Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion of Senator Wong and to associate the Liberal and National parties with the words and sentiments she expressed. Like all Australians, I was shocked and deeply saddened to hear of the shooting in Japan which took the life of Shinzo Abe. During the hours that followed that initial news that Shinzo Abe had been injured in a shooting, my hopes and prayers—and those of many Australians—were, sadly, not to be answered on this occasion. It was within just a few short hours that we heard the confirmation of our worst fears for this great leader and for our friends in Japan.

Shinzo Abe was truly a giant of democratic leadership in our time. He championed values that underpin peace, progress and opportunity. He demonstrated the value of economic liberalism. Shinzo Abe was the most transformational and consequential politician of Japan's postwar era. That he has had such an impact not only on his own country but also in his own region and globally is a testament to the man and his legacy—a legacy that will endure. For his life to end in a brutal act in a country that, in the modern era, is renowned for its peaceful democracy is an affront against so much that so many of us in Japan and in Australia hold dear. It was an affront especially to the values that Shinzo Abe espoused in thought and indeed throughout his life.

It is a sad reality that Shinzo Abe's death is yet another stark reminder, if indeed one was ever needed, that nothing can be taken for granted and that the fight to defend democratic values is one that never ends. That Shinzo Abe's life should end at the hands of a coward who fired what would be fatal shots at his back whilst he was participating in the democratic process he so strongly espoused, respected and loved makes the reality of this brutal act even harder to comprehend.

As Mr Dutton, the Leader of the Opposition, said in marking the tragic end of his life, Shinzo Abe was well known to Australians as a sincere, staunch and trustworthy friend. It was my pleasure to have personally met him on several occasions, engaged with and—to some degree as part of our government-to-government relations—worked with Shinzo Abe. I particularly recall having the honour of meeting him at the Darwin airport, on one of the five visits to Australia that Senator Wong referenced that he made during his time as the Japanese Prime Minister. Visiting Darwin, the scene of World War II bombings in Australia, was one of those integral steps that Shinzo Abe took as part of his efforts to reconcile Japan's difficult past. Shinzo Abe knew that, by reconciling with its past Japan would be better able to more strongly embrace its future. He was clear-eyed that the deeds of one generation should not consign future generations or Japan as a whole to being second-class or lesser global citizens.

Australia should be grateful that Shinzo Abe's work, including his redefining of Japan's constitutional restrictions, has enabled Japan to step up in a bilateral sense, in a regional sense and across the world. Whether it was in that engagement on the tarmac at Darwin airport or in bilateral meetings I was privileged to be part of in Australia, Japan or third nations, I always found Shinzo Abe to be a warm, engaging, thoughtful but purposeful interlocutor. He made all those in the room feel like he had time for them, and he built personal connections that strengthened his status as a statesman of influence right around the globe.

Even while speaking through an interpreter, Shinzo Abe was able to promote, influence and charm in the nicest and calmest of ways. I recall the first bilateral meeting between Shinzo Abe and then Prime Minister Morrison that occurred at a G20, where, again speaking through an interpreter, we realised part way through that in referencing the Prime Minister of the day he continually referenced 'ScoMo-san', picking up on the Australian approach for a little bit of personal engagement and informality.

There have been many tributes paid to Shinzo Abe in the days and weeks since that terrible moment on 8 July which will be etched in the collective memory of Japan forever. His achievements have, rightly, been well documented. As Prime Minister he travelled to more countries than any of his predecessors, expanding the reach of his diplomacy far beyond Japan's traditional partners. He secured the US-Japan alliance even in the face of intense pressure, playing a critical role as, dare I say it, a 'Trump whisperer' in some difficult times. He forged trade deals across the world, as part of his signature ongoing economic reform agenda of Abenomics, to lift Japan's economy out of two decades of stagnation and in doing so also strengthen international cooperation with so many partners.

Australia was in fact the first major developed economy with which Japan secured a free trade agreement through that era via the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement, signed between Prime Minister Abe and then Prime Minister Abbott in 2014. Alongside this, he drove, as Senator Wong acknowledged, the elevation of Australia's relationship with Japan to a 'special strategic relationship'—a phrase that, I understand, he reportedly coined himself. Later that year, he addressed the Australian parliament and said that, through the agreement, we had deepened our economic ties and would nurture our region and the world order to safeguard peace.

In addition to the special purpose agreement and free trade agreement, Shinzo Abe advanced the Australia-Japan relations via commencement of the reciprocal access agreement now in force, through strengthened defence and intelligence relationships, including trilateral cooperation between Australia and the United States. Crucially, Shinzo Abe, alongside former Prime Minister Turnbull, was instrumental in saving and securing the Trans-Pacific Partnership, not once but twice—first, following the withdrawal of the United States and then again following the near withdrawal of Canada—ultimately seeing the conclusion and entry into force of the comprehensive and progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership that has provided one of the two great regional trade blocs now in operation through the Indo-Pacific.

Shinzo Abe knew that both our nations had the strongest possible interest in a strong and robust rules-based international order. He was a crucial architect of the Quad, a long-held ambition—and one which required great persistence—to bring Japan, United States, India and Australia together in a strategic security dialogue from which Australia has benefited greatly. I would like to think that, in those final months of his life—as they turned out to be—he would have taken great pride in seeing the first face-to-face leaders meeting take place of the Quad.

Even after standing down as Prime Minister in 2020 as a consequence of the return of a health condition, Shinzo Abe remained in service to the people of Japan in the Diet and active in the democratic process, his reputation and standing growing both in Japan and globally following his retirement as Prime Minister. That his life came to an abrupt end as he was actively participating in the democratic process makes his passing so much harder to bear for the Japanese people; for Australia, which has lost a true friend; and for the world, which has lost one of the great leaders of recent decades.

On behalf of the coalition parties in the Senate, I send our condolences to Shinzo Abe's family—particularly his wife, Akie—and to the people of Japan. We share your shock, your dismay and your grief. We also share your pride in the life and achievements of one of Japan's greatest leaders and give thanks for his special connection to Australia. We reaffirm our ongoing commitment to the democratic processes to which Shinzo Abe's life and death were dedicated, and to the relations between our nations and our great connection and cooperative work across our region in the world, which we can build upon as part of his legacy. I thank the Senate.