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SPEECH BY THE PRIHE MINISTER, THE HON P J KEATING, MP
STATE LUICKEON WELLINGTON 21 PAY 1993
It Is both a great pleasure and an honour to be here
today, in this famous capital of one of the worldIs
oldest democracies.
I want to thank you for the warm welcome Aunita and I
have received.
This is my first overseas trip since the Australian
federal election on March 13. Jim Bolger was among the
first to telephone and offer his congratulations on the
Labor Party's victory, and in doing so he renewed his
invitation to visit New Zealand.
And I was very glad to accept.
We are old friends, New Zealand and Australia. Good
friends. More serious friends than In commonly admitted.
It Is a friendship Which goes well beyond rivalries in
sport. And boers and wines, and sheep and racehorses and
Sopranos. And films.
It Is a frlendship which goes to a history which we
substantially share, to trade and migration over two
centuries, to shared experiences In peace and war, shared
legends, shared values and aspirations and in the
1990s, perhaps more than ever before, shared
international interests.
Our friendship and the challenges we jointly face are
reflected in the network of contacts which exist between
Australian and New Zealand ministers, and which serves as
a catalyst for continuoui dialogue across almost all
areas of domnatic policy.
In the Closer Economic Relations Treaty we have a model
form of agreement which has brought both our countries
great economic benefits.
We have a long tradition of cooperation in defence.
These days the requirements of oui common interests are
mat by a process of Closer Defence Relations, through
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shared training, support and inf rastructure and annual
metings of our defence ministers and service chiefs.
The quality of our defence partnership and the value of
the contribution we each make to wider regional stability
and United Nations peacekeeping depends on our
maintaining credible derenCe capabilities.
These formal contacts are vital to the success of our
relationship, yet in reality the strangth of that
relationship Is substantially built on the less tangible
facts of cultural exchange.
Indeed nothing has established the bond so much as the
simple movement of people between our two countries. For
so long there has been a steady flow these days In
Australia's direction, but at other times In our history
towards New Zealand. A~ nd with the flow has come.
knowledge and famlrarity, end we have learned froA% one
another something about the contours of the Australasian
mind. For generations there has also been a trans-migration of
ideas both ways across the Tasman: in literature and the
arts, in academia, and in the realms of popular culture.
Australian culture continues to be enriched by the
presence of talented and original New Zealan4 filmmakers,
artiste, musicians and writers.
On the other hand Australian popular Culture has for a
long time permeated N~ ew Zealand.
I had no Idea until very recently that New Zealanders of
Jim Bolger's generation were raised on ODad and Dave" and
used to sit in school singing " The Road to Gundagal" and
* Xookaburra Sits In the Old Gum Tree". And those of an
earlier generation than Jim's read the old Australian
bushman's bible The bulletin.
It has been a benign and democratic influence we've had,
I'm sure.
Just as the pervasive Influence in Australia of certain
New Zealand political satirists has been a boon to us
all. In truth, where things really matter, at the heart of the
relationship there really is a common cultural heritage:
and tha irrefutable measure of this to In those
democratic Institutions which srve and symbolise the
faith In democracy and freedom on which both our nations
are built.
it seems to me that paramount among all the things which
unite us is the belief that Australia and N~ ew Zealand
should be countries in which democracy, freedom and
equality of opportunity are exctendled: and if there Is one
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thing which characterises the story of both Countries it
Is the pursuit of those goals.
That wes the other great trans-Tasman migration the
migration of progressive political ideas which heas gone
on for more than a century.
A lot of the people who carried these ideas with them
were people from my side of politics: but there has
always been something of a consensus on both sides of
the Tauinan on both sides of politics that Australia and
New Zealand should be lands of opportunity In the front
ranks of social progress. loa the front rankis of
progressive nations.
There Is no better example of this ambition than the
pioneering a centuary ago of women's suffrage. Now
Zealand and Australia especially South Australia led
the world; and New Zealand, I have to conicede, led South
Australia by one year.
This year New Zealand is commmorating the centenary of
womlen's suffrage. Today It has been my pleasure to
present, on behalf of the Auatralia-New Zealand
Foundation, a small contribution to the celebrations.
We start fron what I think is inalienable commn ground.
But of course It woul4 be a mistake of epic proportions
to Imagine that there are not basic differences between
US. I'm Inclined to think that these differences have their
origin* in environment end geography as much anything
else. From the beginning you can see In the work of those
colonial landscape artists who travelled Australia and
New Zealand, two entirely different countries,
And I think there in no doubt that in New Zealand they
saw a landscape which conformed more readily to European
ideas of grandeur anid beauty than Australia did.
For all their understaable attachment to Britain and
Europe, Australitans have Inevitably been shaped by a land
which to eMphatically lika no othar,
It has shaped our character and our institutions and it
will continue to do so and all the more as we at last
come to just terms with the indigenous people of
Australia. For, In the process of reconciliation we have commenced,
Australians have begun to increasingly appreciate the
ancient and extraordinarily rich and adaptive culture of
Australian Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, and
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the contribution they have made to our underatanding of
ourselves and the continent we inhabIt.
Australia'. location so close to South-East Asia has also
affected Australian perceptions. For a long while It
gave Australians a feeling of insecurity: but In recent
times that Is changing and, In keeping with our best
interests, we are engaging with Asia on a cotusercial,
political aria cultural level as never before.
Australia is also demographically different of course:
Jim Bolger notwithstanding, Australia has always been
more Xrlsh; since the Second World war More European, and
recently more Asian,
The development of a culturally rich, pluralist Society
and a remarkably tolerant one I count as one of
Australia's greatest national achievements, and one of
our great assets In the internatianalisation of the
Australian economy.
We see our future as being very much bound up with our
region with Asia and the Pacific and we see our
diversity as a great strength in this.
These same considerations have played a significant part
In the recent devlopmsent of the debate about the best
means by which the unique reality of contemporary
Australia might be best expressed and synbolised, arnd
whether or not the time has coma for a Federal Republic
with an Australian Head of state.
There is also a growing awareness that how well Australia
does in the world depends to a conslderable mxtent on how
we are known in the world, and that depends in part on
the symbols and sense of our Identity.
our two nations have Inevitably developed different
perceptions and policies.
The Australian government and people have continued to
place a high value on our security alliance with thio
united States. New Zealand has chosen a somewhat
different path.
Domestically, the micro reform processes we have both
pursued over the past decode have been pursued with
different emphases and we have been led to different
conclusions in a number of importanL policy areas.
Mly Government i* committed to a social democratic
Australia, a free market economy underpinning an
egalitarian and inclusive social policy.
I don't think we neoed be anxious about the points at
which our national lives diverge. There have always been
differences. The friendship is made stronger by
understanding them by appreciating them.
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Living in a vast and dLveQrse Continent, and, no lesS, in
a federal system of government, one learns that lesson
early in life.
We are two nations in a world which ia undergoing
profound change. Remote as we may seem trom much of the
turmoil, both Australia and New Zealand have recognised
the need to engage with it and the roles we can play.
We have joined in International efforts to bring peace
and security to the people o? those countries which have
expexienced tragic and appalling war.
It eems to me that those same ideals of democracy and
freedom which are the cornerstone of our two countries'
history are present with our young men and women now
serving with the United Nations forces in Cambodia and
Somalla. And I believe it is appropriate at this point to
congratulate New Zealand for the role it is playing on
the Security Council as it attempts to find effective
international responses to extraordinarily complex
situatlons. As you will know from our discussions this morning
Australia will continue to commit itself to the processes
of CER which have already been so successful in
stimulating trade and investment between our countries.
There will not be quick and easy solutions to everything,
but everything that should be addressed will be addressed
and progress will be made.
Our determination to continue with our bilateral efforts
is matched by our commitment to securing a successful
conclusion to the Uruguay Round.
we confirmed this in our diScusSiona this morning.
We also jointly recognise the need to build on the
economic growth now occurring in the Asla-Pacific region.
I shall make the point this evening in Auckland that we
should build on the success of CER to integrate more
fully with the wider regional economy.
I am greatly encouraged by what has been achieved in
recent months to advance the progress of APEC.
For both our countries APEC can be the avenue of the
expanded coumercial relationship we seek with the region.
The dialogue has now advanced to a point where I am
confident that we will soon begin to see some practical
measures emerge to permit liberalisatlon of trade ana
Investment within the Asia-Pacific ragion.
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Trade and investment cannot take place In a vacuum. I
know we are agreed that in advancing our economic
relations with Asia anid the Pacific we should also be
seeking to Increase our political and cultural
Interaction. I know we are both aware that our shared Interest in the
region will depend in part on the crucial factor of
stability and prosperity.
We can work together to strengthen regional seCurity and
in so doing secure the basis of our own prosperity and
that of Lhe region. And I believe that our suaccess in
this will enrich our people In more than material ways.
I take the view that our efforts Ina Asia and the Pacific
represent the greatest peacetime challenge Ina our
nation's history.
It Is the dawning of a new epoch In our history and, In~
no small way I believe, the fulfilment of our destinies.
There are those Who see in this challenge a threat to our
culture and values.
I say that ae we succeed as we are and as we will we
shall see that our success Is proof of the strength of
those values.
That io why I say we will be enriched in move than
material ways because It will lift our confidence, our
self-esteem and our faith in those things which have
emerged from our experience as Australians and New
Zealanders. Thank you.