Thanks very much Frank and welcome ladies and gentlemen to the Prime Minister’s Courtyard at this morning tea to mark the beginning of our Australia Day weekend celebrations.
I want to say to everyone who is a finalist in the various Australian of the Year categories - welcome and congratulations.
I should say that the Australian of the Year Award has become really a very important feature of our national life, but the Australian of the Year Awards weren’t always as well organised as they are today.
Back in 1979, Harry Butler the conservationist, was Australian of the Year and I am told that Harry was called at his home in Perth told to be in Melbourne later in the week where he would be named Australian of the Year.
He was told by the official who called “all the arrangements were made” and he was sworn to secrecy.
It was to be his wife’s first trip to Melbourne.
So, Mr and Mrs Butler arrived at the designated hotel in Melbourne only to be told there was no booking for them.
“Look,” said the receptionist, “you should have booked. Really, it’s the long weekend, the Australia Day weekend. In fact the only room we had in the house last night was for the Australian of the Year and he didn’t bloody well turn up.”
You have all turned up and I want to thank you and I want to congratulate every one of you for the extraordinary work that you have done for our country.
We have an amazing range of extraordinary, dedicated, committed, passionate, achieving people here in this courtyard this morning.
Where else could you find an award where finalists include footballers, ballet dancers, cancer researchers, singers and song writers? The genius and the wonder of our country is found in our people, in every part of our country, in every part of our life and you collectively reflect the very best of our country.
I also want to thank the family members who are here today because good work comes at a price.
All of you who are finalists in the various Australian of the year categories have spent a large part of your life working for the community.
If you are working for the community inevitably you are not at home with your spouses, with your partners, with your children. To have partners, spouses and children here today is our way of saying thank you to you too, because people can only do their good works if they are supported by those who love them. It is a joint effort, it is a joint effort and it is important to remember that.
So, ladies and gentleman again welcome to the Prime Minister’s Courtyard. Under different circumstances we would have been at The Lodge, The Lodge is under repair but it is nice to have good people in this courtyard. Until very recently the only people who ever came into this courtyard where members of the parliamentary press gallery and I have got to say it is much more pleasant to be facing you than to be facing them.
Could I finally say to Ita Buttrose the 2013 Australian of the Year, Professor Ian Maddocks the Senior Australian of the Year, Akram Azimi the Young Australian of the Year and Shane Phillips the Local Hero of the Year, last year, thank you for everything you have done.
I have just been hearing some amazing stories from some of you and I have had a number of meetings with all of you in the course of the year.
You have done extraordinarily well for the causes that you believe in and that is the great thing about this award - Australians of the Year in every category can make a difference.
We do not give these awards lightly. We honour people in these categories because you are truly outstanding and know that you can make a difference.
You have made a difference in the various fields that you work in and you will make a difference because of the awards that you have won.
Thank you so much.
[ends]