CANBERRA, ACT, June 24 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release:
I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
I acknowledge members and senators here this evening.
And members of the diplomatic corps.
I extend my thanks to Embassy staff, and I particularly want to acknowledge Chargee d'Affaires, Erika Olson.
Erika has led the American mission in Australia with distinction, and on behalf of the Australian Government I wish her the very best for the future.
In due course, I look forward to welcoming incoming Ambassador David Brat to Australia.
Together with President Trump, we will build on the strength of our alliance.
Celebrating this special 75th year of the ANZUS Treaty and alliance by looking forward to our shared future.
Deepening the bonds of friendship and the goodwill that has linked our two peoples over generations.
Ladies and gentlemen -
This evening we commemorate two hundred and fifty years of the Declaration of Independence of the United States of America.
Two and a half American centuries that have fuelled the economy, shaped the thought and instructed the values - not just of the United States - but of our world.
That reality is built around us now, in this city - designed by two Americans no less.
Because though we stand some 16,000 kilometres from the hill that hosts the shining Capitol Building in Washington DC.
Nestled just over there, on a Capital Hill of our own, rests the seat of our Australian democracy.
Unique in its own way.
A parliament, rather than a congress.
Though with a Senate elected by our states.
And a House of Representatives elected by our people.
From there - just as Americans do for each other in Washington, Australians govern ourselves.
Two democracies - of the people, for the people - by the people.
In fact, to look around this city is to find symbols carved in stone and marble.
Temples of democratic freedom made physical that tell of an Australian democracy remarkably consistent with the principles laid out in the Declaration we have come together to celebrate tonight.
Because as we look harder at the events of that summer's day in Philadelphia in 1776, we see more clearly that - in fact - we are not only looking into the past.
But into a type of democratic mirror.
Because in that moment - in that act of Declaration - we find a political deed that not only birthed one of the most consequential nations in all world history.
But that distilled the democratic project to its purest form.
A powerful imagining of democratic politics not as a matter of theory - but a matter of practice.
A preamble of scarcely 200 words, setting out the ideals that continue to call down to us through the years:
That power is derived from the consent of the governed.
That all men - and women - are created equal.
That life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are truths that are self-evident and inalienable.
It is that same democratic spirit that our peoples have judged worthy to defend, to fight and die for - side by side.
Their sacrifice underlines our lives.
Ladies and gentlemen.
In democracies like ours, each generation learns from the ones that came before.
Working to build toward a better society - more fair, more prosperous, more just.
And it is our democratic traditions themselves - the dynamism of freedom - that make that renewal possible.
It propels us.
But it is also what keeps us steady.
Because flowing through us all is the knowledge that our democratic foundations are as strong, creative, courageous as the people we serve.
Over centuries, it has been the project of the United States of America to galvanise those ideals.
To keep them constant, and to make them new again.
And so now, as in 1776, let us reaffirm our commitment to them in the terms they were written - with our 'lives, our fortunes and our sacred honour.'
I wish the United States of America a wonderful 250th birthday.
And many happy returns.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
