E&OE................................................................................................................................
Thank you very much. To His Worship, the Mayor and Mrs Hardwick,
to Mr Don Randall, the Federal Member for Swan, to my many other
Federal and State Parliamentary colleagues, ladies and gentlemen,
and also a special acknowledgment to the officers of that great
regiment, the SAS, for their magnificent landing this morning and
the magnificent contribution that they've made to this lovely
ceremony.
One of the many privileges of the office of Prime Minister is to
have the opportunity to celebrate Australia Day with a different
group of Australians each year. Last year, I had the opportunity
of celebrating Australia Day at a similar ceremony to this on the
seaside just outside of Adelaide, and today I am in this beautiful
spot in South Perth, against the backdrop of the Swan River and
of the city of Perth, and in the presence of a number of men and
women who have paid us as Australians the ultimate complement, and
that is that they have decided to become Australian citizens.
For those of us who were born in Australia, it was not a matter
of our choice, but rather an accident of birth of which we have
grown to love and to cherish and to embrace as we have grown older
and appreciated the enormous benefits of living in this country.
There is a special act of embracing, a special act of acknowledgment
on the part of people who choose to live in this country and I want,
on behalf of all your soon-to-be fellow Australians to welcome all
of you into the family of the Australian nation, to assure you that
you have made the most wise, intelligent and far-sighted decision
of your life to become Australian citizens and to assure you that
of all the qualities of the Australian nation, the open, tolerant
and positive embrace of people from all parts of the Earth is a
very distinguishing and a very important characteristic of the fabric
of the Australian nation.
Ladies and gentlemen, it is inevitable on an occasion such as this
that we should pause for a moment and think about Australia. We
think about the past, we take pride in those things that we have
achieved and the Australian achievement has been a saga of great
proportion. We have achieved an enormous amount as a nation. We
have built in this country something special. It is unique to be
an Australian. At the present time, Australia occupies a unique
intersection of history, geography, culture and economic circumstance.
There is no nation on Earth that totally embraces in that sense
linkages with Europe, linkages with North America, and also linkages
with the Asian Pacific region.
There are many great tributaries to the Australian nation. We acknowledge
on this day the enormous contribution of the indigenous people of
our nation and we thank them for that contribution, and all Australians
share the goal of genuine, on-going reconciliation between all of
the people of Australia. We also recognise the tremendous contribution
of those people who defended this country in war and laid down their
lives for the preservation of the liberty of Australians. And of
course, we welcome the people who have embraced Australia from the
four corners of the Earth.
When you think about Australia, you not only think of the symbols
of Australia. A nation is made up of symbols and of celebrations
of important events. That's a very important part of the fabric
of a nation. But symbols, important though they are, are not quite
as important as the character and the substance of a nation. And
over the next few weeks, as the Mayor said, we as a country are
going to talk about some of the symbols of our democracy. We are
not going to talk about democracy in the sense of debating whether
or not we are going to preserve democracy. I don't think there
are many people in Australia who argue that other than we should
fully preserve and perpetuate democracy as the best form of Government
but we are going to debate the symbols, we are going to debate whether
or not a system of government which has delivered immense stability
and cohesion during the almost 100 years of the Australian Federation
should be changed because some in the community, a significant number
indeed, think that the symbolism rather than the substance of that
system is in need of change.
Now there are issues that properly belong to debate and as I have
said regularly, on behalf of the Government and I think I echo the
views of all Australians in saying that at the end of the day, the
question of whether or not this country is to become a republic
is something that will be determined by the Australian people voting
in an open democracy and by no other group of people, and that of
course is how it should be.
But important though those symbols are and important though the
symbols of a country are, I think even more important to me and
to a lot of Australians, is not so much the symbols of the Australian
nation in the 21st century but rather the character of the Australian
nation in the 21st century because what really determines the place
of a nation in the history, of the peoples of the world, what really
determines the sense of worth and decency and self-respect that
we have about our country is really the character of our nation.
And what our nation stands for, its values and the beliefs it holds
dear, are more important than what the symbols that mark that nation
may be, significant though those symbols are.
As we go towards the 21st century, the character of the Australian
nation is ultimately going to be shaped, in my opinion, by the way
in which we work out the relationship between our government, of
whatever political persuasion it may be from time to time, the community
and individual men and women of Australia. It is the balance and
the relationship between the government, the community and the individual
that will ultimately shape the character of Australia.
Governments cannot shape national character. Governments cannot
legislate to change the human heart. Governments cannot legislate
to change the character of a people. But that does not mean that
governments do not have an important role to play. That does not
mean that governments cannot set examples; governments cannot lead
where it is appropriate for governments to lead. They do have a
role. But also a very important role in shaping the character of
Australia will be role of our great community organisations.
This gathering of Australians out in the open air on the morning
of the 26th of January is a magnificent expression of the sort of
people we are. This occasion is open to everybody. This occasion
welcomes people of all different backgrounds, be they different
ethnic backgrounds, different religious backgrounds, different political
backgrounds, different societal backgrounds. We are gathered together
in an open, egalitarian, free fashion. It is one of the distinguishing
characteristics of the Australian nation.
We are a nation of communities. We are a nation of volunteers and
as I look back over the last year, I think the efforts that moved
me most amongst all Australians over the last year were the efforts
of those volunteers who inspired us and comforted us in times of
tragedy, whether it was the bushfires, the tragedies in other parts
of Australia, and most particularly, that awful tragedy at Thredbo
in July of this year. And that volunteer effort, that community
spirit, is something very deep and very strong and governments need
community organisations, they need the churches, they need the other
volunteer organisations and, of course, the most important institution
of all in our society and that is the institution of the Australian
family is the most viable and the most enduring and the most stabilising
part of our entire community.
[Aerial flyover]
That's the most innovative interjection I've ever had!
So, any government needs a strong community and lastly and most
importantly, governments and communities also need free, achieving,
successful, inspired individuals. There is nothing so powerful in
any community as an individual who is determined to succeed and
who is determined to contribute something to his or her society.
And individuals, of course, not only have rights but they also
have responsibilities, and individuals making a contribution to
the Australian community, achieving to the best of their talents
and their abilities. As I've participated in ceremonies to
mark the award of the Young Australian of the Year, a young girl
who came to Australia from Vietnam when she was aged 4, and of course
to the Australian of the Year here in Perth yesterday to Cathy Freeman,
somebody who has captured the heart of every Australian because
of her marvellous contribution to Australian life and to Australian
achievement, one is reminded of the tremendous array of talent and
ability which abounds in Australia
So ladies and gentlemen as we look towards the 21st century, the
symbols that we embrace for the 21st century, whether they are the
same as we have had in the 20th century or whether they are somewhat
altered or partly or entirely altered, they are things for the Australian
people after proper debate to decide, and I do not intend to introduce
into this Australia Day observance any particular partisan debate
on that. Another time and another place will be the opportunity
for me to renew the expostulation of my own views on those subjects.
But let me simply say that important though the symbols of our
country are, even more important will be the character of our country
as we move into the 21st century, and that character will be ultimately
shaped by the extent to which with goodwill, the government of the
day, the community organisations and the individual can - each in
their respective roles - play a very important part, a shared endeavour
to build a good and strong and decent Australian society is the
goal of those three segments of our great nation..
Therefore, ladies and gentlemen, can I thank the City of South
Perth, can I thank Don Randall in particular for the invitation
that came through him to attend this ceremony. Can I say how much
Janette and I are enjoying the celebration of the Australia Day
weekend here in Western Australia. It is the first opportunity I
have had in any capacity to celebrate Australia Day here in Perth.
We are enjoying it immensely, we have a full programme of activities
ahead of us, including a very brief visit to a particular cricketing
fixture at the WACA this afternoon and can I also say, on behalf
of both of us, a very happy Australia Day to all of you and very
especially to those who are becoming Australians for the first time
today, thank you for honouring us with embracing the great Australian
way of life.
Thank you.
[ENDS]