[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 77 (Wednesday, June 12, 2002)]
[House]
[Pages H3456-H3458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   ADDRESS BY THE HONORABLE JOHN HOWARD, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA

  Prime Minister HOWARD. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President of the Senate, 
distinguished Members of the House of Representatives and the Senate of 
the Congress of the United States, may I say how very touched I am by 
the warmth and generosity of your welcome. I appreciate very deeply the 
honor that you have extended to me today, but more importantly, the 
honor you have extended to my country, Australia.
  I, on behalf of the 90 million freedom-loving Australians, convey to 
you their deep affection and warm greetings and their sense of 
solidarity and friendship.
  The bonds between Americans and Australians are as strong as they are 
genuine; and that is, of course, because we share so many values in 
common: A belief that the individual is more important than the state; 
a belief that strong families are a nation's greatest resource; a 
belief that competitive capitalism is the real key to national wealth; 
and a belief that decency and hard work define a person's worth, not 
class or race or social background.
  My friends, let me say to you today that America has no better friend 
anywhere in the world than Australia. Australians and Americans enjoy 
each other's company. We share a love of sport, and in some of them we 
are fierce competitors, and we even from time to time share the Academy 
Awards.

  When I last came to this great Chamber of democracy on the 12th of 
September last year, the smoke still hung in the air over New York and 
Washington. Brave and courageous policemen and firemen, with no regard 
for their own safety, searched in the hope of finding survivors. The 
scale of loss and destruction was yet to be fully calculated. In 
seeking justice and not revenge, in choosing calm consideration over 
blind fury, in turning to friends before turning on enemies, the United 
States of recent months has led a great reaffirmation of all of those 
great values and principles on which both of our societies are based.
  America fought back magnificently, and in the process has won the 
admiration of the world. You demonstrated to the world that where 
fundamental freedoms flourish, evil men can do their worst, cause death 
and devastation, but in the end, they will never win.
  In his inaugural address, George Washington spoke of the destiny of 
the American people to preserve the sacred fire of liberty. That 
promise has been kept for more than two centuries, but never more so 
than since the appalling events of September last year. Through these 
times, Australians have shared your shock and anger, and have been 
partners in your resolve. We have taken our place beside you in the 
fight against terrorism because what happened last year in the United 
States was as much an attack upon our nation and the values that we 
hold dear as it was upon yours.
  And as we meet, Australian and American troops are fighting side by 
side in Afghanistan. It is our constant prayer that they all return 
safely home to their loved ones.
  In these past months, President Bush has displayed the tenacity, the 
strength, and the depth of character of a very great leader. And he is 
also applying those great qualities to the tensions in the Indian 
subcontinent between India and Pakistan, and in the intractable 
situation in the Middle East.
  It is a special privilege for me to return to this historic place to 
address the representatives of a great Nation of whose people we hold 
in such high regard, and for whom we feel great warmth and affection 
toward.
  Like you, Australia enters the new century strong and prosperous. 
Over the past decade, the productivity and growth of our economy has 
been ahead of most other developed nations.
  Our pioneer past, so similar to your own, has produced a spirit that 
can overcome adversity and pursue great dreams; where pursued, a 
society of opportunity, fairness and hope, leaving as

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you do, the divisions and prejudices of the old world far behind. Like 
your own, our culture continues to be immeasurably enriched by 
immigration from the four corners of the world. We believe, as you do, 
that nations are strengthened and not weakened, broadened and not 
diminished, by a variety of views and an atmosphere of open debate.
  Most of all, we value loyalty given and loyalty gained. The concept 
of mateship runs deeply through the Australian character. We cherish, 
and where necessary, we will fight to defend the liberties we hold 
dear.
  Australian and American forces fought together for the first time in 
the Battle of Hamel in France in World War I. The date of the attack, 
the 4th of July, 1918, was deliberately chosen by the Australian 
commander, General John Monash, to honor your countrymen. One of the 
Australian units held in reserve for that attack was the Third Pioneer 
Battalion, and it had a young signalman called Lyle Howard. He was my 
father.
  From that moment to this, we have been able to count on each other 
when it has mattered most; and let me say, and I know I speak on behalf 
of all of my fellow Australians, in saying that we will never forget 
the crucial help that Americans extended to us during the darkest days 
of World War II. Without that help, our history and our society would 
have been totally different.
  Successive generations of Australians and Americans have fought side 
by side in every major conflict of the 20th century, in the jungles of 
New Guinea, in Korea, in Vietnam, in the Gulf, in the skies and oceans 
around the globe, and now in another new century among the rock-strewn 
mountains of Afghanistan.
  The ANZUS Treaty of 1951 pledged each country to come to the aid of 
the other if it were under attack.
  And so it was that in a United States Air Force plane made available 
to me for my return to Australia on the 12th of September last year to 
enable me to return to Australia and high above the Pacific Ocean, I 
informed the United States Ambassador to Australia, Tom Schieffer, that 
it was our intention for the first time in the 50-year history of the 
ANZUS Treaty to invoke that treaty in response to the attack upon 
America.
  America was under attack. Australia was immediately there to help.
  My friends, both of our societies are built on a deep respect for the 
worth of each individual.
  ``The worth of a state, in the long run,'' wrote John Stuart Mill in 
1859, ``is the worth of the individuals composing it . . . a state 
which dwarfs its men in order that they may be more docile instruments 
in its hands even for beneficial purposes, will find with small men no 
great thing can really be accomplished.''
  America and Australia are societies which extol the precious worth of 
each individual man and woman. Like you, I see family life at the heart 
of a nation's existence. Not only does the family nurture and educate 
our children but it provides emotional anchorage for all of us as we 
travel through life.
  The strength of the family, of course, goes beyond the spiritual and 
the emotional. United, caring families are the best social welfare 
system mankind has ever devised.
  Both of our societies draw great strength from the spirit of 
volunteerism. The huge, exuberant success of the Sydney Olympic Games 
in 2000 owed a lot to the warm and infectious dedication of tens of 
thousands of volunteers. They gave the games a sense of exhilaration 
and joy which contributed enormously to their success.
  Edmund Burke once called voluntary groups society's ``small 
platoons.'' They are, in fact, the living tissue between the government 
and the people.
  I think we would all agree that political life in both of our nations 
is undergoing great change. I find, as I am sure you do, that politics 
now is a lot less tribal than it used to be. Lifelong allegiances are 
looser and less frequent. Modern society has given young people 
infinitely more options than was the case a generation ago. Governments 
must be decisive but also modest. Grand gestures without practical 
results help no one. People want outcomes, not political fireworks and 
constant battles. And above all, they want space from governments to 
get on with their own lives.
  I have spoken much of our common values, our shared history, and our 
deep respect and affection for each other as peoples. Let me say that 
we also share a common interest in spreading and better understanding 
the benefits of globalization. The balance sheet of globalization is 
overwhelmingly favorable to mankind. We must, however, better 
understand and explain its advantages to all of our citizens. Trade 
reform and liberalization have delivered benefits to people in many 
countries, and I believe they can deliver much more.
  I understand that the demands of local constituencies and 
international responsibilities must be finely balanced. As a true 
friend, let me say candidly that Australia was intensely disappointed 
with the passage of the recent farm bill. It will damage Australia's 
farmers. They are efficient producers with very little government 
support. I know that the farm and export subsidies of, for example, the 
European Union are much greater than those of the United States. 
Indeed, OECD agricultural subsidies are two-thirds of Africa's total 
gross domestic product. The cost of these subsidies is at least three 
times all of the Overseas Development Aid to developing countries. This 
only serves to illustrate the urgent need for global reform of 
agriculture within the World Trade Organization framework.
  The challenge is to achieve a comprehensive Doha trade round. That 
will require close cooperation and collaboration between Australia and 
the United States within the WTO. American leadership will be crucial. 
May I respectfully express the hope that Congress gives the President 
full authority to negotiate new trade agreements.
  At the same time, we in America and Australia have an historic 
opportunity to give even greater momentum to our bilateral economic 
relationship. That is why Australia has proposed the negotiation of a 
free trade agreement between our two countries. A comprehensive free 
trade agreement by boosting trade and investment between us would add a 
stronger economic dimension to the very deep bilateral ties that are 
already there.
  Turning for a moment to the strategic challenges of our own region, 
let me say that Australia welcomes and encourages full and active 
engagement by the United States in the Asia Pacific. It is immensely 
important not only to the nations of that region, but also to the 
interests of the United States. There is no region in the world more 
dynamic and changing more rapidly than the Asian Pacific region.
  For ourselves, Australia is proud of the leadership role that we were 
able to play in East Timor. To share the great independence celebration 
of that tiny country of fewer than a million people only a few weeks 
ago and to savor for a moment their sense of hope and exhilaration was 
a very moving experience. We stand ready to work in partnership with 
America to advance the cause of freedom, particularly in our shared 
Pacific region.

  Mr. Speaker, Mr. President of the Senate, ladies and gentlemen of the 
Congress, you have, as I said at the beginning, paid a great honor and 
compliment to me but more particularly to my nation, Australia, in 
inviting me to address you today. Our relationship has been long. The 
ties between us are strong. The bonds on a people-to-people basis 
between Americans and Australians are deep and rich. This relationship 
is nourished by many things. It is nourished by a shared history, it is 
nourished by a common commitment to democratic ideals and values, and 
it is nourished by our deep and resolute commitment to the role of the 
individual in society and the place of the family in the national 
framework of both of our nations.
  I express to you on behalf of my fellow countrymen and women our 
sense of commitment to the constant struggle to preserve democracy and 
freedom around the world. I say it with great warmth, because there is 
nothing false or phony or lacking in spontaneity in the relationship 
between our two peoples. It is not contrived. It is genuine. We like 
each other, and we do not mind saying it. Can I say to you today that 
as we move forward into this new century, we do so in the knowledge 
that no matter what will happen, and there

[[Page H3458]]

will be many paths of difficulty requiring courage and grit and 
sacrifice, we will travel through the century in the constant company 
of a true and great friend.
  May God bless the peoples of America and Australia.
  [Applause, Members rising.]
  At 11:00 o'clock and 30 minutes a.m., the Prime Minister of 
Australia, accompanied by the committee of escort, retired from the 
Hall of the House of Representatives.
  The Assistant to the Sergeant at Arms escorted the invited guests 
from the Chamber in the following order:
  The Members of the President's Cabinet.
  The Acting Dean of the Diplomatic Corps.

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