tens upon tens of thousands of young Britons come to this country and learn something of the huge success of Australia and the huge experience of living in the modern Australia. And that is contributing enormously to the links and the bonds between our two societies because nothing is more important than people to people links, and in the end they triumph over everything else.
You can have temporary political differences, you can have arguments between governments, but in the end if there is a strong network of bonds between individuals, between people and between families, that will mean everything else. But I suppose ladies and gentlemen that at the end of the day what binds nations together more than anything else is not history, not just people to people links, but the values that they have in common. And in the end, the values that Britain and Australia share, common values of a commitment to democracy, a commitment to the liberty of the individual, a commitment to the parliamentary process, a belief that in the conduct of international affairs there are right positions and wrong positions, and in the conduct of international affairs occasionally that nations have to take stands, unpopular though they may be, in order to do the right thing.
I spent a good hour yesterday afternoon having a look at the final design plans for the Australian War Memorial, which is in the process of being erected in Hyde Park corner in London, and I hope to have the opportunity, along with the British Prime Minister and the Queen, to open that memorial around Remembrance Day on the 11th of November. And what that memorial reminds us of is the common sacrifice of Australians and people from Britain and the United Kingdom in the defence of liberty, and over a long period of time.
And that of course was the same principle and the same common commitment that was in play only a few short weeks ago when together with our allies in the United States, we set about in a just cause to liberate the people of Iraq. And I saw on the television this morning Tony Blair meeting and addressing some of the British forces in Basra in southern Iraq, and he spoke of the campaign of the coalition having been a defining moment in this century. I agree with him because more than anything else I believe, apart from the contribution that is made to opening up liberty for the people of Iraq, it provides us with our best opportunity in a long time to achieve a lasting settlement in the ongoing and painful dispute between the state of Israel and the Palestinians. And as somebody who has never hidden his affection for the struggle of the people of Israel to survive against enormous hostility, I also lead a Government that is very strongly committed to an independent Palestinian state.
I think one of the great legacies that will come out of the liberation of Iraq is a renewed determination by the President of the United States, by the British Prime Minister, by the European Union, by Russia and the United Nations, to implement the Middle East road map. That wouldn't have been possible if a stand had not been taken, because the removal of the former Iraqi regime has removed one of the threats to Israel. The removal of the former Iraqi regime has given particularly the United States President the opportunity to drive home to the Government of Israel, as well as to the Palestinians, the importance of both sides striving to achieve a lasting settlement. And you all know until that long-running and tragic dispute is ended on a basis which is fair and just to both sides, you will not have real peace and real harmony in that part of the world. And that would not have been possible, in my view, had the action not been taken by the coalition in Iraq. That is the latest example of Britain and Australia, along with our American friends, of having stood together and taken risks together in a just cause to liberate an oppressed people, and that is something of which both of our societies, both of our nations, should be immensely proud.
So ladies and gentlemen, I'm delighted to be here today. I believe in the links between our two countries. We will not always agree. We will violently disagree on certain issues. We will remain the fiercest of sporting rivals you could imagine. But that is the nature and the history and the culture of our countries, but in the end we share something that transcends all of that, and that is a common set of values. And those values are more important than any of the temporary vicissitudes and disagreement and experiences of life.
It's great to be part of this important celebration and this important gathering. I wish the society well. I know it will prosper and I know the links between our two societies will remain strong and vibrant as the years go by.
Thank you.
[ends]