E&OE...........................................................................................................
Thank you very much Mr Ambassador and I first of all particularly
acknowledge the presence of a number of very senior Ministers in
the Government of Thailand.
I have had the opportunity over the past two days of spending quite
a lot of time with your Prime Minister and with senior members of
the Government and I appreciate very much, as I know all of the
members of my party do, the gracious hospitality and the welcome
that has been extended to all of us. Of course, my visit and the
visit of many Australians here at present is particularly to honour
the contribution of our countrymen in the past to the defence of
liberty and the contribution of many others, and that is something
about our past that we respect and we honour and we salute, but
tonight I would like to say something about the present and about
the future.
I would like to start by saying how much I respect and admire the
very practical, the very diligent and the very courageous way in
which the Government and the people of Thailand are tackling the
severe economic difficulties that are facing your country at present.
It is no easy task to undertake compliance with the conditions of
the International Monetary Fund programme. That particular programme,
to which Australia has been a contributor to the tune of US$1 billion,
and in fact Australia along with Japan, are the only two countries
in the world that have contributed to each of the three rescue packages
organised by the International Monetary Fund in the Asian Pacific
region for Thailand, Korea and Indonesia. I understand very much
the social implications of some of the measures that are being undertaken.
It is easy for those distant from the Governments of the countries
affected to lay down rules of compliance and to set benchmarks and
to require responses. The decisions that must be made on the ground,
the decisions that have to be made which affect the livelihood of
the people of the countries affected carry a lot more responsibility
and imply a great deal more pressure. I admire very much the efforts
of your Prime Minister and the efforts of the members of your Government
in implementing that package.
The association between Thailand and Australia is a very deep one.
There are more than 50 000 Australians of Thai descent and Thailand
and Thai culture has made a very significant impact, particularly
on the major cities of Australia. The Ambassador reminded me that
in Sydney and Melbourne alone, there are in each of those two cities
three to four hundred Thai restaurants. I ought to say that before
I dined more regularly at the Lodge in Canberra, there was a restaurant
I used to frequent quite a lot called the Ruen Thai in Kingston
and it's a very, very nice eating establishment, indeed, but
if there are any representatives of other Thai restaurants here
tonight, please forgive me for not having given you a commercial.
But the links are friendly. They are deep, they are genuine and
I am very proud of the fact that my country was able to help Thailand
in her time of need, and I am not shy in saying that our economy
was strong enough to be able to render that assistance and I am
not shy in saying that had a little bit to do with the skilful policies
that my Government has followed.
But being part of a region, being a part of the Asia Pacific region,
carries benefits and responsibilities. It gives us as a nation,
which occupies, as I often say, a unique intersection of history,
geography and economic circumstance. We are a country that has deep,
historical links with Europe. We have had a long association with
North America with whom we share great traditions of liberal democracy
but we are geographically located in the Asia Pacific region, and
our own society is a marvellously successful experiment in bringing
people from all parts of the world and producing a tolerant, harmonious
nation of 18 million people who respect the cultural differences,
who understand that beneath the overriding loyalty to the values
and the traditions and the interests of Australia, people are entitled
to retain an affection and a love of their mother culture, and that
is something which is respected in Australia.
We do have this sort of unique position and I am very proud of the
fact that we have been able to be of help to Thailand and it's
very important as we look to the future, we remember of course in
that old cliche, the lessons of the past, and one of the very positive
lessons of the past is represented by the fact that so many people
here tonight graduated from universities in Australia and the hosts
tonight of course include the Alumni of Australian Universities.
I have found particularly in the time that I have been Prime Minister,
as I have travelled around the Asian Pacific region, that rich legacy
represented by initially the Colombo Plan, and then building on
that a long tradition of encouraging scholarly links between the
peoples of the region and the people of Australia. I want to thank
all of those who have been involved in that education process. I
want to thank those who are promoting it into the future and I am
very pleased that part of the visit that I have paid here has involved
some announcements in that particular area.
Beyond all of that, I want to strike a note of positive thought.
I want to speak optimistically about the future of the region. I
know that Thailand, along with other countries, is going through
difficulty but I also know that fundamentally, there are strengths
in the Thai economy just as there are strengths in the Indonesian
economy and strengths in the Korean economies that weren't
there 20 or 30 years ago. The process of economic globalisation
and trade liberalisation is unstoppable. It may along the way be
tempered. There may need to be local adjustments to accommodate
social pressures and social circumstances but we are all together
committed to a more open trading system.
The APEC goal is a fine goal and it's a goal that in the years
ahead that will enrich and not rob the people of the APEC countries.
It's a goal that if realised, will unlock investment opportunities
and unlock employment opportunities which are not now available
to the peoples of the region. I am a great optimist about those
APEC goals. I do believe that the foundations which have been laid
are very solid ones and the current economic difficulties are not
going to crack them. I hear people talk in very doomsaying terms
on occasions about the strength of the Japanese economy. Japan's
economy is fundamentally one of the most powerful in the world and
the contribution that Japan in the years ahead will make to the
economic strength and the economic durability of the world will
continue to grow and be quite immense.
All big economies from time to time will go through difficulties.
The Japanese economy of course is no exception but the fundamental
strengths of huge overseas balances of low inflation, the cultural
discipline of high savings and a very powerful work ethic and a
remarkable export performance, put all of those together, it is
still fundamentally a very, very powerful player on the world economic
scene.
My own Government has undertaken a number of major economic reforms
which are designed to strengthen our capacity not only to grow at
home, and I am very happy to say that our projected growth rates
next year are the highest amongst the OECD and our inflation rates
the lowest, and we have seen some of the lowest interest rates that
Australians have experienced in their lifetime. Those reforms will
also enable Australia to play a more vigorous role around the world.
60 per cent of Australian exports now go to the Asian Pacific region.
We are forever politically, culturally and economically part of
this region and we are a very active and a very positive player.
We are a good friend. We are not a fairweather friend. We are a
friend for the long journey and for the long distance.
Can I particularly address some remarks to my fellow countrymen
and women who are here tonight as businessmen and women in Thailand
and in the Asia Pacific region. You are not only making wise investment
decisions and contributing to the well-being of your own companies
and your own corporations but you are also demonstrating to other
Australians that so much of our economic future lies in this part
of the world. It's very important, simply because the nations
of the region have gone through a few economic difficulties, it's
very important that we reaffirm just how strongly committed we are
as a nation and as a group of men and women to economic involvement
in the Asian Pacific region. Just as it was always foolish to say
that the only economic region in the world that mattered to Australia
was the Asia Pacific region, that was never true. We have important
links and important destinies in other parts of the world. Equally,
it is foolish now to believe that just because a number of countries
in the region are going through some difficulties, that in some
way the fundamental importance of this region to Australia has in
some way been dramatically discounted.
It hasn't. The nations of the Asia Pacific region will grow
again and grow strongly again and they will do so in the very near
future. They will do so because, particularly in the case of Thailand,
they are led by men and women who are committed to sensible economic
reform, who are prepared to accept the responsibilities of economic
restructuring, who are prepared to sensibly use the economic aid
that has been given to them by countries such as Australia.
Ladies and gentlemen, our two countries have a lot of history. They
have a lot in common at present but most importantly of all, they
have a great future together. I think the contribution that we have
been able to make to strengthening the bonds between the countries
of the region are very, very significant.
I want to thank my two hosts tonight for this reception but more
than that, I want to congratulate both of you, the Chamber of Commerce
and the Alumni for the contribution that both of you make to what
is of course the most important linkage of all between two nations,
and that is the linkage of people, the associations of common experiences,
business, personal, social and economic and also the exchange of
cultures, the exchange of ideas and the building over the years
of mutual respect and mutual affection.
I am particularly touched by the fact that I have this opportunity
of speaking to you tonight on Anzac Day which means so much as all
the Australians in the audience know to the calendars of Australia
and New Zealand. I wish all of you well. I thank my Thai hosts most
sincerely. I had the opportunity of an audience with the King this
afternoon. I thank the Prime Minister for whom I have great personal
regard for the job that he is doing. I thank the Ministers and I
most particularly thank my hosts and I wish all of you great success
and great happiness and great prosperity into the future.
Thank you.
ENDS