[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 9, 2011)]
[House]
[Pages H1624-H1626]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




JOINT MEETING TO HEAR AN ADDRESS BY THE HONORABLE JULIA GILLARD, PRIME 
                         MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA

  The Speaker of the House presided.
  The Deputy Sergeant at Arms, Mrs. Kerri Hanley, announced the 
President pro tempore and Members of the U.S. Senate, who entered the 
Hall of the House of Representatives, the President pro tempore taking 
the chair at the left of the Speaker, and the Members of the Senate the 
seats reserved for them.
  The SPEAKER. The Chair appoints as members of the committee on the 
part of the House to escort The Honorable Julia Gillard, Prime Minister 
of Australia, into the Chamber:
  The gentleman from Virginia (Mr. Cantor);
  The gentleman from California (Mr. McCarthy);
  The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Hensarling);
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Dreier);
  The gentlewoman from Florida (Ms. Ros-Lehtinen);
  The gentleman from California (Mr. McKeon);
  The gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Camp);
  The gentleman from Texas (Mr. Brady);
  The gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Manzullo);
  The gentlewoman from California (Ms. Pelosi);
  The gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer);
  The gentleman from South Carolina (Mr. Clyburn);
  The gentleman from Connecticut (Mr. Larson);
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Becerra);
  The gentleman from California (Mr. Berman);
  The gentleman from American Samoa (Mr. Faleomavaega);
  The gentlewoman from New York (Mrs. Lowey); and
  The gentleman from New York (Mr. Crowley).
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The President pro tempore of the Senate, 
at the direction of that body, appoints the following Senators as 
members of the committee on the part of the Senate to escort The 
Honorable Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia, into the House 
Chamber:
  The Senator from Nevada (Mr. Reid);
  The Senator from Illinois (Mr. Durbin);
  The Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. Kerry);
  The Senator from California (Mrs. Boxer);
  The Senator from Kentucky (Mr. McConnell);
  The Senator from Tennessee (Mr. Alexander);
  The Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Barrasso); and
  The Senator from Indiana (Mr. Lugar).
  The Deputy Sergeant at Arms announced the Acting Dean of the 
Diplomatic Corps, Her Excellency Heng Chee Chan, Ambassador of the 
Republic of Singapore.
  The Acting Dean of the Diplomatic Corps entered the Hall of the House 
of Representatives and took the seat reserved for her.
  At 11 o'clock and 5 minutes a.m., the Deputy Sergeant at Arms 
announced The Honorable Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia.
  The Prime Minister of Australia, escorted by the committee of 
Senators and Representatives, entered the Hall of the House of 
Representatives and stood at the Clerk's desk.
  (Applause, the Members rising.)
  The SPEAKER. Members of Congress, I have the high privilege and the 
distinct honor of presenting to you The Honorable Julia Gillard, Prime 
Minister of Australia.
  (Applause, the Members rising.)
  Prime Minister GILLARD. Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tempore, 
distinguished Members of the Senate and the House, distinguished 
guests, ladies and gentlemen, I am the fourth Australian Prime Minister 
to address you. Like them, I take your invitation as a great honor. 
Like them, I accept it on behalf of Australia.
  Since 1950, Australian Prime Ministers Robert Menzies, Bob Hawke and 
John Howard have come here, speaking for all the Australian people, 
through you, to all the people of the United States. They each came 
with a simple message, a message which has been true in war and peace, 
a message which has been true in hardship and prosperity, in the Cold 
War and in the new world, a message I repeat to you today:
  Distinguished Members of the Senate and the House, you have a true 
friend down under.
  For my parents' generation, the defining image of America was the 
landing at Normandy . . . your ``boys of Point-du-Hoc'' risking 
everything to help free the world. For my own generation, the defining 
image of America was the landing on the Moon. My classmates and I were 
sent home from school to watch the great moment on television. I'll 
always remember thinking that day:
  Americans can do anything.
  Americans helped free the world of my parents' generation. Americans 
inspired the world of my own youth.
  I stand here, and I see before me the very same brave and free 
people. I believe you can do anything still. There is a reason the 
world always looks to America: Your great dream--life, liberty and the 
pursuit of happiness--inspires us all.
  Those of you who have spent time with Australians know that we are 
not given to overstatement. By nature, we are laconic speakers, and by 
conviction, we are realistic thinkers. In both of our countries, real 
mates talk straight. We mean what we say, so let me say this to you:
  You have an ally in Australia--an ally for war and peace, an ally for 
hardship and prosperity, an ally for the 60 years past--and Australia 
is also an ally for all of the years to come. Geography and history 
alone could never explain the strength of the commitment between us. 
Rather, our values are shared and our people are friends.
  This is the heart of our alliance.
  This is why in our darkest days we have been glad, glad to see each 
other's face and hear each other's voice. Australia's darkest days in 
the last century followed the fall of Singapore in 1942.
  And you were there with us.
  Under attack in the Pacific, we fought together.
  side by side . . . step by bloody step.
  And whilst it was Australian soldiers at Milne Bay who gave the 
allies our first victory on land in the Pacific War, it was American 
sailors at the Battle of the Coral Sea who destroyed the fear of an 
invasion of Australia.
  Distinguished Members of the Senate and the House, Australia does not 
forget. We will never forget.
  The ultimate expression of our alliance, the ANZUS Treaty, was not 
signed until 1951, but it was anticipated a decade earlier in the 
judgments--the clear, frank and accurate judgments--of an Australian 
Prime Minister; and in the resolve--the extraordinary, immovable 
resolve--of an American President. In the decades since, we have stuck 
together in every major conflict--from Korea and Vietnam to the 
conflicts in the Gulf.
  Your darkest days since Pearl Harbor were 10 years ago in Washington 
and New York.
  And we were with you.
  My predecessor John Howard was quite literally with you, and he came 
to this Capitol when you met on September 12 to show you that 
Australians would be with you again; and after 50 years, under a new 
Prime Minister and a new President, the ANZUS Treaty was invoked.
  Within Australia's democracy, John Howard and I had our differences, 
but he was and is an Australian patriot, a man who was moved by what he 
saw here in that terrible September. He was and is a friend of America. 
When John Howard addressed you here in 2002, we were already with you 
in Afghanistan, and we are with you there still.
  I want you to know what I told Australia's Parliament in Canberra, 
what I told General Petraeus in Kabul, what I told President Obama in 
the Oval Office this week: Australia will stand firm with our ally the 
United States.
  Our friends understand this, that we will stand firm with you; but 
perhaps more importantly, our enemies understand this, too.
  We must be very realistic about Afghanistan's future. Australia 
firmly

[[Page H1625]]

supports the international strategy led by President Obama and adopted 
in Lisbon last year. Australia is doing our part, in Uruzgan province 
in particular and across the whole of Afghanistan. The Government of 
Afghanistan must play its part, too. We know transition will take some 
years. We must not transition out only to transition back in.
  We must not.
  From my discussions with your country's leaders in Washington, my 
meetings with generals in Afghanistan and my time with our troops, this 
is my conclusion: I believe we have the right strategy in place, a 
resolute and courageous commander in General Petraeus, and the 
resources needed to deliver the strategy. I am cautiously encouraged by 
what I have seen.
  For a moment, I want you to see Afghanistan through the eyes of 
Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith. Ben is Australia's most recent Victoria 
Cross winner--our equivalent of your Medal of Honor. Ben is a veteran 
of five tours of Afghanistan, and first went there in 2006. When we met 
recently, his words to me were compelling.
  He said, ``It is not the same country I first went to 5 years ago. We 
are making a difference.''
  Friends, there are hard days ahead.
  I flew to your country the day after attending a funeral of a young 
Australian who served in Afghanistan. Sapper Jamie Larcombe was from my 
home state of South Australia, from a small community with the most 
perfectly Australian name . . . Kangaroo Island. Jamie's life's 
ambition was to serve his country. He was a long way from Kangaroo 
Island when he made the ultimate sacrifice.
  We will remember.
  I know very many young Americans have served their country and lost 
their lives in Afghanistan, too.
  As a friend, we share your grief.
  As an ally, we share your resolve.
  Afghanistan must never again be a safe haven for terrorism.
  Just as our security alliance is one for war and peace, our economic 
partnership is one for hardship and prosperity.
  In hard days, we work together.
  Our societies share a deep understanding of the importance of work. 
We believe life is given purpose and direction by work. Without work, 
there is corrosive aimlessness. With the loss of work comes the loss of 
dignity. That's why, in each of our countries, the great goal of all we 
do in the economy is the same . . . to ensure that everyone who can 
work does work.
  In turn, this is why each of our countries took early and strong 
action in the face of the greatest threat to the world's economy since 
the Great Depression, and we did not just act locally or individually. 
We worked together when hardship came.

  It was difficult, but we did it together.
  New global realities and the emerging economic weight of countries 
like China, India and Brazil meant the vital forum for the global 
response was the leaders of the G20 nations. My predecessor Kevin Rudd 
worked hard to ensure this was so. The world needed a global response 
to the economic crisis, and global leadership was vital. Together, the 
G20 coordinated $5 trillion in fiscal stimulus for the global economy.
  While there has been very real pain, the global response averted true 
economic disaster. Economic stimulus has been crucial--to limit the 
worst effects of the downturn. Economic reform is crucial now--to 
deliver the best hopes for a strong recovery.
  Like you, I am a leader in a democracy. I know reform is never easy, 
but I know reform is right.
  The global economic outlook remains fragile and uncertain. Global 
economic imbalances persist, and we must address them or risk future 
instability. Your leadership in the G20 is still needed to ensure we 
make the reforms which will keep the global economy on the path to 
strong, sustained and balanced growth.
  And that is the path to growth in America as well.
  We worked hard with you during the global economic crisis to resist 
protectionist pressures. This only built on our decades working 
together to promote free trade in the world. I know many of you worked 
hard to achieve the Australia-U.S. Free Trade Agreement.
  May I say to each of you today, thank you.
  Our FTA experience shows the benefits of free trade, and we aim for 
even larger benefits from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which is a 
great economic opportunity for our two countries and seven of our 
regional partners. And we have other opportunities to promote trade and 
jobs together as well. I am looking forward to your country hosting the 
APEC Leaders' meeting later this year. We will work closely together 
there.
  Australia is also working for an ambitious and balanced conclusion of 
the WTO Doha Round as soon as possible; and we look forward to your 
Congress passing a 2012 farm bill that advances free trade rather than 
distorting it, and that through free trade creates jobs.
  We know the equation is simple: trade equals jobs.
  A very simple equation.
  Our societies share a deep understanding of the importance of work, 
and our societies share a deep commitment to the value of education. We 
understand education's transformative power. We know education is the 
future for every child who learns. We also know education is the future 
for our economies. Our future growth relies on competitiveness and 
innovation, skills and productivity; and these, in turn, rely on the 
education of our people.
  Australia and America are partners in a globalized world where open 
societies flourish and competitive economies thrive. That's why I went 
to a school in Wakefield, Virginia, with President Obama this week. The 
President and I not only saw children learning; we saw the future of 
your people and the future of your prosperity as well.
  Australians are deeply grateful to your Greatest Generation for their 
mighty deeds. This week, I have seen a new generation of Americans . . 
. I genuinely believe they can be greater still.
  Achieving prosperity while sharing its benefits requires farsighted 
educational reforms. In the same way, achieving growth while caring for 
our climate requires farsighted economic reforms. Breaking the link 
between economic growth and emissions growth is a difficult challenge 
for our economies, and we can only achieve it by working together. Our 
cooperation in key international forums and in research and development 
is making an important contribution. We must work together to achieve 
an historic transition to high technology, high skill, clean energy 
economies.
  Shared values are the basis of our security alliance, and shared 
values are the basis of our economic partnership as well. Through hard 
work and education, we can deliver a strong economy and opportunity for 
all.
  Americans are great optimists, and Australians will always ``have a 
go.''
  So, conceived in the Pacific War and born in the Cold War, adapted to 
the space age and invoked in the face of terror, our indispensable 
alliance . . . is a friendship for the future.
  This year is the 60th anniversary of the signing of our treaty. It is 
because of that I have the opportunity to speak to you today. For that, 
I am grateful. As I said to President Obama, it is an alliance 60 years 
young . . . with so much future to share.
  And this is a timely opportunity, not so much for reflection on the 
past as for the discussion of our future. The bipolar world in which 
our Alliance was signed has long since disappeared. I am not sad about 
its passing: Hundreds of millions of people have a better life today. 
Democracy and human dignity have spread wide in the world in the last 
20 years.
  We have seen this from eastern Europe to East Asia in recent years, 
and we are seeing the hope of it in the Middle East right now. We 
understand that nothing is certain. There is still much for the people 
of the Middle East to do, and the governments of the world will be 
called on to help them do it. Yet I believe what we are seeing is 
unchanging realities of human nature finding a new expression in a new 
way.
  For Australia's part, we will do what we can--and work with you--to 
support orderly transitions to democracy; to foster human rights and 
religious freedom within the countries of the Middle East; and to 
secure a lasting peace between them--a peace where no nation

[[Page H1626]]

threatens another--which is why we join you in condemning Iran's 
nuclear program.
  And we also strive for peace . . . a peace where Israel is secure and 
where Palestinians have a state of their own, which is why we join you 
in calling on all parties to negotiate in good faith.
  Our Alliance was signed 60 years ago in the Cold War, and it lives in 
a new world today.
  And as momentous as the changes in the Middle East are, I believe it 
is in the Asia-Pacific where the global order is changing the most: We 
admire India's example as a true democracy; we never forget Indonesia's 
transition to create the world's third largest democracy in the world's 
largest Islamic country; and we applaud China's lifting some 500 
million people out of poverty.
  The center of global strategic and economic weight is shifting to 
this region. The rise of the Asia-Pacific will define our times. Like 
you, our relationship with China is important and complex. We encourage 
China to engage as a good global citizen, and we are clear-eyed about 
where differences do lie.
  My guiding principle is that prosperity can be shared. We can create 
wealth together. The global economy is not a zero-sum game. There is no 
reason for Chinese prosperity to detract from prosperity in Australia, 
the United States or anywhere in the world.
  America has always understood this principle of the economy . . . 
that everyone can benefit when everyone competes.
  And for 60 years, your leadership in the Asia-Pacific has showed 
this. Your commitment to free trade and investment fueled the growth. 
Your presence and network of allies ensured the stability. You 
were indispensable in the Cold War, and you are indispensable in the 
new world, too. So your growing engagement with key countries in the 
region--like Japan, India, South Korea, and Indonesia--is enormously 
welcome.

  We will work closely with you to strengthen the fabric of these 
relationships and underpin regional stability, strengthening regional 
institutions so that the countries of the Asia-Pacific increasingly 
manage the frictions of a growing and changing Asia-Pacific.
  That's why your Nation's decision to join the East Asia Summit is 
such good news. The summit brings the leaders of the region's major 
powers together and has a mandate to deal with the whole range of 
economic, political and security issues our countries face.
  Our relationship is evolving to meet these new challenges: from 
defense and intelligence to diplomacy and trade. Australia in the 
south, with South Korea and Japan to the north, form real Asia-Pacific 
partnerships with the United States.
  Anchors of regional stability.
  An alliance which was strong in the Cold War . . . an alliance which 
is strong in the new world.
  In both of our countries, true friends stick together. Our nations do 
this, and our people do this as well. Nothing better tells this truth 
than the story of two firefighters.
  Many Australians and Americans worked together in the late 1990s to 
be ready to protect the 2000 Sydney Olympics from possible terrorist 
attack. One group of Australians spent 2 months in New York, training 
and working, including a long time with New York's Fire Department 
Rescue 1. They worked hard together and became more than colleagues . . 
. they became mates.
  So, when it was time to go home, the Australian commander gave Rescue 
1's chief his Australian Army ``slouch hat,'' and the chief presented 
the Australians with a battle-scarred fire helmet, dated December 1998 
and signed by members of the Rescue 1 crew, including Kevin Dowdell.
  Three years later, Kevin Dowdell was one of the hundreds of New York 
firefighters killed when the towers came down. Kevin led his men in. 
His remains were never found, but that helmet was . . . in Australia. 
And Aussie firefighter Rob Frey found Kevin's sons.
  James Dowdell is one of New York's bravest--a firefighter like his 
father before him. Patrick Dowdell is wearing his country's uniform in 
Afghanistan.
  Rob came to America to give James the helmet his father signed: a 
precious possession, a last link to a father lost. And I give you their 
story: a precious possession, too.
  These two men are here today.
  Rob, James . . . good on you. Rob, James, we are so proud of what you 
represent. Your story says it all about the friendship between 
Australia and the United States: together in the hardest of times, 
friends for the future.
  When our Alliance was signed 60 years ago, the challenges of the 
space age were still to come; the challenges of terrorism were still to 
come. For 60 years, leaders from Australia and the United States have 
looked inside themselves and found the courage to face those 
challenges; and after 60 years, we do the same today: to protect our 
peoples, to share our prosperity, to safeguard our future.
  For ours is a friendship for the future. It has been from its 
founding, and it remains so today. You have a friend in Australia, and 
you have an ally--and we know what that means: In both our countries, 
true friends stick together. In both our countries, real mates talk 
straight.
  So, as a friend, I urge you only this: Be worthy to your own best 
traditions.
  Be bold.
  In 1942, John Curtin--my predecessor, my country's great wartime 
leader--looked to America. I still do.
  This year, you have marked the centenary of President Reagan's birth. 
He remains a great symbol of American optimism. The only greater symbol 
of American optimism . . . is America, itself.
  The eyes of the world are still upon you. Your city on a hill cannot 
be hidden. Your brave and free people have made you the masters of 
recovery and reinvention.
  As I stand before you in this cradle of democracy, I see a nation 
that changed the world, a nation that has known remarkable days. I 
firmly believe you are the same people who amazed me . . . when I was a 
small girl . . . by landing on the Moon. On that great day, I believed 
Americans could do anything.
  I believe that still. You can do anything.
  Thank you.
  (Applause, the Members rising.)
  At 11 o'clock and 40 minutes a.m., The Honorable Julia Gillard, Prime 
Minister of Australia, accompanied by the committee of escort, retired 
from the Hall of the House of Representatives.
  The Deputy Sergeant at Arms escorted the Acting Dean of the 
Diplomatic Corps from the Chamber.

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