Madeleine King (Brand, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak today on the historic and ongoing relationship between Australia and the United States of America. The relationship between Australia and the US is a longstanding one. With 77 years of diplomatic relations behind us, our alliance is an important keystone in our region, working to ensure peace and stability both close to home and around the world. We have been allies and trading partners who have turned to each other in times of conflict, while supporting and encouraging each other in times of peace.

In war, Australia and the USA have shared great losses. Earlier this year, we commemorated the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Sunda Strait, the waterway that connects the Java Sea to the vast Indian Ocean and lies between the Indonesian islands of Java and Sumatra. Among the most significant events in the history of the Royal Australian Navy, this was a naval battle between the greatly superior forces of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the beleaguered allied navies of the US and Australia, reeling from the disastrous Battle of the Java Sea only a day before. At the Rockingham Naval Memorial Park in my electorate of Brand there is a small memorial which reminds us all of the sacrifice of the crews of the light cruiser HMAS Perth and the heavy cruiser USS Houston, which were both lost to the sea in the Battle of the Sunda Strait on 1 March 1942. As a memorial to the 696 crew of the USS Houston and the 375 men of the HMAS Perth who lost their lives in a truly heroic struggle in the gravest of circumstances, it reminds us of those still on watch in the Sunda Strait and gives us cause to remember the further 240 Australian and US sailors that perished as prisoners of war and the lifelong sacrifice and pain of those who survived to make it home once the conflict had ended.

From that time, 75 years ago, it is remarkable to think how far peace in the Indo-Pacific has taken us all. You cannot miss the remarkable blue and white wheat silos at Kwinana Beach, full of millions of tons of grain, that stand behind this war memorial, from which Western Australia wheat is exported from the Western Australian Wheatbelt directly up to Indonesia, through the Sunda Strait, where our two nations fought together so long ago.

Before I came to this place, I established and was the chief operating officer of the Perth USAsia Centre. This Western Australia based centre is a think tank dedicated to strengthening relationships and strategic thinking between Australia, the Indo-Pacific nations and the United States. The centre was first funded by the federal Labor government under the leadership of former Prime Minister the Hon. Julia Gillard and enjoyed the strong support of three great Western Australians: the then Minister for Defence, the Hon. Stephen Smith; the then minister for education, Senator Chris Evans; and the Hon. Kim Beazley, former Ambassador to the United States. The financial support of the WA state government under Premier Barnett was critical, as was the contribution of the University of Western Australia as a host institution. The American Australian Association, which was established in 1948 under the dynamic leadership of the Hon. John Olsen AO, is a founding member of the centre. The extraordinary effort of the AAA and John Olsen himself to establish a sister centre to the United States Studies Centre, but based on the west coast, was critical to the creation of the Perth USAsia Centre. I hope the current government continues to recognise the important work of this burgeoning institution and ensures its funding so that the Perth USAsia Centre can continue to make important contributions to regional discussions of US-Australian Indo-Pacific relations.

The recent joint publication of the USSC and the Perth USAsia Centre of its survey on America's role in the Indo-Pacific provides some significant insights into opinions of the US across the region. There is some sobering reading in the survey which indicates American influence in our region has diminished, a view held particularly in Australia and Japan but not in China. The survey indicates that there is some way to go on increasing public awareness in Australia of US alliances across Asia and of the active engagement of America in regional institutions. The survey seems to indicate that, in some parts, the Australian public holds more negative views of the US role in our region than do other Asian nations. I am not sure why this is but perhaps older friends can sometimes be more critical and open in their assessments, but, equally, they may sometimes take one another for granted. The US-Australia relationship and our respective relationships with great nations across the region are vital as we work to build regional cooperation and productive and meaningful engagements between ourselves, our neighbours and our global partners. We have been great friends for many years and that is sure to continue.

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