PM: Today our thoughts are with the Pratt family at this difficult time.
Dick Pratt is a great supporter of the General Sir John Monash Foundation and it's just one example of his generosity in helping younger generations fulfil their potential.
I would also like to acknowledge today the presence of Dame Elisabeth Murdoch - another great supporter of programs to help young people develop their talents, including through the Monash Foundation.
Can I further acknowledge the great work of the Australia-Israel Chamber of Commerce in hosting today's function, in supporting the relationship between Australia and Israel, and enabling me to confirm again publicly before you all what I have said throughout my political career, that I am a lifelong friend of the state of Israel.
On the question of Israel, Australia has made absolutely clear its determination not to participate in the Durban Review Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Geneva.
The Durban Review Conference should have been an occasion for the world to unite against racism in all its forms. Australia has worked with a range of countries in Geneva in weeks leading up to the conference, promoting an acceptable outcome document from the review conference.
Regrettably it became clear that that was not the resolve of other states participating in the Geneva conference. Some other states. And instead, the conference was heading in the reverse direction.
Australia cannot support and will not support a document which reaffirms the 2001 Durban Declaration and Program of Action. That 2001 declaration singled out Israel.
Inflammatory remarks of President Ahmadinejad of Iran at the conference are unacceptable and underline the Australian Government's decision not to attend the Durban Conference.
The Australian Government condemns the continued campaign of anti-Semitism on behalf of the Government of Iran.
Today, ladies and gentlemen, we gather to honour a great Australian.
Today we honour arguably the greatest Australian.
And it is good that we honour a man who never held political office but who across the generations has inspired the nation.
General Sir John Monash was a man whose view of the world still holds true today.
His values, his passion for education, his passion for excellence, his passion for nation building.
And in doing so, he brought to bear the great qualities of his Jewish heritage - qualities that across generations have helped build the Australian nation.
Every Anzac Day, the nation pauses to reflect on the Anzac spirit - - on the courage of the men who faced the most terrible odds at Gallipoli.
But Gallipoli was only part of the Australian battle experience during the Great War.
The heroism of Australian troops in France and the killing fields of Flanders are of equal part and equal measure in the proud military history of the Australian nation.
Monash was a Renaissance man of commanding intellect, an engineer by training who could discuss the intricacies of a Beethoven symphony in as much detail as he could describe Napoleon's battle strategy at Austerlitz.
In fact, he saw the two as close analogies.
He described a modern battle plan as “a score for an orchestral composition” where every instrument had to play its part.
Monash was also an innovator.
As the historian Michael McKernan observed:
“When we think about war, we think about ordinary blokes doing extraordinary things. We don't think about leadership. We don't think about creativity. We don't think about genius yet Monash was all that and more.”
John Monash's approach to the repatriation of some 160,000 Australian troops in the first nine months after the First World War ended was a show of determined pragmatism alongside the genuine care for the wellbeing of his men.
And it was underscored by his lifelong belief in the power of education.
The AIF Education Scheme was possibly one of his greatest achievements.
In it, Monash stressed the need to elevate the troops' dedication to co-operative citizenship and national aims.
Troops took to the scheme with alacrity and returned home to Australia with new knowledge, and a purpose and a plan for life.
We have with us today Katherine Daniell who received a Monash Award in 2005.
Katherine's great grandfather served under Monash.
In a letter home to his parents on September 19, 1918, Edward, her grandfather, described Monash as a grand fellow.
He saw Monash as less a professional soldier and more a shrewd, keen, compassionate engineer who realised how men should be treated.
To quote her grandfather and with Katherine's blessing, here is the letter:
“So if we are out for the winter resting, his idea [that's Monash's idea] is not to drill and drill and drill us again; no - he says, give men an education, give them a fresh outlook and they will be keener soldiers.”
There is great wisdom in Monash's leadership and I believe this to be a reflection of true leadership.
The General Sir John Monash Awards, and the extraordinary young Australians who have won them in the past, are helping to keep the name and legacy of Monash and his men alive.
These uniquely Australian awards are a great boost to some of our best and our brightest.
Katie, Rebecca, Tim - I congratulate you on your 2009 awards and know you will do the memory of General Sir John Monash proud.
You are part of an alumni that we hope will provide leaders for the nation for the coming decades.
You have been chosen because you are widely involved in contributing to many cultural, sporting and community spheres of Australian life as well.
Each one of you has passion, has energy, has vision, and the desire to work with others to change lives for the better.
That's why I am announcing today that the Australian Government is committing $720,000 to this Foundation.
This will provide four of Australia's brightest and best young people with the opportunity to study at any one of the world's best universities for three years starting in 2010.
This will enable the Foundation to offer a total of eight awards next year.
These are prestigious, national scholarships for our brightest and our best, and we should as a nation be proud of them.
But there is a catch - each person who we honour with such a scholarship, we also expect to contribute mightily to the nation. No pressure to those of you in the room. We'll be watching. We'll be monitoring. We'll be measuring.
Monash would have expected nothing less. With you, we support, we encourage and we nurture and expect the highest contribution back to the nation.
I encourage you all to support the General Sir John Monash Foundation because in doing so you are supporting the leaders of tomorrow.
Developing the talents of the younger generations is a task for the whole community.
When we think back to the war in which Monash led, we can only wonder how many future Prime Ministers, doctors, lawyers, writers, Nobel Prize-winning scientists, architects, teachers, sportsmen, who were cut down in their prime - a war that left more than 61,000 of our fellow Australians dead.
When I sit in the MCG I often reflect on that great stadium full at capacity - 100,000 souls gathered. 100,000. The same number of all Australians who have made the sacrifice, the supreme sacrifice in all wars. A haunting thought.
Lest we forget.
Ladies and gentlemen, we confront challenges of a different type today. Those of the world economic recession.
And some of the virtues and values that Australians have demonstrated in times of great duress in the past will be called forth again.
The International Monetary Fund has reminded us in recent days that we confront now the worst global recession since the Great Depression three-quarters of a century ago.
These are stark and difficult times. We must face up to the fact that this is the reality that all countries, all economies face now.
The challenge for us all is what strategy we shall embrace in dealing with it. And to chart a strategy to see not just Australia through, but to see the global economy through as well.
What this Australian Government is doing is engaging in the actions - globally, nationally and locally - to make a difference - in order to provide for us a basis for optimism, hope and confidence to see Australia through.
There is no point in simply sitting down and doing nothing. There is no point in simply sitting down and saying there is nothing to be done. There is every point in galvanising the energies and intelligence and resources of the nation to make a difference.
I cannot stand before you as Prime Minister of Australia and say I can stop a global economic recession from washing over this nation's shores.
What I can tell you as Prime Minister of Australia is that we can act globally, nationally and locally to reduce the impact of that recession. To cushion the impact of that recession, in order to save as many jobs as possible and for those who lose their jobs, to provide training opportunities for the future, when the economy recovers and their skills will once again (inaudible) by businesses in full recovery mode.
That is the strategy upon which we are embarked. A strategy which seeks to provide as many jobs and training opportunities now, and through that also, building the infrastructure we need for tomorrow.
Our global action is as follows. Recently you saw that I attended the G20 in London. A gathering of the heads of government from the 20 largest economies in the world.
History weighed heavily on our minds. As some of you who attended a function I addressed at the Exhibition Building here in Melbourne last night at the Committee For Melbourne, I said in London as did many of my colleagues, that when global leaders gathered last in London for a conference of such significance, was in 1933.
66 nations from around the world gathered in London on that occasion to fashion their response to the global Depression. They failed.
That conference erupted in acrimony, and as a result protectionist measures adopted by each nation's state, one against the other, compounded the length, severity and debt of what was then the unfolding of the Global Depression throughout the 1930s, culminating in the catastrophic events of 1939.
The resolve in London was to learn from history and to act in a different direction. And what we did in London was five key things.
One, agree on a program of global economic stimulus. $5 trillion worth of investment in the global economy, an economy which equals $63 trillion in total global GDP each year. A significant difference in terms of the number of jobs that we save through our activities as opposed to being lost.
Second, we agreed on an international framework of toxic asset management in the world's most significant private financial institutions. The truth is, as so many of you know in this room here tonight, is that until we see a restoration of normal private credit flows in the global economy, we are simply providing stimulus in the interim for that recovery in the private economy, through private credit flows to occur.
But until toxic assets or impaired assets are effectively dealt with by the world's largest banks and those banks are in turn recapitalised, then our recovery will be delayed.
What was agreed in London was an international framework for doing that. And for the fruits of that endeavour, and the separate and related actions by national governments in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere, to restore their banks to health is beginning to show signs of effect and recovery.
The third thing we agreed in London is this. To resource and empower the International Monetary Fund to act in the event of significant implosions in the economies of Central and Eastern Europe and other parts of the emerging economic world and the developing economy.
The reason for that is that absent the IMF's ability to step into the breach, with sufficient resources and sufficient policy flexibility so to do, the possibility of those economies in turn to default, and or the implosion of individual significant financial institutions in Central and Eastern Europe, reverberate back on the major banks of Europe and the rest of the world, and create a second round effect across the global economy, is indeed significant.
Therefore, for markets to have confidence that the global community is prepared to act early, decisively and effectively through the International Monetary Fund required us to act.
And we did in London. Agreement was reached on providing the IMF with $1 trillion worth of resources and the policy flexibility to intervene should that become necessary.
Australia, in this and on the earlier matter I mentioned concerning toxic assets management, was active in fashioning the (inaudible) report to the G20 London Summit meetings for other to agree.
Fourth, we agreed that we would establish new rules in the global financial system, to get the balance right between regulation and creativity, enterprise and innovation. And we've empowered the Financial Stability Forum, now the Financial Stability Board made up of the central bankers of the G20 economies and those which advise them, to fashion those rules for our subsequent agreement at the upcoming Summit which will be held later this year.
Five and most critically, the leaders of the world, mindful acutely of the lessons from the 1930s drew a line against protectionism. What we did in London was agree that we would take no national protectionist measures inconsistent with our obligations under the World Trade Organisation and we would extend that commitment out for further eighteen months.
This is necessary, coordinated, global action to prevent an outbreak of protectionism which would compound the global recession and delay the global economic recovery.
So my message to you here today in Melbourne is that these actions taken globally in which your government of Australia is an active and direct participant through the G20 Summit in London provided one of the key building blocks to chart a pathway to economic recovery for the nation and for the world.
Secondly I just referred to national action. The actions that we have taken last October to stabilise Australian financial markets have been fundamental to ensure the continued viable operation of the Australian economy and the continued flow of credit.
Our decision taken on October 12 last year in a difficult and dark weekend for many to provide a government sovereign guarantee for deposits in Australian deposit taking institutions and to provide a further sovereign guarantee for inter-bank lending in Australian financial institutions was fundamental to maintaining stability and confidence in the Australian financial system.
Had we not done so I fear what the consequences would have been. This is the first time in the history of the Commonwealth that any Australian Government has had to act in this direction. We did so and did so without apology. It was necessary to maintain confidence.
I report to you today that of the eleven remaining double A plus rated banks in the world today, four of them are Australian. Five are them are Canadian and that doesn't leave many besides. The stability of our own financial markets has been fundamental to the Government's strategy to chart Australia through this difficult period of recession.
That is one part of our national strategy, the other part is this: how do we act effectively to inject stimulus, growth and confidence into the economy while the private sector is in retreat. We have acted early, decisively and effectively by implementing an unapologetic national economic stimulus strategy to act in a counter-cyclical fashion against the retreat in activity evidenced in the private sector. It's the right and normal thing to do. Governments around the world are doing this as well. Governments represented by the G20 are doing it as well.
When you look at that figure of five trillion dollars being injected into the global economy, it's because all of us are acting in the same direction to provide additional support for jobs, activity and growth at a time of national economic duress.
For us we have invested unapologetically in providing stimulus through payments to pensioners and carers and veterans and to other families because we are entirely mindful that one and a half million Australians are out there working in the retail sector. (inaudible) and trust, the figure for Australian retail sales for the end of last year and early this year compared to what has occurred in many other developed economies.
Secondly we've invested also in medium term stimulus with the largest single school modernisation program this country has ever seen. $15 billion worth of investment turning every primary school in the country into a construction site. Rolling that out early and fast to provide activity for tradies, for apprentices, for those working as electricians and plumbers in order to make a difference.
Also, long term infrastructure. Our decision to invest up to $43 billion in partnership with the private sector in a national broadband network. The purpose in all these things is as follows: to provide jobs and opportunities now as well as building the infrastructure we need for tomorrow. That's the idea, that's the strategy, that's what we're doing.
If you were to aggregate these measures in terms of the impact on this economy in Victoria as I said to the gathering at the exhibition building last night, our aggregate investment through economic stimulus is putting into this Victorian economy an additional $8.3 billion now. That is the equivalent of three percent of gross state product in this economy.
These are not nominal measures, these are not rhetorical measures, these are real measures and they are flowing out into the real economy because we take our responsibility deeply and profoundly, in this environment, in this virtually unprecedented environment, to make a difference on the ground.
Finally, we cannot allow this global economic recession to distract us from long term challenges as well, dealing with how we roll out the infrastructure we need for the twenty-first century, hence high speed broadband.
Rolling out our program for the education revolution so that we have the best educated, best trained, best skilled workforce for the twenty-first century. Rolling out our long term reform program for health and hospitals. Rolling out that long term reform program for acting decisively and effectively and intelligently on climate change.
Our reform program also for closing the gap with Indigenous Australians and also the long term challenge which is how do we prepare the nation for its defence and security needs for the twenty-first century as well.
As we prepare for the security challenge of the twenty-first century, the Government in recent days has been engaged in the finalisation of the Defence White Paper for the future. The first responsibility of any Government is to provide for the national security of Australia, but for this Australian Government there is no higher priority than the national security of our country.
Last December I announced the first National Security Statement to the parliament of Australia which for the first time sought to integrate the range of threats we face, the range of assets we must deploy in response to those threats.
I also announced for the first time the appointment of Australia's first national security adviser, to integrate all dimensions of national security policy from cyber security, counter-terrorism, border protection, entity security to classical defence.
The truth is our national security assets are [inaudible] increasingly integrated strategy and each of our agencies is responding well to the challenge. Our defence force lies at the heart of our national security framework, that is why we have invested a great deal of time and effort in developing the 2009 Defence White Paper that will be released soon.
The delivery of a White Paper at this time is acutely challenging as we work to defend ourselves from the global economic storm. It is the most difficult environment to frame the Australian budget in modern economic history. It is also the most difficult environment to frame our long term defence planning in modern economic history as well.
Nevertheless the Government will not resile even in the difficult times from the requirement for long term coherence of our defence planning for the long term security of our nation. This is core business for government. That is why we have forged ahead in our preparation of the Defence White Paper because national security needs do not disappear because of the global recession. If anything those needs become more acute.
The Government's ambition is to develop a far-reaching and comprehensive plan that will deliver an effective defence force for the next twenty to thirty years.
Much has happened since the last White Paper in 2000. In order to meet the new challenges of the 21st century, a new White Paper is essential. The security environment is less certain, more dynamic and requires us to prepare for a greater range of contingencies.
Since the last White Paper we have seen the growth of transnational terrorism and its effects in New York, London, Madrid, Bali, Jakarta and Mumbai. The list is far too long. We need to ensure that Afghanistan does not once again become a safe haven for terrorists, and that Pakistan remains a stable democratic state and does not itself become a safe haven for terrorists.
We have seen the global rise of illegal immigration because of a range of global security and economic factors: from instability in the Middle East, the continuing war in Afghanistan and civil strife in Sri Lanka.
We have seen changes in the distribution of global power - in particular the rise of China and India in economic influence, political influence, foreign policy influence and strategic influence in the Asia-Pacific region, across the Pacific and Indian Oceans. We have seen the growing nuclear ambitions of states such as North Korea and Iran - ambitions that introduce an increased level of risk within our own region.
There is also the wider risk of continued weapons of mass destruction proliferation in general and nuclear weapons proliferation in particular. Stability in our immediate neighbourhood also requires our ongoing attention on the political, economic and environmental fragility of micro-states.
There are also growing threats of cyber-security and cyber-warfare confronting Australia and our allies. Furthermore, we are witnessing the still unfolding impact of the global financial crisis - its influence on the region - in terms of economic, social, political and military stability - and will bear watching closely.
So it is in this context that we need to examine what our future strategic environment will look like, what kind of forces we will need to operate within it and we face a range of future challenges which must be dealt with. Terrorism will continue to remain a threat well into the future - terrorists will seek to do us harm and employ whatever means at their disposal and therefore create a real challenge for our intelligence, police and allied security assets, all of whom must remain vigilant and properly resourced.
Border protection will demand the effective deployment of whole-of-government assets - including military assets - to meet this evolving global threat. Conventional military capabilities will become more sophisticated as the Asia-Pacific region becomes more prosperous - weapons and platforms will be more effective.
The potential proliferation of WMD and ballistic missile technology is a threat to us, our region, and our allies. New kinds of threats, such as cyber and space-based threats, are likely to become more prevalent - changing the way we need to think about preparing and protecting our forces.
Increasing security risks associated with climate change, resource security and energy security are likely to exacerbate existing problems in developing states. Many countries in our immediate region will be especially vulnerable to rising sea levels, droughts and reduced access to food and energy. Natural disasters, compounded in some cases by the impact of climate change, also pose an increasing demand on our defence and wider national security assets.
Intra-state conflict will be an enduring feature of the future strategic environment - we will need to be prepared to operate in a whole-of-government context to integrate our security objectives with a broader political strategy. And we of course can never discount, never discount the possibility of major wars between states. And all of these trends of course occur, and will intersect, in an increasingly interconnected world.
The advantages of globalisation and instant communication will also provide great benefit but also produce additional risks. Events on one side of the world are not self-contained - oftentimes their impact and influence is immediate and far-reaching. And the convergence of multiple trends - such as population movements, demographic change, global public health risks and environmental pressures - will further complicate our future security environment.
Consequently the Australian Defence Force and our wider national security assets and agencies will be required to undertake a diverse range of tasks in a complex environment where the only certainty is change.
But in executing all these tasks, Australia will remain anchored in our alliance with the United States - an alliance forged during the last World War, under President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Curtin; an alliance that has prospered under 13 US Presidents and 13 Australian Prime Ministers, Republican and Democrat, Labor and Liberal. An alliance that will continue as the bedrock of Australia's national security for the future.
Ladies and gentlemen, these are the challenges we face. They are hard challenges, they are difficult challenges but these are challenges to which the Government will rise in its response to the Australian Defence White Paper and articulate our detailed strategic response to it.
We'll be faced with challenges concerning the remediation of our existing defence assets, plugging the gap which already exists in the defence force that we've inherited from our predecessors as well as building the defence force we need for 2030. That's the challenge which lies ahead of us, a difficult challenge but one which is necessary to provide fundamentally the long term security of this nation.
Of course the strategic environment we face will not be static. Every five years we propose to review and refine the assessments in the 2009 White Paper and make any necessary changes to the force structure. But what we have in the 2009 Defence White Paper provides a long-term plan for Defence capability and capacity to promote a secure Australia. It's the right thing to do. It's the necessary thing to do. We must never allow our defence forces to be ill-prepared for the challenges that lie ahead.
Monash had to lead a virtually entirely volunteer force with limited basic training. They nonetheless acquitted themselves magnificently in the field. Our troops made the difference and Monash's leadership made the difference as well. Through proper planning, and detailed preparation, Monash and the Australian Army Corps made a difference. They made a decisive difference. Through the great battles at Amiens in 1918, and later in breaking through the Hindenburg line, Monash's impact was in fact decisive.
Sir John Monash was instrumental in the success of the allied war effort in France. The Australian Defence Force continues this proud record in all theatres of war today. Our soldiers are respected for their courage and their skills and rightly so. There is no higher calling in this nation than to wear the uniform of Australia. And we the Government of Australia owe it to them and future generations to have the very best Defence Force we can to protect our national interest and safeguard our national security for the future.
I thank you.
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