E&OE....................................................................................................
Thank you very much, Mr Dauth; to Mr Morgan; to Her Excellency, the
Ambassador of the Republic of the Philippines; to my Ministerial colleagues
who I welcome here today and most particularly, in the context of
this occasion, the re-appointed Cabinet Minister, the Minister for
Immigration and Multicultural Affairs and also the Cabinet Minister
I've appointed as responsible for reconciliation, Mr Philip Ruddock;
to my many other Parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen.
I want to thank the organisers of this exhibition for the opportunity
of participating in this opening and the opportunity that it gives
me to say a few words on behalf of the Government about what the exhibition
represents.
This exhibition will showcase to the world, and most particularly
to our region, one of the great realities and one of the enduring
realities and one of the enduring strengths of the Australian nation
and that is its very rich cultural and ethnic diversity.
Many words have been spoken about the diversity of Australia and many
things have been said about what represents the triumphs of the Australian
nation. And also in the process of saying those words and writing
those things we acknowledge, of course, like any other nation, our
past and our history has had its blemishes. But the sum total, the
balance, is a very positive and a very favourable one of which all
of us as Australians, irrespective of our background and irrespective
of whether we were born in this country or whether our parents were
born in this country or we have adopted Australia as our country,
it is something that we all share in common, that we do have a very
rich record of achievement and a great record of tolerance and openness
of which we should all be undeniably proud.
We have, of course, in our history a special place for the indigenous
people of Australia. And that special place is represented in the
exhibition and it is properly and fully acknowledged in the exhibition
as rightly it should be.
This is an occasion to remind us that in the last 50 years we've
had five-and-a-half million people who have immigrated to this country
from 150 different nations around the world. There isn't an example
anywhere in the world of the successful absorption and integration
into the broader Australian community of such a diverse group of people.
We have been able to do it better than any other country. We have
been able to unite people of that diversity into a harmonious, positive,
forward-looking Australian society. But we have been able to do it
in a way that continues to respect the individual racial and ethnic
and cultural background of the different groups that make up the Australian
nation.
As I said on the night of the last election, Australia was a nation
of many parts and many origins. The things that unite us as Australians
will always be more powerful and more enduring than the things that
divide us. And we have been able to achieve something quite unique
in the world. We've been able to achieve a sense of national
unity and preserve our sense of nationhood and our characteristic
identity as Australians without denying to the many parts that make
up the sum of the Australian nation a right to preserve and to nurture,
to love and to enjoy and to cherish their individual ethnic identity
and origin and the culture that goes with that individual ethnic origin
and identity.
So this is an occasion, and the opening of this exhibition is an opportunity
to talk about, in a very confident and assertive way of the Australian
achievement, particularly over the last 50 years. But it's also
an opportunity and an occasion to remind ourselves that that achievement
is not something that can be taken for granted. That we must always
reaffirm the essential principles of tolerance and decent treatment
of all Australians irrespective of their background. That we should
always, as a people, reject and shun intolerance and discrimination.
We should always proclaim the self-evident importance that every man
and woman in this country is entitled to equal treatment irrespective
of their racial, national, religious, ethnic or other origin. And
that any kind of racial discrimination is abhorrent to the Australian
value and to the Australian way of life. And that any practices or
attitudes that encourage intolerance and encourage insensitivity towards
people on account of their racial or religious background or intolerance
is something that should be rejected and shunned by all Australians
and that is one of the verities of modern Australian life and it's
a verity that we practice, it's a verity that we proclaim here
in Australia and it is something that we communicate and we proclaim
to the rest of the world.
One could not encompass in a short speech of this nature the contribution
of people of so many different backgrounds have made to the Australian
nation. We think of the massive contribution of so many people of
diverse backgrounds to our cultural life, to our business life, to
our political life, to our diplomatic life, to our sporting life.
We see the entry into sports hither to be seen as somehow or other
connected to one particular aspect of our national identity or our
national history of people of different and diverse backgrounds. And,
of course, the contribution that people of so many different backgrounds
have made to the view the rest of the world has of Australia has been
absolutely incalculable.
It is a well accepted fact that one of the many things that swung
the International Olympic Committee in favour of Sydney those several
years ago and one of the reasons why we will have the opportunity
in this beautiful city of hosting the Olympic Games in the year 2000
was the knowledge of the racial diversity and the cultural harmony
and diversity of the Australian nation. And it was something that
weighed very heavily in our favour and something that worked very
much to our credit. And there is much to celebrate in the modern Australian
nation.
We are, as I have remarked on many occasions, a nation that occupies
a unique intersection. We are in so many ways a projection of Western
civilisation in this part of the world. We have deep and enduring
links with Britain and the other nations of Europe and we share much
of the great cultural and politically liberal inheritance, and I say
liberal not in any party political sense but in a generic sense, of
European background. We also have very profound links with the nations
of North America and we have shared with the United States of America
the most powerful and the largest democracy in the world many experiences
both in war and in peace.
But here we are in the Asian-Pacific region of the world and we have
within the Australian nation itself a very, very vibrant community
of people of Asian descent who are playing a magnificent role in contributing
to the strength and the vitality of the modern Australia. In combining
those three things we have a special opportunity and we have characteristics
and assets that no other country in the world has. And we have an
opportunity if we use those characteristics and those assets in an
effective way we have an opportunity to achieve things that no other
country can achieve.
We are seen in Asia as having the advantages without the disadvantages
of our European and our American associations. We are seen in Europe
and in North America as having insights into the politics and the
culture and the life of the nations of the Asia-Pacific region. Not
only because of our geographic proximity but also because of the people-to-people
links, that exist between so many Australians of Asian descent and
the countries of that region.
And when I think of that unique intersection we occupy, that unique
conjunction of cultural and historical and geographical assets I can
only but be very excited and enthusiastic about the opportunities
that lie in front of this country as we move into the 21st
Century.
It's incredibly exciting and positive time to be alive in Australia,
to be involved in the affairs of our nation and to have the opportunity
of sharing in all those events that are going to unfold in the next
few years the Olympic Games, the celebration of 100 years of
the Australian Federation, the achievement, I hope, of a lasting reconciliation
between the indigenous people of our country and the rest of the Australian
community. And what this exhibition will do will be to say confidently
to the rest of the world what modern Australia represents. It represents
a group of people who are proud of what we have achieved, acknowledge
the mistakes that we have made, celebrate our tolerance and our diversity
and thank the peoples of the world for the contribution over the years
they have made to the building of the Australian nation.
So, therefore, as Prime Minister I am particularly delighted to congratulate
the organisers of the exhibition, to wish them well, to thank them
for the many months of toil that they have put into establishing this
exhibition. I know it will be a huge success because it will tell
the truth about Australia and it will represent the modern Australia
to the rest of the world in a most effective and illuminating fashion.
I declare it open. Thank you.
[Ends]