Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I said that the Australia-UK relationship is one which prospers and has prospered since we had Prime Ministers of different persuasions in our respective capitals way back to the time of the war. Mr Cameron indicated he would like to get down to Australia at some stage. We look forward to the foreign secretary in the making, William Hague, making his way to Australia as well. We do a lot with the British in Afghanistan and we do a lot with the British in the G20. This will be a good relationship between Australia and the UK, as it has been in the past and will be in the future. Can I conclude by paying my particular public respects to, of course, Gordon Brown. Gordon Brown has served as a distinguished Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as a staunch ally and defender of Australian interests as well. Can I say also that his role in chairing the G20 meeting in London in April of 2009 was a pivotal event in making sure that the global economic recession then did not slide into something much, much worse. He will go down as a person whose contribution at that critical time in all of our economic destinies was that of a true statesman. I thank the House.

See this speech in context