SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, THE HON P. J. KEATING MP
CEREMONY TO MARK THE COMMENCEMENT OF CONSTRUCTION OF
STAGE I OF THE ASSISI HOME FOR THE AGED
MARCH 1992
Your Grace, Mr Valmorbida, Ladies and gentlemen
Each time we welcome to this country people who have been
bold enough to move their homes, their affections and
their allegiances across the world, I think we are the
bolder for it.
When people start a new life here they give new life to
the nation as a whole.
That is the history of this country. Migration has been
our lifeblood and our strength.
The energy and initiative migrants bring is vital to our
economic health.
The cultural diversity they bring makes us richer in
countless ways.
They open our eyes and our minds to the rest of the
world. Quite simply migration makes Australia a better place,
and better in the eyes of other nations.
Italians have been migrating to Australia for a century
and a half.
There were Italians on the Australian goldfields. It was
an Italian who wrote the classic account of the Eureka
Stockade in 1854.
Italians were pioneers in our horticultural and
agricultural industries before World War II.
Since World War II, of course, Italians have been perhaps
the major players in transforming the cultural life of
our cities and towns: while their hard work and
PRIMIE MINISTER
initiative in all sectors of the economy has been of
inestimable value to the nation's growth and wealth.
But Italian people have been more than agents of change
in Australia.
They have been important in renewing old and essential
values values which have at times shown signs of
weakening. Italian people have been models for all Australians in
the community spirit they have brought, their religious
values, their7 commitment to family values and in their
care for the aged.
The Assisi Home for the Aged bears witness to all these
things and I am therefore honoured and very grateful
for your inviLtation to become your patron.
The government is conscious that we must do all we can
for the gener: ation which did so much for Australia.
Obviously the Italian Australian community is aware of
its responsibility, and I'm pleased to say that the
government has matched this by providing $ 3.7 million to
enable this great project to begin.
Today I can assure the Italian community and all
Australians, whatever their national origin, that we
remain committed'to encouraging that climate of cultural
diversity and freedom, tolerance and mutual respect,
which are the true aims of multi-culturalism.
We also remai~ n committed to caring for the aged to
further expanding programs already much expanded in the
1980s.
As we undertaEke this essential work over the next few
years the Assisi home is certain to be a model of what
can be done by communities, and how they can work
together With government.
For their vision and dedication, I congratulate all those
people who have taken on this project, and wish them well
in the future! stages of its development.
And thank you. for inviting me here.