THlE WH72? i, HOUSE
bOf fice of the Press Secretary
For Imm~ ediate Release ~ Ju~ e 30, 1982.
REMARKS BY
THE PRESIDENT AND
PRIME MINISTER FRASER
OF AUSTRALIA
AT ARRIVAL CEREMONY
The South Lawn
10: 11 A. M1EDT THE PRESIDENT: Prime Minister Fraser, th6 American
people welcome you to our country with a deep and a heartfelt
warmth reserved for only the best of friends. Nancy and I are
pleased to be able to welcome you and Mrs. Fraser as representatives
of a country with whom we are proud to be allied and the American
people are grateful to have as friends.
' I Robert Louis. Stevenson wrote, " we are all travelers
what John Bunyan calls he wilderness of this world. And the
best that we find in our travels is an honest friend they keep
us worthy of ourselves." And people of Australia are honest and
loyal friends, independent of mind and will who bring strength of
character and courage to the international community. America's
proud to have such an ally in a world where freedom and democracy
are constantly challenged.
Australians have fought side-by-side with Americans
in every major war in this century. They've opened their hearts and
homes to us when we were away from home and they have stood with
us in good times and bad. And America is grateful to have such
steadfast-friends.
You, Mr. Prime Minister, are a world leader who has
aade Australia a force for peace. Under your government Australia
" hsdone much-to bring independence and economic growth to developing
count2. ies as close to you as Southeast Asia and as far away as
Africa. And there you played the kev.-role in commonwealth
consultations leading to the independence of Zimbabwe. Together
with New Zealand, Australia and America have shared a,. bond of a
tripartite ANqZUS alliance.
For 30 years working together to maintain peace and
security in the East Asian and Pacific regions, as Sir Robert Menzies
said, " We work for the same kind of free world. We see the world
from similar perspectives, though no two countries could be on more
opposite ends of the globe. We share values shaped on the new world
frontier * passed on to us as our heritage. We live in freedom.. and will*
accept no other life. We govern ourselves in democracy and will not
tolerate anything less. We cherish liberty and hold it safe providing
hope for the rest of the world. We were born in the same era, sprang
from the same stock and live for the samne ideals. Australie and.
America share an affinity that reaches to our souls."
You have said, Mr. Prime Minister, that the liberty we
enjoy has no guarantee. And most impoortantly*, liberty requires
an understanding by ordinary people of what is at stake. The survival
of the whole way of life depends on their commitment.
1 wwa s particularly impressed, deeply so, when, Mr. Prime
Minister, I heard your powerful declaration in your speech bei'ore
the B'nai B'rith here in Washington last September. You reminded : us
that a people without an objective are a people lost a people with
faith are a people destroyed a people without conviction wLll. not
survive. It is liberty which provides the objective, liberty which
allows faith liberty which sustains conviction, but liberty is not
an inevitable state and there is no law which guarantees that once
achieved it will survive. Its preservation requires skill, determinaand
strength. Mr. Prime Minister, the Australian example is an inspira'
f or free people everywhere. You may be assured that Am~ rica will rema.
vigilqnt, will keep herself strong and will always be a dependable
* partner in the quest for stability, freedom'and peace.
Australia is indeed a friend who keeps us worthy of
ourselves. Prime Minister Fraser, I look forward to our meetings
today as an opportunity to enhance our cooperation with one of
our closest allies, but it will also be a pleasure to get to know the
* Frasers get to know them better, strengthening the personal. friendsc
between our two lands.
So, on behalf of all Americans, I welcome you to the Unit
States. ( Applause.)
) PRIME MINISTER FRASER: 14r. President, from my wife and
myself and the Australian party who are with me, thank you very much
* indeed for your warm and generous welcome. I'm looking forward, inde~
to the discussions that we shall be having.
Australia and the United States, as you pointed out, Mr.
President,---share a commitment to the values of freedom and of. democrac
And we know that these values are not mere words, they stand for our
way of life for the attitudes we have toward people and the kind ol
opportunities we want for our children.
we share a faith in the enterprise and judgment of free
men and women. Both our countries were built by immigrants from
across the seas, pursuing dreams of liberty and of independence -7 the
dr, 6am of freedom can have the same powerful good in the world today
as it had at the foundation of this great republic. And the world
certainly needs strong and confident voices spe aking for freedom.
You have come, Mr. President, to your great office at
the end of what has been, in many ways, a decade of adversity. You
embody through your eloquence and courage the determination to overcom
that adversity. in your inaugural address you urged America to
begin an era of renewal. The energy and ingenuity of the American
people, their capacity to rise to a challenge gives me confidence that
they Vgill respond are responding to your call.
Indeed the clear evidence that they're doing so already
must be encouraging to all of us. The future of the course of
freedom around the world depends so greatly on the leadership of
the United States. There are so many things that -will not be done
unless * the United States is prepared to do them. There is so much
that only the world's greatest democracy can do. But we're well
aware that powerful as you are, other countries also have a role
and a duty. All of the democracies need that confidence in theinselve
that sense of larger purpose, that willingness to play a part which
can create the will to~ work together and to prevail.
., There are obvious limnits, Mr. President, to what a
nation of 40 million people can do. But, Mr. President, Australians
R E
are a people given to forming our own views and it's this spirit
of independence that makes us determined to be active in improving
the condition of mankind and to contribute effectively to the cause
of peace and of freedom.
The relationships between Americans and Australians
have always been warm and spontaneous and the alliance between
our countries reflects that friendship. But it does, I suggest, more
than that. It is built on the bedrock of mutual interests. As
countries whose peoples fought and died in two world wars, we share
an abiding convitment to world peace. As countries bordering the
same ocean, we share a central concern for stability and prosperity
in the Asia Pacific region. And as two of the world's democracies,
we share a concern for liberty and the open society.
Mr. President, it used to be said of one great
democratic statesman, that he was at his most effective and formidable
on the rebound. I trust that far before the end of your Presidency
as Western economies recover, as Western defenses strengthen, as
western will is remobilized, we. will have demonstrated that the
same is true of democracy itself.
We, in Australia, along with the rest of the civilized
world, admire greatly the courage and composure that you showed,
Mr. President, throughout the ordeal that followed the attempt on
your life some weeks ago. You have shown by personal demonstration
that given old-fashioned strength of character, it is possible to
dominate events, rather than to surrender to those events.
In doing so,' you transformed an ugly and potentially
tragic event'into one from which decent men and women could grow
confidence.. I thank. you again, very much, Mr. President, for your
welcome to Tamara and to myself, to the Australian party today. I'm
looking forward very much to gettjingto know you and Mrs. Reagan: and
to having our discussions. -( Applause.) END10: 25 A. M. EDT