This means that the Australia-US alliance is being called on again in difficult circumstances, just as it has been called on at numerous occasions to deal with challenges over the last seventy years. No challenge is bigger than climate change, and our respective Governments are completely aligned in our approach to the biggest challenge facing us. That the alliance can be even stronger and more effective when the Australian Government and the US Administration are completely aligned on objectives and actions on big challenges facing our countries and the world.

I would never seek to deny it.īut that does not mean that something else cannot also be true. It is said because it is unquestionably true. The alliance is stronger than any one personality, administration or government. It is often said what makes the Australia-US relationship so strong is that it is underpinned by shared interests, values and sacrifices, and by a myriad of institutional and people-to-people links. Thank you to the American Australian Association for your leadership over 70 years, seeking to strengthen and deepen the ties and bonds between our nations.Īnd of course, tonight this benefit dinner will help the AAA continue its support of future scholars working in a wide range of fields of mutual benefit to our two countries.Īllow me to add my congratulations Julie (Sweet) for your well-deserved accolade this evening and your commitment to important corporate values. On my first visit to the United States in 1996, as a young backpacking junior volunteer for Bill Clinton’s re-election campaign and the first, unsuccessful campaign for Mark Warner to enter the Senate from Virginia, I wouldn’t have envisaged that I’d be given an honour like this 26 years (and many intervening visits) later. Thank you for the honour of being the keynote speaker at this important dinner. In the same spirit I’d also like to acknowledge the Indigenous people of New York: the Lenape, Mohican and Iroquois peoples.

And I pay my respects to any Australian First Nations people present here today. I live in Western Sydney, on the lands of the Cabrogal people of the Darug Nation. In Australia, it has become customary to open speeches by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land we are meeting on – paying respect to the custodians and caretakers of the land.

Keynote address