Air Chief Marshal Houston, Lieutenant Colonel Noble, ladies and gentleman. Can I say how tremendously pleased I am to have been able to come and to say a few words of thank you for the job that you are doing on behalf of Australia. I had the opportunity in Darwin of saying farewell to many of you, the work you are doing here, the way in which you are building the good name and the good reputation of the Australian military forces, not only here in Iraq but around the world, is something that the entire country is very proud of. You are going about it in a typical Australian way - very professional, very dedicated, but in a fashion that is sensitive and sympathetic to the interests of the local people. Our mission in Iraq is to stabilise, secure and build so that the Iraqi people in the not too distant future can manage in entirely through their own efforts and through their own hands, manage the affairs of this country.
I saw the Iraqi Prime Minister in Baghdad earlier today and told him that Australia would continue to support the drive by Iraq towards establishing a secure and democratic state and the progress that's been made in this part of Iraq, which as you know is more stable than many other parts of the country, is a great tribute to you, it's a tribute to the coalition partners that you are working with, and it is important that part of your mission is to provide a secure environment for our Japanese friends and I know that is great appreciated by the Japanese Government and the Japanese people.
But importantly of all, I send to you a message of pride and gratitude and respect from your fellow Australians, you do us proud. We have never had a war-like military tradition we Australians, we only deploy military force in a right and a just cause and we do it in a way that is sympathetic to the concerns and interests of local people and I warmly thank all of you for that. I know the conditions aren't anything but challenging, it is quite hot, but I think the way in which you have set about it in your typically cheerful fashion is absolutely fantastic. May I say that what you have been able to do here, which of course replicates what was done 6000 miles away in Lord's, I was able to see the Saturday, I always feel guilty about saying that to all of you men and women, but can I say that the Australian victory at Lord's was consistent with the resounding victory that the Task Group had here and I want to congratulate the team on that. Remember that when the Australian forces trained in Egypt in World War I, before going to Gallipoli, one of the memorable stories that came from that was that they played cricket in front of the pyramids and you are carrying on an absolutely wonderful Australian tradition.
I am very proud of you, I am very grateful, I thank you very very warmly for everything that you've done, your country men and women are very proud of you and we hope to have you home, all of you, safe and sound, with a mission well and truly accomplished. Now before I finish I would like to make a presentation and there is one of your number, and I think her name was Brooke Haxell and she was a member of the Nippers in the Mona Vale Surf Life Saving Club, and Brooke I'd like you to accept this on behalf of the Task Group, I think have a rough idea that you have a rough idea where it might have came from but it's just a small token of my appreciation and I have endorsed it "To AMTG, thank you for such a fantastic job." And I hope that you will give this a very significant pride of place and is a little token of our appreciation and I present this on behalf of the Government.
Again, thank you very much, you make me very proud and more importantly you make you fellow Australians very proud, you are doing an absolutely fantastic job in our name, thank you.
[ends]