[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 47 (Monday, November 25, 1996)]
[Pages 2413-2414]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Luncheon at Parliament House in Canberra

November 20, 1996

    Thank you very much. Prime Minister and Mrs. Howard, Mr. Speaker and 
Mrs. Halverson, Madame President, Mr. Reid, Mr. Beazley, Ms. Annus, 
Ambassador McCarthy: Let me say that Hillary and I and all of us in our 
delegation have very much looked forward to coming here. So far, our 
experiences have even exceeded our hopes. We have loved every minute of 
it. I loved the crowds welcoming us in last night. I think I like Mr. 
Beazley reminding me that I'm the first Southern Democrat since 
Appomattox to be elected twice. But I'll have to wait until I get home 
to see how that plays at home. [Laughter]
    We're grateful to be here in Canberra, where there is clearly a 
touch of America in the planning of Walter Burley Griffin, who came from 
Hillary's home State of Illinois. We feel very much that we are at home 
and among friends.
    This morning I had a good meeting with the Prime Minister. I was 
honored to meet your Cabinet. I was honored to reaffirm our remarkable 
security relationship, to review our common efforts to reduce the danger 
of weapons of mass destruction, an effort in which Australian leadership 
has been so vital.
    We're working to provide peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific 
region together. And together we're going to make a big difference in 
building the prosperity of tomorrow, increasing the ties of trade and 
investment not only between our two nations but throughout the area.
    The scope and depth of our cooperation for a long time now is truly 
extraordinary but not surprising. It is the hallmark of a relationship 
between two democracies that has grown through struggles of five wars 
and a whole century's hard labors of peace. Half a world of oceans 
separates us, but the currents of friendship and commerce and culture 
flow constantly between our shores, and they are more binding than the 
land bridges that connected the continents eons ago.
    We have always looked to Australia with great hope, with great 
trust, with great admiration. We see those expectations from what may be 
the very first official United States act dealing with Australia. In 
1779, Benjamin Franklin issued an unusual passport for Captain Cook who 
was then returning from one of his explorations here in the South 
Pacific. That was, of course, during our War of Independence. And 
Franklin sent special orders to the commanders of all American ships not 
to attack the ships of the British captain but to treat him and his crew 
with all civility and kindness. He wrote that Cook's explorations would 
facilitate communication between distant nations to the benefit of 
mankind in general.
    Franklin was a prophet. From our common struggle in five wars to the 
trade we have created to our shared efforts to reduce the nuclear 
threat, the bonds between our distant nations have indeed been an 
immense benefit not only to ourselves but to mankind in general. The 
United States is profoundly grateful for this relationship, for the 
affection and the warmth that has grown between our citizens.
    For many reasons our ties have grown. One of the most important is 
that we see in each other qualities that we prize and hope for in 
ourselves. We admire in each other the pioneering spirit that our 
forebears brought to the tasks of pushing back the frontiers and 
building nations.
    As we move into a new century, we face new and very different 
frontiers. We are called upon not to homestead in the wilderness but to 
build for the security and the prosperity of a new era, to deal with the 
challenges of this new explosion in the global

[[Page 2414]]

economy and information technology and the diversity within all of our 
own societies. But we still need that frontier spirit. We still need to 
believe that with courage and vision and daring and a firm adherence to 
our shared and unshakable values, we can make the future better than the 
present and leave a world worthy of our children and our heritage.
    I want all of you to know how very much we Americans like and admire 
and value Australia and her people. We want the 21st century to be a 
large partnership between ourselves for the betterment of all of 
humankind. I believe that we are entering the era of greatest 
possibility in human history. I believe there will be more people able 
to live out their dreams than any time in all of human existence if the 
values, the record, the partnership we have established can chart the 
way to the future we long to build. And I promise you that we in the 
United States will do our best to be worthy of our friendship and that 
kind of future.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 1:25 p.m. in the Great Hall. In his 
remarks, he referred to Prime Minister Howard's wife, Janette; Speaker 
of the House Bob Halverson and his wife, Maggie; President of the Senate 
Margaret Reid and her husband, Thomas; Opposition Leader Kim Beazley and 
his wife, Suzie Annus; and Ambassador to the United States John 
McCarthy. A tape was not available for verification of the content of 
these remarks.