Fax from 25/ 01/ 97 14: 00 Pg: 1
PRIME MINISTER
January 1997 TRANSCRIPT OF TILE PRiME 1VNISTER.
T19E RON. JOHN UOWARD MP
SPEECHI AT ITH E OPENING OF TUlE ] ELECTORATE OFF& E OF
TISHi WORTH Ml[, FEDERAL, MIEMBER FOR ADELAIDE
IE& O
Thank you very much Trish. To Martin Cameron, the President of the Liberal Phrty in
South Australia,, to Amnanda Vanstone, Robert Hill, Tan McLachlan, my other stae and
Federal Par] lamentary colleagues, ladies and gentleincn. I1h ave reflected on itnu ~ mber of
the rcsoniances with a year ago as T travelled here this morning the short distance from the
hotel-It was cxactiy a year ago that I opencd Ehat campaign office. It was about the
samne time that I think I opened a campaign office for Andrew Soutbicou. I remember to
the day of course as so maay or us do, the Saturday of The Australia Day weekend List
year, when the election was called and can I say, Trish that it's alwayus a pleasureito be int
AdcLaide about this time of the year and it was very nice of you to give me the
opportunity of saying a few words at the opening of your office.
We are on the eve of Australia Day, a day that has grown in the affections and thi
commiftrnnt of Australians to celebrate over the last ten or 20 years. When I1w as
growing up people sort of struggled to celebrate Australia Day. It was called A4nniversary
Day I think then-It certainly was in Sydney, and I guess it was the samre all aro". d.
Australia. And we sort of went through the motions of celebrating Australia Day but
over the years, and particularly over the last decade, the celebration of it has become a
focal poinit of people thinking about anid reflecting on those things that bind us together.
One of the credos that I have always tried to live by in political life, both inside mny own
party and also within the community is that we ought to focus more on the things! that
bind us together rather than on the things that might ptush us apart
Arnd one of the most visible demonstrations, the most powerful pieces of evidence of the
success of Australia will be that tomrorrow, around our couny thousands upon thousands
Faxfrft25/ 01/ 97 14: 00 rg.
of people will become Australian citizens, They will come from literally the four corners
of the Earth. They will pledge themselves to put the interests of Austrulia against the
interests, of any other counny, not in the sense of repudiating the countrics from which
thev have come but in the sense of embrac t an overarching commitment in common
with those who are already Australian citizenis, to the future of our country and to the
vadlues that we sharm in common. And it's a very powcrfd reminder that that great act
across the country, it's a very powerful reminder of what a magnet of tolerance this
counry Is to people fromt so many parts of the world-And it cuts through the clatter. it
cuts through the negativism, it cuts through the tendency of some Australians to see this
country as other than a v~ ery robust, democratic, open, tolerant and diverse community. I
think it is a source of tremendous pride to all Austraians, whether they were born in this
country or whether they have becorne Australians by choice, it is a reminder to all of us
ofjust how high in the esteem of thc rest of the world our country blads in termis of the
values that men and women around the world regard as important
Over the Christmas holiday period I always try and read some books and I read a very
densely, and I1d on't mean dense in a pejortive sense but dense in terms of size, history
of what was called the short 20th century, it was called The Age of Exienies and it traces
the history of the 20th century from the -beginning of the Great War of 1914 to the
collapse of cormmunism in the early 1990s. And it contains right in themriddlc of it a
reminder that jonly eight countries, if you count separately Ireland and the United
Kingdom only eight countries have becn continuouly democratic during that period and
Australia is one of those eight countries, the others being of course the United States,
New Zealand, Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland. Now many
countries of c ourse lost their democracy and their freedomn non through choice but
because of the invasion of others and tt should always be kept in mind-But it is a
reminder to all of us ofjust how successful Australia has really been. And the greatest
measure of somebody's estem in the community is what others think of him or her and
the greatest mark of the esteem of the nation in the eyes of the rest of the world is what
the citizens of other countries think of that nation, and the desire of so many people to
become citizens of this country and the Willingness of them to do so is a very powerful
reminder to all of us of what this country has achieved and what it really stnads for.
Trish, can T say on a more personal note that 1 have a very strong affinty with the
electorate of Adelaide. I have experienced some ins and outs I have got to say in recent
years, I am delighted to say a lot more is than outs. I think your achievement in winning
the electorate of Adclaide in the first, place was a rcimarkable tribute to your campaigning
skils, it really was. And the service that you have given wo this very diverse electorate, it
is an electorate that of course embraces the heart of the city of Adelaide, it is an
electorate that straddles a very wide group of socio-economically speaking, of
Australians. It includes amongst its constituents people of very diverse backgrounds it
has a very important educational base. It has one of the most important sportng bases of
course, both summer and winter sports, of aay city in Australia and you represenit it
magnificently and your achievement in increasing your majority at the last election anid
the work that you do as a Member of Parliamient, the contribution you make to the
Fa fom25/ 01/ 97 14: 08 Pg:
understanding of some of the everyday problems of life is a very, very good exarrple to
your colleagues.
One of my best recollections of Trish and a demonstration of the sort of person she really
is was the day ol'that quite disgraceful attack on Parliament on The 1 9th of August, and
after the demonstrators had been, shall we say, I say it quite unashamedly, repulsed by
the police who behaved in an absolutely magnificent way, and other security people, in a
very difficult si tuation. I went around as soon as possible to inspect the damnage and
ther was Trish resumning her profession for the moment of nursing and caring for one of
the police officers who had been assaulted by several of the demonstrators. And that Is
typical of the caring role that she plays out, both as a Member of Parliamient and as a
member of the community. It was a vivid reminder of the kind of person shec is and the
fact that shes never forgote that she bas a caring role in the community as a citizen and
her training as a nurse was very much in evidence on that occasion.
This office will be of course open and will be a vehicle of supporl for all of the citizens
of the electorate of Adelaide. Although in the nature of politics only s~ iliry over halt, or
in some electorates, immrensely over hialf of the community votes for you.. once you're a
Member of Parliament you have an obligation and a commitment to serve the people who
voted against you as well as the people who voted for you. And I kmow that Trish wil do
that and I know that anybody, irrespective of their politics, who comes to this office can
be assured of a good hearing, can be assured of a persistent effort to help them in sol-ving
whatever problem that they miight have and I think that it is appropriate that There are so
many community leaders here.
So ladies and gentlemen, as T reflect on the last yea T do so as leader of the Liberal Parry
with very great pride at what has been achieved, not in any triumphal sense. We were
given the great privilege of being the Government of Australia. We have worked very
hard and I have been very ably assisted as Prime Minister in a very, very powerful
MNinisterial and Parliamcntmy contingent from South Australia. T think I have said before
tha I1c ant recall in the history of Federation, certainly not i the post-war period, where
there have been four Cabinet Mnisters in the Goverrnent of this comuy from South
Australia, which is the case at the present time and they ame ably surrounded by a very
powerful contingent of very hard-working Senators and Members, and I arn delighted to
say at -the opening of this office how much T appreciate the contribution, of South
Australians to my Government and to the Parliament generally. It has been a very
exciting year since I1w as last here. It's almost a year since the change of Government
We have achieved a lot but we have many challenges ahead of us and the now year has
brought a number of reminders of continuing challenges. The new yea has also brought
somc: new challenges which will engage the energies and the goodwill and the
commitment and the application of all of us.
Fax from But ladies and gentleme, I am here today to, with great pleasure, to declare Trish's now
electonte office open, to wish her well, to thank her fotbr the care that she gives to the
people of Adelaide, to thank her for being such a magnificent member of our
Parliamentary team and to wish her many, many years of service to the cause of the
people of Adelaide and to the Australian community generally.
Thank you.
ends 25/ 81/ 97 14: 00 Pg: 4