PRIME MINISTER
TRANSCRIPT OF THE HON PAUL KEATING MP, PRIME MINISTER,
ADDRESS TO ) PARLIAMENTARY DINNER
JANUARY 2 19391
E& OE PROOF COPY
Twenty years ago when I was first introduced to you by
Alexis Johnson I could not have forseen that I would have
the honour of receiving you as President of the United
States, and that the honour would be compounded by welcoming
your wife.
Your visit to Australia is a manifestation of a friendship
between our two'countries and underlines the importance you
attach to Australia as an Asian Pacific country.
There is, of course, much that binds our friendship a
common culture; a common language is another reason.
Churchill, of course, said that the United States and the
United Kingdom were two nations divided by a common
language.
Marshall Green, a former distinguished US Ambassador
maintained t: hat much the same could be said of Australia and
the United States, and I think there is a lot in that.
Indeed we have different spelling for different words, and
of course di~ fferent accents. One of our great long-standing
Parliamentarians, a person by the name of Fred Daly, used to
tell the story of a visit he made to Alabama just after
World War Ill.
In those days, of course, calls were put through by operator
and an international call was a very big deal indeed. He
wanted to call his wife in Sydney personally. He told the
operator he wanted Mrs Daly and a certain number. And she
said " certainly Sir, Mrs Dily". He said, " no, Daly". She
said, " yes Sir, Dily". He said, " no Daley, She
said, " yes Sir, " No, no", said Fred, A as
in Alabama". I After a brief pause she came back politely,
but quite firmly, and said, " ain't no i in Alabama, Sir".
An Australian friend of mine living in Washington escaped
from the Beltway for a weekend in West Virginia where he had
a conversation with the Park Ranger about bears and about
deers. The Ranger, curious about the funny way my friend
talked, said, " where's you from?". And my friend said,
" Washington". And the Ranger nodded and said, " Knowed you
had an accent".
There are a lot of similarities, Mr President, a lot of
similarities. The phone book is one. Our directory is like
yours. The Canberra phone book is only about this thick.
But there's a column of Bushes, there's a solid set of
numbers there for the Bush Fire Brigade, but there's no
mention of Pennsylvania Avenue. There are some Scowcrofts
and Keatings. But, of course, there's a couple of columns
of Lees, and a few of Kims, and a few Italian, German and
Dutch names, also Jewish and Muslim names. Our societies
have both come to include many different cultures, but they
started in the same place.
We were both called upon to choose, in the words of one of
our poets Henry Lawson " between the old dead tree of the
countries we came from and the young tree green of our new
countries". We both received what your poet, Robert Frost,
called " the gift outright", the continent, or in your case a
pretty good share of it.
We were given it. And as Robert Frost wrote, " at first we
were still England's colonials. In time we gave ourselves
to our new countries and the people and the land have now
become one.
These diffe: cences of languages to one side, you have flown
14 000 miles to see us. American leaders have had a tough
time in our part of the world, but they are rarely
discouraged. Lyndon Johnston was attacked by flying in the United States
Airforce in the Pacific, John Kennedy's torpedo boat was
sunk in the Solomon Islands, Richard Nixon was a naval
officer in fighting around Bouganville, and you, Mr
President, flew fifty eight missions in the Pacific War and
was shot down once. But you came back. And I can assure
you I breath a sigh of relief when Airforce One touched down
safely on New Years Eve.
You arrived in 1991 just over fifty years to the day when
our wartime Prime Minister, John Curtin, published his
appeal to the United States after Pearl Harbour. He said,
" I make it quite clear", he declared, " that Australia looks
to America free of any pangs as to our traditional links or
kinship with the United Kingdom.
It was a bi~ g change. Though Australian and American ties
have a much longer history. And you yourself referred to
the Bicentennary of the first ship visit today from the
Philadelphia. Prime Minister John Curtin's 27 December 1941 appeal for US
support in the Pacific war built on a history of economic
and cultural ties, but it began a much closer, strategic tie
which was consolidated by ANZUS, signed as a treaty on 1
September 1951, which underlines our commitment to joint
facilities. Since John Curtin's appeal, we have since fought together in
three conflicts, most recently in Desert Storm, making five
military engagements together in all, and without including
the silent war the cold war over the end of which you so
nobly presided.
Mr President, this visit, through the Asia-Pacific was the
first in a long time for an American President through a
region of peace. We can now take stock and plan the future.
I've learnt quite a deal on this visit, both about the
President and about his policies.
We have an American President, a dominant Western Leader, I
believe who cares about the world. A leader who not only
cares about the world and America's role in it, but knows
about it. A leader who, having triumphed over the West's
opponents, now wants to make the world a bigger and better
place for everybody.
This world -was last like it was in 1914, as we now see the
old Russian States rejoining the world economy, as we see
Central Europe, India, China, and the countries of South
America, provides a new opportunity to shape up the world's
trading system. And as Bretton-Woods provided that great
historical opportunity for the economic system post-1945, a
new opportunity exists for the world trading system post-
1992, not just for now but for the next century.
In the end it was the economic superiority of the West that
defeated Soviet Communism, not military superiority. And it
is that economic superiority that has to be expanded and
buttressed. Only in this way can it be a bigger and better
place for everybody.
The vehicle for' this is trade, and the vehicle for that is
GATT, and the key to GATT is Uruguay, and the key to Uruguay
is agriculture.
An open trading system is the way to go, which I think is
what we all wish.
I
We also, Mr President, took comfort from your words today.
You said we know that our security is inextricably linked to
stability across the Pacific and we will not put that
security and stability at risk.
We want the US straddling an open system in both oceans for
the benefit of all. That means we need GATT and we need an
US economic involvement in the Pacific.
Much of the policy between our two countries has been
likened to a fan with spokes, with the hub of the fan in
California and the spokes going to the treaties of Korea,
Japan and Australia. We'd like to put some fabric on that
treaty to make the weave tighter for a lot of bilateral
conversations between the countries, conversations which are
conversations between non-Americans which, in such an
arrangement, a country like Australia has independence while
keeping and strengthening bilateral links with the United
States. Mr President, on behalf of all Australians, thank you for
coming to Australia. Thank you for accepting the
responsibilities of global leadership. And we wish you well
for the balance of your journey and the greater task ahead.
With those words it now gives me great pleasure to call on
another good friend of the United States, the Leader of the
Opposition.