Jan Peter Balkenende, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, other members of your party, Prime Minister, your excellencies, ladies and gentlemen. It is with very special pleasure that on behalf of the Government and the people of Australia I welcome you Prime Minister to this, your first visit to Australia and the first visit since 1997 of a Prime Minister of The Netherlands. You do so, of course, at a time when we mark the 400th anniversary of the first documented landing by Dutch people, of Europeans on the Australian mainland. And on Thursday, you and I will both be in Fremantle in Western Australia where we will see off the replica of the Duyfken on its journey around the Australian coastline. And it will be a very timely reminder for all of us of the historic links between the people of The Netherlands and the people of Australia.
Because of the very seamless integration of people from The Netherlands into Australian society it sometimes comes as a surprise for Australians to be told that more than 300,000 people from The Netherlands are part of the Australian community. And indeed, in what still remains the most powerful period of migration to Australia, and that is the migration that occurred in the aftermath of World War II largely from Europe, the Dutch of course featured very prominently indeed. And the influence of people from The Netherlands on Australian business, Australian culture and Australian politics and Australian sport has been very strong and very evident.
But it would be wrong to see the relationship simply in sentimental and historical terms. It is a very modern, contemporary relationship in a number of ways. The Netherlands is the fourth largest source of foreign investment in Australia and that is quite a remarkable figure, when you consider that the first three of that four rather naturally select themselves; the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan; given the economic patterns, and historical patterns of our country. But for a nation of only 16 million people, for The Netherlands to be the fourth largest source of foreign investment in this country speaks of a relationship and an attitude and an ease of commercial exchange and discourse which speaks well for the relationship between the two countries.
Our relationship is also contemporary because we are partners in some of the modern world's great challenges. We are soon to be military partners in Afghanistan and a Provincial Reconstruction Team numbering some 200 Australians will join some 2000 troops from The Netherlands in the Uruzgan Province in Afghanistan and I know that both of us, in our discussions this morning, Prime Minister, understood the opportunities of this partnership and also understood the challenges because the struggle to defend the implanting of democracy in Afghanistan will go on for some time. The enemy there is not easily overcome and it will require a lot of patience, a lot of application and I know the skill of which the men and women of both of our countries are capable, to achieve the outcome that we want.
Our presence together in Afghanistan is an expression of the wider challenge for liberal democratic societies such as Australia and The Netherlands, of terrorism. Domestically terrorism touches both of our communities. As part of Europe, The Netherlands lives under the threat of a terrorist attack and we here in Australia do not regard ourselves as immune from the possibility of a terrorist attack on our own soil and of course we remember very vividly those who died in Bali in 2002 and again last year.
Fighting terrorism involves concert and action on a number of fronts. It involves the application of military assets as is taking place in Afghanistan and in Iraq, and it also involves the gathering of the best possible intelligence. And on the other side it involves constant effort by liberal democratic societies to embrace all elements of our communities, to never behave in a way that shuts out a section of our community and to always understand that the best ultimate guarantee against terrorism is to acquire and maintain the affections and the loyalty of all sections of our domestic populations.
As a nation of only 16 million people with a significant minority population, The Netherlands is no stranger to these challenges any more than is Australia. But both of us, Prime Minister, believe that the best weapon in fighting these challenges is the weapon of open liberal democracy. And Australia and The Netherlands are amongst countries around the world that adhere very strongly to those values. You, of course, at a period of time in your not too distant history lost that liberty as a result of foreign conquests. We here in Australia have been fortunate enough not to have gone through that experience.
We've had the opportunity, Prime Minister, to talk today about another contemporary challenge and that is climate change. I think one of the things that our discussions did was to remind each of us that the presumed gap between those countries that have adhered to the Kyoto Protocol, of which The Netherlands is one, and those countries that haven't, of which Australia is one, is not as wide as some would represent. I think we both agree that until the world's climate change arrangements include the two largest polluters, if I can put it that way, in the world, and that's the United States and China; in other words, until countries such as the United States and China become part of the solution we are not going to make the progress that we would all want. We all want to see a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. We all agree the world needs that. We see the Asia Pacific Partnership in relation to climate change as a complement to the Kyoto Protocol, we do not see it as some kind of rival approach or rival avenue.
They are amongst some of the contemporary challenges that confront our two societies. Separated by many thousands of miles in different parts of the world, but two societies that have a very rich history, in the case of your country, a nation that has contributed very significantly to the development and the formation of ours.
In that spirit Prime Minister I welcome you very warmly. I know that you have a great affection for Grands Prix and you were able to indulge the passions of what we call, if you'll forgive the colloquialism, a petrol-head here in Australia; that you were able to indulge that passion in Melbourne over the weekend and I know that you enjoyed it immensely and of course we're very proud of the capacity of our city of Melbourne to put on those sorts of events and they did our nation proud only a few weeks ago with the magnificent hosting of the Commonwealth Games.
But Prime Minister, you are very welcome to this country, any Prime Minister of your country is. We wish you well and I now invite the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, Senator Evans to support my remarks.
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