Thank you very much Marjorie, my fellow Australians. It's a great privilege again to say a few words on this wonderful day that we celebrate. It's an occasion to look back over the year and to contemplate what lies ahead but above all it is an occasion to celebrate something that we all have in common, and that is the enormous privilege of being Australian.
And as we look back over what the country has been through during the past twelve months, we look at the respect and esteem in which it is held around the world. We have every reason to regard ourselves as being very privileged indeed to call ourselves Australian. Privileges of course always carry responsibilities; they carry the responsibility of ensuring that we continue to work hard at doing those things that have won the respect and the admiration of others. We continue to understand that however privileged we may be, or successful we imagine our county has been, there are always imperfections and challenges and weaknesses and failures and mistakes, that must be addressed and remedied.
This is also an occasion to think for a moment of those men and women who are serving in the name of our country overseas. We think particularly of our service personnel working in Iraq, in the Solomon Islands, working of course to bring humanitarian relief in a quite magnificent way to the people of Aceh and to other people who've been affected by the terrible tragedy that overtook Asia on Boxing Day. And I am sure that every Australian heart would've swelled with pride at the sight of the men and women of the Australian Defence Force, being the first on the scene to provide relief to people who have been so badly devastated and suffered such tragedy and sadness as a result of that disaster.
This is also an occasion to celebrate the great volunteer tradition of our country. Last night we named the Australians of the Year, not only the Australian of the Year Dr Fiona Wood, whose magnificent humanitarian work brought relief to the suffering of so many of our fellow Australians following the Bali devastation in October 2002, but others who have served the community as volunteers. And the volunteered tradition of this country is one of its proudest traditions, and it's a tradition that's so far from dying is a tradition which has expanded. We have more volunteers now then ever before and more and more Australians are seeing that the best way that they can repay the privilege of having lived in this country and having been brought up in this nation and benefited from this nation, is to give back to their local community. And all around our nation we can think of examples over the past year of those people who have given so much as volunteers in such a selfless fashion. It's a wonderful Australian tradition and it's something of which we should be very greatly proud.
And finally of course we welcome this morning many new Australian citizens; people who've come from every part of the world and it's a reminder of our immigrant roots, it's a reminder of the enormous contribution that people from different parts of the world have made to the development of modern Australia. So as we celebrate this day, we count it a privilege to be Australians, we pay respect to the first Australians-the Indigenous people of this country and we look to their full enjoyment of the benefits and the bounty that Australia brings to all of its citizens. We give thanks to those who've volunteered and provided relief and help and comfort to those who've needed it over the last year. Most importantly of all, we celebrate the immense joy and privilege of sharing membership of the great Australian family.
Thank you.
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