Thank you very much Bob, the Federal Member for Paterson, Bob Baldwin, Mr Mayor, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. And very particularly the students, not only of this educational centre, but of other schools in the Hunter Valley.
It's a delight to be back in Paterson on this beautiful November day. I know the area well and I am reminded of many happy holidays spent in this part of the world. And I'm here today to involve myself in a wonderful exercise that Bob has undertaken in the time that he's been the Federal Member for Paterson. And that is to honour the citizens, young and old and middle aged, of this district and to thank them in your name and in the name of their fellow Australians for the contribution they make to the working of our society.
Australia, as we all know, is a wonderful place in which to live. And all of us must do everything we can to keep it that way into the future. What makes it such a wonderful place in which to live is the contribution without reward, without acknowledgement on many occasions, and certainly without the expectation other than the personal satisfaction of doing something for the community or doing something that makes somebody else's life a little happier and a little more enjoyable. It's the contribution of hundreds of thousands of Australians every year to community work, to welfare work, to charitable work, to work without reward. And that more than anything else does keep us together as a nation.
When we debate Australia's economic strengths, when we debate our social harmony, when we think of the impressive respect in which Australia is held around the world, we tend all too often to think of the economic statistics without acknowledging the human contribution. And today is about acknowledging a human contribution, acknowledging the contribution of the citizens of the Hunter, of the Paterson electorate to the wellbeing of this part of Australia. And in making that acknowledgment we are entitled as Australians to feel a great sense of pride about our country. We have our differences. We have our political differences. We have even, I've noticed, some differences of sporting allegiance on occasion when it comes to sport within Australia. But we are entitled, all of us as Australians, to feel a sense of pride that this country is seen around the world as not only a very successful nation economically but it's also seen as a nation that is prepared to make its contribution to the suffering of others.
Yesterday afternoon I had the opportunity of talking on the phone to the President of Pakistan, General Musharraf, and I will be visiting Pakistan within the next two weeks in between my visit to the APEC meeting in Korea and the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Malta. And General Musharraf had rung me to talk about a donors' conference that is being organised in Islamabad to maintain the momentum of international support for the victims of the terrible earthquake in his country. And he was able to thank me for the fact that we had despatched, and they have arrived in Pakistan overnight, a group of some 120 Army medical personnel who will spend three months in one of the more remote parts affected by the earthquake, providing important ongoing medical treatment to those people who have been left homeless and so cruelly and grievously injured by that earthquake. Pakistan is a long way from Australia. We have something in common with Pakistan, we have a common love of certain sports. But importantly this is an example of the outreach of Australia and the capacity of Australia, because of our good fortune and our strength, the capacity of Australia to help. And of course, none of you will forget the generosity the Australian people displayed towards the people of Indonesia and other countries affected by the tsunami almost a year ago. And on a per capita basis the Australian response was more generous than the response of any other country in the world.
Now I say that with some emphasis and some pride because there are some in our community who run around saying that we have become heartless because we have become economically successful. Nothing could be more contradictory. Economic success underwrites a capacity to be more generous if the spirit is there and the willingness is there. And the Government and the people of Australia demonstrated the capacity and the willingness earlier this year and we continue to do so. But at a local level it's the capacity and the willingness of the people of Paterson that I come here today to pay tribute to. To thank all of you for the contribution you make to the great society we are building in this country.
And I also, of course, want to pay tribute to my colleague and friend, Bob Baldwin, who is an absolutely indefatigable worker for the people of Paterson, he really is. Bob is terrific. Yeah, let's hear it for Bob. Whenever there's been something that has affected people particularly in the Hunter, and we had it tragically and recently in relation to the second attack in Bali, we had an instance of it of families caught up in the tragedy in London on the 7th of July, Bob was there doing everything he could 24 hours a day. And let me also acknowledge the contribution of other Members of Parliament in the Hunter Valley who did likewise because on occasions like that political differences are of no account, it is question of working together as Australians to help each other. And I'm very proud to call Bob a friend and colleague and I'm delighted to be in his electorate. I thank you for coming along and I compliment Bob very, very warmly on the awards of Citizen of the Year and I look forward to meeting the participants and the winners and personally congratulating and thanking them for the contribution they make to our community.
Thank you.
[ends]