Thank you very much Elaine Henry, Bill Gates, Steve Vamos, my ministerial colleague Daryl Williams, ladies and gentlemen.
I think it's fair to say that we're welcoming to the platform this morning the world's most prominent social coalitionist. He's probably been called a few things in his time, as we all have. But the notion of the social coalition, the idea that the social challenges of a nation can never be solved by individuals acting alone, they can't be solved by governments acting alone, great though they may be they can't be solved by great welfare organisations acting alone, and they can't be solved by business acting alone. But when those four elements of our community come together and when they each in their own way contribute their special assets to the solution of a problem, societies can get some remarkable outcomes. And this morning is an opportunity to celebrate here in Australia the great leadership and the great personal commitment Bill Gates has brought to, what I choose to call in an Australian context, the social coalition.
It is undoubtedly the case that the most transforming human event of the last quarter of the 20th Century was of course the growth of information technology. And we don't quite know what the great transforming events of the next 25 years may be, but we do know that the impact of and the growth of information technology, its availability to every facet of our being and existence, the new frontiers it's opening up for the disadvantaged, the extraordinary opportunities it's giving to older citizens in our community, its driving force behind the surge in productivity of the world economies - all of these things will have a huge impact on our lives.
I was saying to Bill Gates in our... in the time we had together before this gathering, that we Australians pride ourselves on being very adaptable and very innovative. Australians can adjust to circumstances. We are great devourers of new technology. We are people who can use new technology to very rapid and immediate advantage, and there would be so many stories in this room from people who could testify to that. But what I think is remarkable about Unlimited Potential, what is remarkable about the contribution that Microsoft is making, is the personal commitment of Bill Gates, to use an Australian expression, to putting something back. It's fair to say that he's been a moderately successful capitalist, and I congratulate him on that as somebody who is an unabashed fan of decent capitalism, somebody who believes that in the long run a market-based economy does produce the best outcomes, providing it operates within ethical rules and constraints, provided it has a fair number of people who having received the great fruits of capitalism, are then willing to return it to society.
I frequently say that it's not so much that business should give more to help the underprivileged, but rather that more businesses should give. And Bill Gates is an exemplar to the capitalists of the world and the successful businessmen and women of the world, that having received the fruits of a free market competitive system, that we all have an obligation to return some of that benefit to the less fortunate in the world and the less fortunate within our own communities. And his contributions, particularly his special interest in the travails and the challenges of that poor continent in Africa; his worldwide commitment to the extension of the benefits of information technology; the investment of Microsoft here in Australia in the five organisations - a mixture of an organisation in The Smith Family that is part and parcel of the reference to welfare organisations or charities or community sectors - however you might choose to describe them - and other organisations with names less well known, but with pursuits as noble and as fulfilling for those who are aided and benefited by their activities, as any other organisation in Australia.
So can I, on your behalf, thank Microsoft, thank its Managing Director here in Australia for the leadership and the contribution he makes, and very particularly to thank Bill Gates for the example he represents, the contribution that his drive and energy and genius has given to the growth of information technology and the fact that he is a living example, a practical example of putting something back, of returning something to not just his own community in the United States, but communities around the world. I thank him. I thank Microsoft. I applaud their generosity and the support of the five organisations which are part of Unlimited Potential here in Australia. I wish all of those organisations well, and I'm delighted to associate the Commonwealth Government of Australia with this project.
Thank you.
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