Well thank you very much High Commissioner, ladies and gentlemen, I might say, without much fear of contradiction, many of my fellow Australians. As I listened to the beautiful rendition of Australia's national anthem and the phrase 'for those who've come across the seas' I thought to myself no group in proportionate terms has given expression to that part of our national anthem more than the people of Malta. And it is well known, I'm sure to every person in this room, that in proportionate terms the Maltese diaspora is greater in Australia than in any part of the world. And for that we Australians are very, very grateful. And I am delighted to be in your beautiful country, it is not the first time I've been here, it is the first time I've been here as Prime Minister. But it is a while since I've been in Malta, too long. Janette and I remember the beauty of this island, the special character of its architecture and the friendliness and charm of its people from the time we were last here, once again for a Commonwealth meeting, that being a Commonwealth Finance Ministers meeting when I was Treasurer of Australia way back in 1979.
Australia and Malta have had a deep and close friendship for 100 years. It was greatly intensified of course after World War II but Maltese migration to Australia started long before World War II and the courage and commitment and comradeship of the people of Malta left an indelible impression during World War II and the years afterwards, not only on the peoples of the then free Europe, which was very small indeed, but also on many people around the world. And we come gathering in Malta, the Commonwealth, a very large organisation, an organisation that represents a large chunk of the world's population, nations very, very different in size, in political outlook, in religion, in racial composition, in attitudes to current issues, but bound together by a number of things and the most important of which is a very strong historical commitment to parliamentary democracy and the rule of law. And the way in which Australia and Malta have stood together in defence of those principles, in different ways over the years, is to the everlasting credit of the citizens of both countries.
Of course it was a great experience this morning on my early morning walk, which is my want in the capital city of any country I visit, as I walked through the streets of Malta I looked at the signs and all those Australian names came rolling to me, you know, Galea and Attard and so the list went on. And I felt so much at home and the friendly waves of many people when they spotted the green tracksuit top with an Australian sporting insignia on it, rugby league on this occasion, not a widely played sport in Malta I have to acknowledge, but as you know we have qualified for the Soccer World Cup and- now there's a widely known game in Malta. And it is the sporting lingua franca of the world, soccer, and at long last we have qualified for the World Cup and it's of enormous credit to us and to those who run that game.
But ladies and gentlemen, I simply want to express to all of you the deep affection that Australians have for the people of this wonderful country. We are very grateful for all the people that you have sent to our nation, some calculations put it some 400,000, other calculations a bit lower, others a bit higher, but who cares? There's a lot of you. And you are wonderful Australian citizens in every walk of life, in politics, in business, in sport, very famously in many sports, wherever it is you can find Australians of Maltese descent being wonderful citizens, wonderful people and making a wonderful contribution. And the warmth of the friendship between our two countries is evident, the relaxed nature of the welcome I've received, the friendship, every second, not every second person just about every person telling me of their cousin or their brother or their niece or their uncle or their girlfriend or whatever who maybe somewhere in Sydney and in some cases two or three in different parts of the country, it's a reminder of a very special link because it's a link of people. You can have trade links, you can have political links, you can have strategic links but nothing beats having the personal links of people-to-people relations and we have it in spades and we Australians are very fortunate and we thank you for the Maltese contribution to the modern Australia.
Thank you.
[ends]