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EMBARGOED 7Z30am SUNDAY JANUARY 26
STATEMENT BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING MP
AUSTRALIA DAY ADDRESS
AUSTRALIAN OF THE YEAR AWARDS BREAKFAST
ADMIRALTY HOUSE, SYDNEY, 26 JANUARY 1992
This last year has been one of unprecedented global
upheaval: of change so rapid we f ind ourselves having to
confront international realities that were inconceivable
twelve months ago. We have witnessed the disintegration o~ f
the second most powerful nation on earth, and the re-birth
of nation states and national movements dormant f or
generations.. We have seen the face of Europe change. We
have seen the emergence of a dictator in the Middle East;,
and unprecedented international cooperation to defeat him.
Few eras have been so uncertain or so promising. The
world is being re-made, not just in Europe but in our own
immediate region in Asia where economic growth is faster
than anywhere else in the world, where no one yet knows what
the future political landscape will be, and where Qlux future
substantiall. y lies.
We cannot hide from these realities. We must be ready and
able to adapt. We must be strong enough and independent
enough to bEt a constructive political and economic player in
the new ordetr. In one sense we have never been so alone: in
another we have never been so much a part of the world.
In facing these challenges we ought to take both courage and
pride in what we have already achieved. Because it is true
to say that, if the changes here have not occurred with the
same astonishing speed, they have been profound.
Only a generation ago we lived as an isolated outpost of
Europe largely protected from the wider world by high tariff
barriers and a cosy but increasingly unrealistic
relationship with Great Britain. We have moved a long way
from that: our course is now fixed towards a robust
internationally competitive economy based on not just our
great natural wealth but our human skills and energy in
manufacturing and services.
Only a decade ago our workplace relations and our wages
system were governed by an inflexible code of hostility, a
conventional wisdom that the interests of employers and
employees were naturally opposed. That is emphatically no
longer the case.
Less than a generation ago we still lived in fear of Asia
we regarded our near neighbours with a mixture of ignorance,
hostility anad condescension. We are now much more a part of
the region, much more at home economically, and as the
Cambodian peace settlement so dramatically testifies,
politically. Without sacrificing social cohesion, we have become a much
more complex society. Where for so long we were notorious
for the White Australia Policy, we now enjoy a large measure
of respect for the tolerance manifest in our immigration and
multicultural policies.
Perhaps we should not be surprised if these and other
profound cultural and economic changes have made many
Australians wonder if the traditions of their country, the
values for which they have worked and fought, are not under
attack. I suspect there are many Australians who are
wondering if their Australia will survive the changes i
there will b~ e a place for the " old Australia" in the new.
I have no doubt that the best of Australia will survive
in fact it must. The hard-won traditions of democracy, of
fairness an~ d equity, individual opportunity and personal
security, our way of life and those institutions which
guarantee our freedom, will remain the guiding principles cof
Australia. Indeed it is becauise we want these values to survive that we
must re-make Australia. There is no question about it if
the good society we all want is to become reality we have to
become a more dynamic, more efficient and cohesive society.
We have to become a nation with a more truly natin U
purpose. With other ministers in recent weeks I have spoken to
representatives of Australian business all kinds of
Australian business. I've spoken to state premiers and
their senior ministers, and I've spoken to trade union
leaders. The spirit of cooperation and endeavour, the good
will, the unanimous commitment to economic recovery, and the
idleas which emerged from these discussions re-affirmed my
belief that we can successfully respond to the two great
imperatives: the immediate one of stimulating economic
growth and -getting people back to work, and, in the longer
term, completing the task of creating a revitalised and
vigorous Australia.
One hundred years ago the colonies which were soon to form
the Australian nation were deep in the worst depression and
the worst drought Australia has ever experienced. Yet the
1890s was remarkable for the sense of nationhood which
emerged. It was the first great flowering of the Australian
spirit. Much of the old Australia was born in that decade.
The new Australia, I firmly believe, can be born in this
one. We can build on those great traditions and that spirit
to meet the challenges which face us now.
I believe we need have no doubt about the future of our
nation no doubt that we can come out of this recession
much stronger, with a much firmer basis for full employment
and long term prosperity, and with a clearer vision of our
common goal.
So in presenting these awards for the 1991 Australian and
Young Australian of the Year we are honouring, I think,
people who exemplify the spirit of Australia: that means,
among many things, courage and enterprise, faith in
ourselves, pride in our past but with eyes firmly fixed on
our future.
On behalf of the government and people of Australia I
congratulate you all, and thank you for the example you have
set us.