E&OE............................................
Well thank you very much. Thank you very much to my friend and colleague, Philip, thank you. Well that is a very good start.
To my friend Philip Ruddock, to Joe Baini, Anwar, Mr Tueni, to my many other parliamentary colleagues and can I particularly acknowledge the presence of Ross Cameron, the Member for Parramatta and the Chairman of the Federal Parliamentary Australia-Lebanon Friendship Society. To Your Graces, Reverend Mothers, Sisters and all the other religious leaders here, particularly the Sheik and friends, and most importantly of all, my fellow Australians.
It is tonight an occasion to celebrate two important things about Australia and two important things about the human values that the people of Australia and the people of Lebanon have in common. The first and most important thing that we celebrate here tonight is the extraordinary success story that has been multicultural Australia, particularly over the last 30 or 40 years.
We celebrate here tonight the wonderful contribution that has been made to our magnificent country by the people who have made it their home that have come from Lebanon. And I want, on behalf of the Australian Government, and I know on behalf of all of the Australia people, to express our gratitude to our brothers and sisters of Lebanese descent who have made such a colossal contribution to the building and development of the miracle which is modern Australia.
No matter where you go in Australia - whether it be in politics, be it in the arts, be it in business, be it in culture, be it in sports, be it in the ordinary walks of community life - you find Australians of Lebanese descent. You find people of Lebanese descent, people born in Lebanon who are making a magnificent contribution to Australia and to Australia's future. And that has been a remarkable achievement and it has been a remarkable success story.
As our very distinguished guest from Lebanon said a few moments ago, what has been all the more remarkable is the united, cohesive, tolerant and harmonious way in which the different confessions, the different faiths, the different backgrounds, the different political views have been able to coexist so peacefully. Coexist with vigour, coexist debating differences, as you should do, in a vibrant democracy but coexisting in this united fashion within the Australian nation.
And that is an extraordinary achievement and it is a remarkable tribute to Lebanese Australians and it is a remarkable achievement of all of us, that we have been able to build that together. And we have been - living under our philosophy of multi-culturalism - we have been a remarkable, successful community.
As President Clinton was to remark in Sydney of October of 1996: Australia has become a beacon to the rest of the world in terms of the tolerant acceptance of people from 140 different countries and so many different nationalities. We are an extraordinary mixture of people. We occupy a unique intersection of history and geography and culture. We are a nation that has deep European roots, and yet, particularly since World War II, our culture has been enriched and added to by people from the Middle East, from Asia, from South America and from all around the world. And from that bringing together and that coming together there has emerged a proud and dignified and remarkably successful and a very united nation.
And we live by certain values and certain principles and the most important of those, is of course the acceptance that the individual worth - that every man and woman in this society of ours - is not measured according to the colour of their skin, is not measured according to their religious beliefs or the country in which they were born, but is measured according to the contribution they make to our nation and the sort of lives that they live as individual men and women. And they are values that will endure through the ages, so far as all future Australians are concerned.
And the other great thing that we celebrate tonight and it is really, in a sense, the reason why we are all here, and that is to celebrate the importance of freedom of speech. And it is a reminder to all of us who have known nothing other than free speech - those of us who were born in Australia and grew up in Australia and who have taken for granted free speech and have taken for granted the gift of a free and open press - we ought to remind ourselves that in many countries around the world that has not always been the case. And our guest reminded us of that and our guest reminded us of the great importance of the gift of free speech. Because, if you have in a society, three things - if you have free speech, you have a vigorous democratic system and you have an incorruptible judiciary, an incorruptible legal system - then you have the three great pillars of a successful society. And if you add to that the freedom of belief and the freedom of religion, you bring together all the great values that we hold in common as peoples who are lovers of freedom and lovers of democracy.
So tonight I salute the contribution of An-Nahar. I salute the contribution of journalists, particularly in the ethnic press but also in the mainstream press, because the contribution of ethnic newspapers to the vibrancy of our multicultural community has been immensely important. They are a very valuable, they are vital and indispensable communications links that bring together people, sharing a common culture and sharing a common background. And it is a very important element of the cross-cultural characteristics of so many Australians of different backgrounds that these newspapers and these communication vehicles exist.
And I salute the newspaper for the contribution that it has made to the Lebanese community. I salute the newspaper for the contribution that it has made to the vibrancy of free expression within Australia.
There are two other things that I would like to say tonight. I want to take the opportunity of expressing my complete solidarity with all of you when you long and pray for a free and fully independent Lebanon.
The people of Lebanon have suffered and have been tortured by war and devastation and death like few countries in the world, particularly since the end of World War II. You have been invaded, you have lost hundreds of thousands of your fellow countrymen and women and you have every right to long for a lasting peace settlement in the Middle East. And whatever may be the views of Australians and whatever may be the views of people around the world, about different aspects of the tragic circumstances of the Middle East, all of us must hope and pray that a final comprehensive peace settlement is achieved in the Middle East.
Only through the achievement of a comprehensive peace settlement can the people of Lebanon and indeed the people of many other countries in the Middle East look to the time that they can live in complete peace. They can have the sense of hope and optimism that the people of Australia have and that so many other people around the world have.
I know quite a deal, as do my many Parliamentary colleagues, of the suffering and the sadness that has come to the land of your birth, to the people of Lebanon. And I understand the shameful way in which the people of Lebanon have been tossed around and battered by the circumstances and the events of the Middle East and I want you, all of you, to go away from here tonight understanding that the Australian Government feels for the future of Lebanon and wants to see that just and lasting peace settlement over the whole of the Middle East.
And the final thing that I do want to say to you tonight, ladies and gentlemen, is to acknowledge very genuinely the values that the people of Lebanon have brought to our country. The values of hard work, the sense of family solidarity, the sense of enterprise, the sense of community, the sense of service and the sense of individual commitment. And I know as we approach the celebration of Christmas, I can speak for all Australians in wishing that you and your families come together at Christmas, that you reflect upon the bounty and good fortune of our country, you reflect upon the great gift of tolerance and understanding which is the birth right of all Australians.
And I say to all of you, whatever your faith may be, whatever your confessions may be, that this is a country that extends the gift of welcome, the embrace of friendship, the respect of culture and the respect of difference to all Australians. And on my behalf, and on behalf of the Australian Government, I wish you a very happy Christmas and a very prosperous new year. I thank you for the contribution that you make to our country and I join you in saluting the bonds of friendship between the people of Australia and the people of Lebanon.
Thank you.
[Ends]