Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the House, I welcome as guests the President of the Senate and honourable senators to this sitting of the House of Representatives to hear an address by the Hon. Barack Obama, President of the United States of America.

The Hon. Barack Obama having been announced and escorted into the chamber—

Mr President, I welcome you to the House of Representatives chamber. Your address today is a significant occasion in the history of the House. I welcome guests who are with us in support of the President's visit and other guests who are present in the galleries. On behalf of the parliament, I extend a very warm welcome to our visitors.

Julia Gillard (Lalor, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Harry Jenkins, Speaker of the House of Representatives; Senator John Hogg, President of the Senate; the Hon. Tony Abbott, Leader of the Opposition; honourable members of the Australian parliament; distinguished guests one and all. Mr President, in March this year I was the fourth Australian Prime Minister to speak in your people's representative house—like Prime Ministers Menzies, Hawke and Howard, each of us received as an ally and a friend. Today you are the fourth American President to speak here. Like each of your predecessors, you come here as a friend and as an ally as well. Mr President, welcome to our parliament. You meet us as your predecessors did: a people enlivened by a spirit of confidence and resolve. As friends we recognise the same spirit in the nation you lead—one you would no doubt express in those famous words, 'Yes, we can.' As allies in this year of anniversaries we recall that spirit in so much we have done together in the years we have shared: a spirit we showed in 1941, when a terrible Pacific war began which tested us both deeply and cost us both so much but in which we ultimately prevailed; a spirit we shared in 1951, when leaders from both our nations imagined and then brought about a new future for us in the world as allies, not just as friends; and a spirit we felt deeply on September 11, when we began our fight together to deny terrorism a safe haven and to bring justice for terrorism's victims—justice, Mr President, which was delayed but which this year could not be denied.

Mr President, as allies we look forward always, and this is the year in which we have made plans for a future just as great, a year in which we have drawn on the confidence and resolve we share, knowing that together we can prevail. Confident we can secure our own nations and cooperate for peace in Afghanistan, where together we are seeing the mission through to transition; in our region, where the expanded cooperation we have announced will see our alliance remain a stabilising influence in a new century of regional change—a new step agreed on your visit here. But, more than a new step for our two nations, it is a renewal of our alliance itself. And, Mr President, confident we can create jobs and restore global growth at the G20 and APEC in our decisions to forge an ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership, in our discussions here on the prospects for trade and at the East Asia Summit this weekend, where we will work together to keep the doors of trade open so the whole of the world's economy grows, creating jobs for all of the world's people, including our own. Confident we can secure clean energy and combat climate change too, working together, taking our part in global action, encouraging tariff cuts in environmental goods, promoting energy efficiency and sharing plans for low-emission technologies, and each of us driving change at home.

Mr President, the resolve and confidence of our two nations has always served a high purpose. Since its founding in 1951, ours has been an alliance for a secure future but it has always been more. Our alliance was anticipated a decade earlier in the judgments of an Australian Prime Minister and the resolve of an American President, and the partnership between us is still deeply imprinted with the personal character and public ideals of those two great men—for it has never been simply a treaty to defend our interests or to protect our territory; it was then and it is now a friendship dedicated to the values we share in the life of the world.

Mr President, in Perth there is a library dedicated to the memory of my great predecessor John Curtin, our great wartime leader, the man who looked to America without any pangs. There you find a book given to him during his visit to the United States in 1944. Prime Minister Curtin and President Roosevelt met as leaders of two great nations at war, but as two great leaders they looked ahead to the peace. Curtin returned to his country with much more than a plan for security; he brought back and kept as a treasure an illustrated book, an edition dedicated to President Roosevelt's four essential human freedoms: freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear—freedoms for which so many diggers and GIs died, freedoms for which Curtin and Roosevelt were each still working on on their own final day. And in our work together in the world now, we are true to that great charter still—to peace and security, for jobs and growth, with a clean environment and clean energy. Mr President, we welcome you here as you come: as an ally, a partner and a friend. Mr President, welcome to our parliament.

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was once said that is what is good for General Motors is good for America. With rather more confidence it could be said that what is good for America is likely to be good for the wider world, because the United States is the most benign and the least self-interested superpower the world has ever seen. America is great, said de Tocqueville, because America is good, and, if America ever ceased to be good, she would also cease to be great. America was the first, and so far the greatest, nation to be founded on the dream of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness for all its citizens. One of our Prime Ministers, Ben Chifley, had something like this in mind when he said that government's light on the hill should be working for the betterment of mankind, not just here but wherever we can lend a helping hand.

No country on earth has done more for the world: first, in being that shining city on a hill that President Reagan so often spoke of; second, for the Marshall Plan, the Peace Corps, the Gates Foundation, and so many other humanitarian and high-minded ventures in every corner of the globe; third, and most crucially, in its readiness to defend the universal decencies where they are gratuitously threatened. In the last century it was the United States that saw off the totalitarian threat; in the present century it is the United States that will see off the terrorist threat. Others will shoulder some of the burden but it is America, inevitably, that will do the heaviest lifting.

Not for nothing did Graham Greene say of his 'quiet American' that he had never met a man with such good intentions for all the trouble he caused. Still, Reagan was onto something when he described America as the last best hope for mankind. Freedom under the law, representative government and the right to the greatest possible liberty consistent with like liberty for others were not invented in America but have been improved there. Liberal pluralisms spread from England to America and thence to the wider world, showing that these are not just our values but, potentially at least, everyone's values. The US, Britain, Australia and our other allies did not wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan merely to remove a threat to peace but in the confidence that, given a chance, almost everyone would prefer a life in which you treated others as you would have them treat you. The US has led the first army ever to enter Afghanistan to liberate rather than to conquer. Given the history, it is a monumental task, but it is vital for the welfare of the Afghan people, the stability of a dangerous region and the safety of the wider world.

I know, sir, that the Australian forces serving in Afghanistan are grateful for the American logistical assistance that sustains our commitment. They are proud to be fighting and building alongside their US comrades in the Uruzgan Provincial Reconstruction Team. As well, they hope that their mission is continued until their task is done—the establishment of a stable, effective and humane government, at least by Afghan standards, backed by reliable security forces. They know that victory in Afghanistan will not resemble the unequivocal resolution of World War II. It will be more like success in Northern Ireland; it will involve a process as much as an outcome. Our soldiers in Afghanistan also understand that giving up prematurely would be a defeat, and no less disastrous for not being sustained on the battlefield.

To the Liberal-National coalition, the American alliance is the cornerstone of Australian security, as it has been since we first looked to America in anticipation of the fall of Singapore and Prime Minister Menzies and President Truman subsequently concluded the ANZUS Treaty. The coalition welcomes the presence of up to 2,500 US Marines in Darwin and would be happy to see the establishment of another joint facility so that these arrangements could become more permanent. But the US alliance exists to promote values, not to threaten other countries. As Prime Minister Howard demonstrated, it is possible to deepen Australia's military alliance with America and simultaneously build our trade and cultural links with other countries such as China. As John Howard also demonstrated, it was possible to establish a quadrilateral security dialogue involving India and to sell uranium to India without prejudicing other relationships. On selling uranium to India, President Obama had the good sense never to change President Bush's policy. In this country, on this policy, the transition from the former government to the current one has been—how shall I say?—less seamless, but I welcome the government's conversion on this subject.

As Britain discovered in 1940 and again in 1956, military strength is illusory if it is not founded on economic strength. A country that borrows from foreigners, even from friendly ones, to fight its wars is at risk of the debt being called in at the worst possible time. The lesson of the eurozone crisis is that a terrible judgment is eventually pronounced against countries whose governments have spent and borrowed beyond their means. But the underlying economic position of both Australia and America is strong. Australia's danger is complacency: the feeling that the world has no choice but to buy our minerals, so new taxes can painlessly fix our fiscal problems. America's could be political gridlock, with congress a permanent hung parliament where everyone accepts the need for lower spending except on their favourite project.

If, as many predict, this turns out to be the Pacific century, it will be the entrepreneurial spirit and the superior willingness to face facts of the Pacific's peoples rather than anything in the water that naturally makes it so. Both Australia and America are determined to be good international citizens on the environment no less than on security. Differences are less about the seriousness of the challenge than about the best means of tackling it, because all of us want to give the planet the benefit of the doubt.

American world leadership may only truly be appreciated after it has gone. None of us should want to find out the hard way what a shrunken America might be. So, Mr President, everyone in this parliament is a friend of the United States. For all the political differences between us on so many points, we are all willing you and your country to succeed, because a strong America means a safer world. I hope that in this visit to Australia you are buoyed by our support, because no leader on earth has heavier responsibilities. May God bless you. May God bless all of us as we rise to the challenges of these times.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, it gives me great pleasure to invite you to address the House.

The HONOURABLE BARACK OBAMA (10:43): Prime Minister Gillard, Leader Abbott, thank you both for your very warm welcome. Mr Speaker, Mr President, members of the House and Senate, ladies and gentlemen, I thank you for the honour of standing in this great chamber to reaffirm the bonds between the United States and the Commonwealth of Australia, two of the world's oldest democracies and two of the world's oldest friends. To you and the people of Australia, thank you for your extraordinary hospitality. Here in this city, this ancient meeting place, I want to acknowledge the original inhabitants of this land and one of the world's oldest continuous cultures, the first Australians.

I first came to Australia as a child, travelling between my birthplace of Hawaii and Indonesia, where I would live for four years. As an eight-year-old, I could not always understand your foreign language. Last night I did try to talk some Strine. Today I do not want to subject you to any earbashing—I really do love that one and I will be introducing that into the vernacular in Washington. But, to a young American boy, Australia and its people—your optimism, your easygoing ways, your irreverent sense of humour—all felt so familiar. It felt like home. I have always wanted to return. I tried last year, twice. But this is a lucky country, and today I feel lucky to be here as we mark the 60th anniversary of our unbreakable alliance.

The bonds between us run deep. In each other's story, we see so much of ourselves: ancestors who crossed vast oceans, some by choice, some in chains; settlers who pushed west across sweeping plains; dreamers who toiled with hearts and hands to lay railroads and to build cities; generations of immigrants who, with each new arrival, add a new thread to the brilliant tapestry of our nations. And we are citizens who live by a common creed: no matter who you are, no matter what you look like, everyone deserves a fair chance. Everyone deserves a fair go.

Of course, progress in our society has not always come without tensions or struggles to overcome a painful past. But we are countries with a willingness to face our imperfections and to keep reaching for our ideals. That is the spirit we saw in this chamber three years ago, as this nation inspired the world with a historic gesture of reconciliation with Indigenous Australians; it is the spirit of progress in America which allows me to stand before you today as President of the United States; and it is the spirit I will see later today, when I become the first US President to visit the Northern Territory, where I will meet the traditional owners of the land.

Nor has our progress come without great sacrifice. This morning, I was humbled and deeply moved by a visit to your War Memorial to pay my respects to Australia's fallen sons and daughters. Later today, in Darwin, I will join the Prime Minister in saluting our brave men and women in uniform. It will be a reminder that, from the trenches of the First World War to the mountains of Afghanistan, Aussies and Americans have stood together, we have fought together and we have given lives together in every single major conflict of the past 100 years—every single one.

This solidarity has sustained us through a difficult decade. We will never forget the attacks of 9-11 that took the lives of not only Americans but people from many nations, including Australia. In the United States, we will never forget how Australia invoked the ANZUS Treaty for the first time ever, showing that our two nations stood as one; and none of us will ever forget those we have lost to al-Qaeda's terror in the years since, including innocent Australians. That is why, as both the Prime Minister and the opposition leader indicated, we are determined to succeed in Afghanistan. It is why I salute Australia—outside of NATO, the largest contributor of troops to this vital mission. It is why we honour all those who have served there for our security, including 32 Australian patriots who gave their lives, among them Captain Bryce Duffy, Corporal Ashley Birt and Lance Corporal Luke Gavin. We will honour their sacrifice by making sure that Afghanistan is never again used as a source for attacks against our people—never again.

As two global partners we stand up for the security and the dignity of people around the world. We see it when our rescue workers rush to help others in times of fire and drought and flooding rains. We see it when we partner to keep the peace, from East Timor to the Balkans, and when we pursue our shared vision: a world without nuclear weapons. We see it in the development that lifts up a child in Africa and the assistance that saves a family from famine and when we extend our support to the people of the Middle East and North Africa, who deserve the same liberty that allows us to gather in this great hall of democracy. This is the alliance we reaffirm today, rooted in our values and renewed by every generation. This is the partnership we have worked to deepen over the past three years. Today I can stand before you and say with confidence that the alliance between the United States and Australia has never been stronger. As it has been to our past, our alliance continues to be indispensable to our future.

Here among close friends I would like to address the larger purpose of my visit to this region: our efforts to advance security, prosperity and human dignity across the Asia-Pacific. For the United States, this reflects a broader shift. After a decade in which we fought two wars that cost us dearly in blood and treasure, we in the United States are turning our attention to the vast potential of the Asia-Pacific region. In just a few weeks, after nearly nine years, the last American troops will leave Iraq and our war there will be over. In Afghanistan, we have begun a responsible transition so Afghans can take responsibility for their future and so coalition forces can begin to draw down. With partners like Australia, we have struck major blows against al-Qaeda and put that terrorist organisation on the path to defeat, including delivering justice to Osama bin Laden. Make no mistake: the tide of war is receding and America is looking ahead to the future that we must build.

From Europe to the Americas, we have strengthened alliances and partnerships. At home we are investing in the sources of our long-term economic strength: the education of our children, the training of our workers, the infrastructure that fuels commerce, and the science and the research that lead to new breakthroughs. We have made hard decisions to cut our deficit and put our fiscal house in order and we will continue to do more, because our economic strength at home is the foundation of our leadership in the world, including here in the Asia-Pacific.

Our new focus on this region reflects a fundamental truth: the United States has been and always will be a Pacific nation. Asian immigrants helped build America, and millions of American families, including my own, cherish our ties to this region. From the bombing of Darwin to the liberation of Pacific islands, from the rice paddies of South-East Asia to a cold Korean peninsula, generations of Americans have served here and died here so that democracies could take root and so economic miracles could lift hundreds of millions to prosperity. Americans have bled with you for this progress and we will never allow it to be reversed.

Here we see the future. As the world's fastest growing region and home to more than half of the global economy, the Asia-Pacific is critical to achieving my highest priority, and that is creating jobs and opportunity for the American people. With most of the world's nuclear power and some half of humanity, Asia will largely define whether the century ahead will be marked by conflict or cooperation, needless suffering or human progress. As President, I have therefore made a deliberate and strategic decision: as a Pacific nation, the United States will play a larger and long-term role in shaping this region and its future by upholding core principles and in close partnership with our allies and friends.

Let me tell you what this means. First, we seek security, which is the foundation of peace and prosperity. We stand for an international order in which the rights and responsibilities of all nations and all people are upheld, where international law and norms are enforced, where commerce and freedom of navigation are not impeded, where emerging powers contribute to regional security and where disagreements are resolved peacefully. That is the future that we seek.

I know that some in this region have wondered about America's commitment to upholding these principles, so let me address that directly. As we in the United States put our fiscal house in order, we are reducing our spending and, yes, after a decade of extraordinary growth in our military budgets and as we definitively end the war in Iraq and begin to wind down the war in Afghanistan, we will make some reductions in defence spending. As we consider the future of our armed forces, we have begun a review that will identify our most important strategic interests and guide our defence priorities and spending over the coming decade.

So here is what this region must know. As we end today's wars, I have directed my national security team to make our presence and mission in the Asia-Pacific a top priority. As a result, reductions in US defence spending will not—I repeat, will not—come at the expense of the Asia-Pacific. My guidance is clear. As we plan and budget for the future, we will allocate the resources necessary to maintain our strong military presence in this region; we will preserve our unique ability to project power and deter threats to peace; we will keep our commitments, including our treaty obligations to allies like Australia; and we will constantly strengthen our capabilities to meet the needs of the 21st century. Our enduring interests in the region demand our enduring presence in the region. The United States is a Pacific power and we are here to stay.

Indeed, we are already modernising America's defence posture across the Asia-Pacific. It will be more broadly distributed, maintaining our strong presence in Japan and the Korean peninsula while enhancing our presence in South-East Asia. Our posture will be more flexible, with new capabilities to ensure that our forces can operate freely, and our posture will be more sustainable, by helping allies and partners build their capacity with more training and exercises. We see our new posture here in Australia. The initiatives that the Prime Minister and I announced yesterday will bring our two militaries even closer together. We will have new opportunities to train with other allies and partners from the Pacific to the Indian Ocean, and it will allow us to respond faster to the full range of challenges, including humanitarian crises and disaster relief. Since World War II, Australians have warmly welcomed American service members who have passed through. On behalf of the American people, I thank you for welcoming those who will come next, as they ensure that our alliance stays strong and ready for the tests of our time.

We see America's enhanced presence in the alliance that we have strengthened—in Japan, where our alliance remains a cornerstone of regional security; in Thailand, where we are partnering for disaster relief; in the Philippines, where we are increasing ship visits and training; and in South Korea, where our commitment to the security of the Republic of Korea will never waver. Indeed, we also reiterate our resolve to act firmly against any proliferation activities by North Korea. The transfer of nuclear materials or materiel by North Korea to states or non-state entities would be considered a grave threat to the United States and our allies, and we would hold North Korea fully accountable for the consequences of such action.

We see America's enhanced presence across South-East Asia—in our partnership with Indonesia against piracy and violent extremism and in our work with Malaysia to prevent proliferation; in the ships we will deploy to Singapore; in our closer cooperation with Vietnam and Cambodia; and in our welcome of India as it looks east and plays a larger role as an Asian power. At the same time, we are re-engaged with our regional organisations. Our work in Bali this week will mark my third meeting with ASEAN leaders, and I will be proud to be the first American President to attend the East Asia Summit. Together I believe we can address shared challenges, such as proliferation and maritime security, including cooperation in the South China Sea.

Meanwhile, the United States will continue our effort to build a cooperative relationship with China. Australia and the United States—all of our nations—have a profound interest in the rise of a peaceful and prosperous China. That is why the United States welcomes it. We have seen that China can be a partner, from reducing tensions on the Korean peninsula to preventing proliferation. And we will seek more opportunities for cooperation with Beijing, including greater communication between our militaries to promote understanding and avoid miscalculation. We will do this even as we continue to speak candidly to Beijing about the importance of upholding international norms and respecting the universal human rights of the Chinese people.

A secure and peaceful Asia is the foundation for the second area in which America is leading again, and that is advancing our shared prosperity. History teaches us the greatest force the world has ever known for creating wealth and opportunity is free markets, so we seek economies that are open and transparent, we seek trade that is free and fair and we seek an open international economic system where rules are clear and every nation plays by them. In Australia and America, we understand these principles. We are among the most open economies on earth. Six years into our landmark trade agreement, commerce between us has soared. Our workers are creating new partnerships and new products, like the advanced aircraft technologies we build together in Victoria. We are the leading investor in Australia, and you invest more in America than you do in any other nation, creating good jobs in both countries.

We recognise that economic partnerships cannot just be about one nation extracting another's resources. We understand that no long-term strategy for growth can be imposed from above. Real prosperity—prosperity that fosters innovation and prosperity that endures—comes from unleashing our greatest economic resource, and that is the entrepreneurial spirit, the talents of our people. So, even as America competes aggressively in Asian markets, we are forging the economic partnerships that create opportunity for all. Building on our historic trade agreement with South Korea, we are working with Australia and our other APEC partners to create a seamless regional economy, and with Australia and other partners we are on track to achieve our most ambitious trade agreement yet and a potential model for the entire region, the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The United States remains the world's largest and most dynamic economy, but in an interconnected world we all rise and fall together. That is why I pushed so hard to put the G20 at the front and centre of global economic decision making, to give more nations a leadership role in managing the international economy, including Australia. Together we saved the world economy from a depression, and now our urgent challenge is to create the growth that puts people to work. We need growth that is fair, where every nation plays by the rules, where workers' rights are respected and our businesses can compete on a level playing field, where the intellectual property and new technologies that fuel innovation are protected and where currencies are market driven so no nation has an unfair advantage.

We also need growth that is broad—not just for the few but for the many—with reforms that protect consumers from abuse and a global commitment to end the corruption that stifles growth. We need growth that is balanced, because we will all prosper more when countries with large surpluses take action to boost demand at home. And we need growth that is sustainable. This includes the clean energy that creates green jobs and combats climate change, which cannot be denied. We see it in the stronger fires, the devastating floods and the Pacific islands confronting rising seas.

As countries with large carbon footprints, the United States and Australia have a special responsibility to lead. Every nation will contribute to the solution in its own way. I know this issue is not without controversy in both our countries, but what we can do and what we are doing is to work together to make unprecedented investments in clean energy, to increase energy efficiency and to meet the commitments we made at Copenhagen and Cancun. We can do this and we will.

As we grow our economies, we will also remember the link between growth and good governance, the rule of law, transparent institutions and the equal administration of justice, because history shows that, over the long run, democracy and economic growth go hand in hand, and prosperity without freedom is just another form of poverty. This brings me to the final area where we are leading: our support for the fundamental rights of every human being. Every nation will chart its own course, yet it is also true that certain rights are universal—among them, freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion and the freedom of citizens to choose their own leaders. These are not American rights, Australian rights or Western rights; these are human rights. They stir in every soul, as we have seen in the democracies that have succeeded here in Asia. Other models have been tried and they have failed—fascism and communism, rule by one man and rule by a committee. They failed for the same simple reason: they ignored the ultimate source of power and legitimacy—the will of the people.

Yes, democracy can be messy and rough. I understand you mix it up quite well during question time! But, whatever our differences of party or of ideology, we know in our democracies we are blessed with the greatest form of government ever known to man. So as two great democracies we speak up for those freedoms when they are threatened. We partner with emerging democracies like Indonesia to help strengthen the institutions upon which good governance depends. We encourage open government because democracies depend on an informed and active citizenry. We help strengthen civil societies because they empower our citizens to hold their governments accountable. We advance the rights of all people—women, minorities and indigenous cultures—because when societies harness the potential of all their citizens these societies are more successful, they are more prosperous and they are more just.

These principles have guided our approach to Burma, with a combination of sanctions and engagement. Today Aung San Suu Kyi is free from house arrest, some political prisoners have been released and the government has begun a dialogue. Still, violations of human rights persist, so we will continue to speak clearly about the steps that must be taken for the government of Burma to have a better relationship with the United States. This is the future we seek in the Asia-Pacific: security, prosperity and dignity for all. That is what we stand for; that is who we are. That is the future we will pursue in partnership with allies and friends and with every element of American power. So let there be no doubt: in the Asia-Pacific in the 21st century, the United States of America is all in.

Still, in times of great change and uncertainty, the future can seem unsettling. Across a vast ocean it is impossible to know what lies beyond the horizon. But if this vast region and its people teach us anything it is that the yearning for liberty and progress will not be denied. It is why women in this country demanded that their voices be heard, making Australia the first nation to let women vote, run for parliament and one day become Prime Minister. It is why the people took to the streets from Delhi to Seoul, from Manila to Jakarta, to throw off colonialism and dictatorship and build some of the world's largest democracies. It is why a soldier in a watchtower along the DMZ defends a free people in the south, why a man from the north risks his life to escape across the border, why soldiers in blue helmets keep the peace in a new nation and why women of courage go into brothels to save young girls from modern-day slavery, which must come to an end. It is why men of peace in saffron robes face beatings and bullets and why every day in some of the world's largest cities or dusty rural towns, in small acts of courage the world may never see, a student posts a blog, a citizen signs a charter, an activist remains unbowed, imprisoned in his home—just to have the same rights that we cherish here today. Men and women like these know what the world must never forget.

The currents of history may ebb and flow, but over time they move decisively in a single direction. History is on the side of the free—free societies, free governments, free economies, free people. The future belongs to those who stand firm for those ideals, in this region and around the world.

This is the story of the alliance we celebrate today. This is the essence of America's leadership. It is the essence of our partnership. This is the work we will carry on together for the security, prosperity and dignity of all people. God bless Australia. God bless America. And God bless the friendship between our two peoples. Thank you very much.

Members and senators rising and applauding

Mr President, on behalf of the House and the parliament, I thank you for your address and the depth of the message that it contained. As the leader of a close ally, you have been received as a most welcome friend, especially as we commemorate threescore years of the formal alliance. As an individual, you inspire us all as a symbol of what we can achieve and you remind us of what we ought to achieve.

As a former senator, I know that you are pleased that we have present with us our Senate colleagues. In thanking the President of the Senate and the senators, I thank you for inspiring in them the appropriate behaviour that the grandeur of the occasion dictated!

I wish you a successful and enjoyable remainder of your stay in Australia and success in your travels in the region. Selamat sukses! I hope that you have a safe return home to your 'cheese and kisses'—that is, the missus, your wife—and to the 'billy lids', the kids, your children.