Speech delivered on Monday 25 May 2026 at Government House

It really is wonderful to welcome you here. I acknowledge that we are gathered here on the lands of the Ngunnawal people and pay our respects to elders past and present. We take that acknowledgement very seriously, and we also acknowledge all Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander people in the room today and particularly given the focus that the Trust now has on First Nations scholars and Trust family Fellows. It's important that you all know that this is an important part of our welcome and acknowledgements for everything we do here at Government House.

And later this week, I will be hosting the Governor-General of New Zealand in our state visit. She is, of course, the first Māori to serve in the role of the Governor-General of her country, and it will be incredible sharing First Nations protocols as part of her time in here. So, she'll be here in a couple of days.

I want to acknowledge a number of people to today: Richard Rollins, board chair of the Churchill Trust; Christine Dacey, your CEO; David Beckett, former board chair and life member, such an important part of the history and the future of the Winston Churchill Trust. I want to acknowledge and thank all of the Trust staff and sponsors, the very hardworking team, who provide a lot of support, and acknowledge all of you.

But today, the most important people here are, of course, the Churchill Fellows themselves, and your families, friends, and colleagues who you've brought with you to celebrate this wonderful moment of acknowledging your great achievement. You are so, so welcome here. You are our most treasured guests, and here at Government House, we like to think this is a place of peace and belonging, where everybody is welcome, and where we can hope to find something about yourselves or of your story in the house.

Everyone belongs in this house, and we all do hope that you find something of your story reflected in the house, if not now, over time. We work very hard to make sure that the art and artefacts that you'll see, if you walk around the house, tell a deep story from 65,000 years of First Nations history through the colonial time with the arrival of our extraordinary principles and institution of democracy, and then the last decades or more of the most extraordinary arrival of migrants and refugees to this country, in total over 9 million arrivals, with people who now call Australia home.

We are very successful in the way in which we have built this nation, a successful nation. Now, as patron, very proud patron of the Churchill Trust, I'm delighted once again to continue what has been a very long tradition of Governors-General hosting these ceremonies, presenting these medallions to the Fellows who have returned home from your travels and finished, or very nearly finished in some cases, your projects. It is something I was honoured to do in 2025, and I'm delighted to be here again this year for the presentations this afternoon. The nine people we celebrate today: you are also continuing a very long tradition, just like the almost 5,000 Australians who have gone before you. You represent a brilliant, diverse cross-section of our community and a wide range of research interests. And before I speak more about you, I want to commend the Trust itself for the brand-new strategic plan that takes us to 2030. It is remarkable—your purpose has moved to the modernity that is reflected in the Fellows.

You invest in people from all walks of life who translate travel, learning, and experiences into lasting benefits for Australian communities. That is an extraordinary purpose, and it says so much about where the Churchill Fellowships have come, and so much about what we're going to celebrate today. So, congratulations on your brand-new strategic plan, hot off the press. I'm so delighted to be able to see it before today's ceremony.

Today's medallion recipients are a truly extraordinary group. You're among the 10% of applicants who were selected with Fellowships in the year that you applied, so you were already extraordinary and successful applicants. Now we're here to celebrate the ideas and the expertise that your projects have discovered and continue to discover.

And I'm really deeply impressed by the breadth and diversity of your projects, where you travel for your observations and interviews, and to just think about and marvel at the huge impacts that your research and understanding can have for all Australians and the world long into the future. And it's remarkable to learn something also that is self-evident in the Churchill work—that is, the synergies and parallels that emerge in the convergence of the ideas, the ambitions, and the conclusions across all your work.

The principles of equity and fairness that drive Evan's focus on innovative virtual learning opportunities are reflected in Ava's pioneering recommendations to address the inaccessibility of mental care for people suffering chronic mental illness. They’re also profoundly important in Cara's groundbreaking global research into the role of First Nations art in reflecting national identities and increasing representation. It was a privilege earlier today, Cara—we spent some time together in a different context this morning in your role as a curator at the Museum of Australian Democracy, where we're discussing how the centenary of the Parliament will be respectfully and inclusively celebrated next year—100 years since 1927—to be done through the lens of those who were not included at the time.

And just on that, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Fellows’ projects do highlight the vision of your people to shape a stronger and more inclusive Australia. But back to the Fellows. Innovation and best practice are at the heart of Matthew and David's ambition to draw on world‑class standards and developments in critical care and commercial manufacturing. They inspire belief, refer to the best possible access for low-vision drivers seeking to enhance practitioner education, and her expert roles of care have inspired Dutton's research on closing the gap and improving care, diagnosis, and mental health for patients with ADHD, and Nina’s work on trauma‑sensitive practices in health education.

These are also fuelled by the same values and theories that drive you all. The leader's investigation into the declining trust in democracy—very important in this house for all of us—is a vital disruptor of the flow of misinformation that proliferates in the public discourse, and we see that every day now. It is a subject that I personally take very seriously as Governor-General.

We work hard with our part of addressing the issue of the decline in civics and public discourse by making everything public. We've put all of our processes, everything we do in the Office of the Governor‑General, online, and I speak about it endlessly. We're very proud of the role of the Governor‑General in such a strong, successful democratic set of institutions, and we know that our democracy is strong and not under threat. So, my office works with others looking at exactly that.

So, it's evident that individually and working within your fields of expertise, you're already making a significant difference across a really broad and diverse range of issues. As you just touched on, from medical research to trusting democracy, life‑changing technologies, managing mental health and wellbeing, First Nations cultural curation, and so much more.

Thank you all for your belief in yourselves, predominantly, and your projects over the years since you first took your Fellowships which bring us here today. And above all, congratulations on reaching this important milestone. I do say milestone rather than finish line, because I know that your work and your contribution will continue for many years to come—really only just begun. We're just marking this moment in time; there's so much more to come, and you join an alumni of Fellows who continue to change the world for the better wherever they share their wisdom and understanding, and I find them wherever I go.

Right at the gatherings that I attend, I often meet someone who is a Churchill Fellow at some point in the history of the Fellowships. I mentioned the Governor‑General of New Zealand, Cindy Kiro, and she's joined by her husband, Dr Davies, and in 2018 he was awarded a Churchill Fellowship in New Zealand to travel to the UK to observe general practice clinics for homeless people and run law groups to inform the delivery of those services in New Zealand, which he has done ever since as a GP.

So many Fellows do so many remarkable things here in Australia. We know some of them—Churchill Fellows were behind Crime Stoppers, Neighbourhood Watch, and supermarket unit pricing. Professor Michael Gore, 1983, was a Fellow, and you probably know that he founded Questacon, one of the most extraordinary scientific exploration places and institutions for our young people. Many of them come from all over the country and have experienced Questacon, but he was also a Churchill Fellow.

There are so many more I could mention, so many more innovations and life‑changing ideas that are yet to come and yet to be shared with us in the work ahead.

It is important for me now to say thank you to your families, your supporters, your colleagues, those you brought in with you today, and those that are back home or somewhere around the world that were part of your journey. I know none of you have done this alone, so I hope you do enjoy this moment together as a group, but with the people who helped you most and who love you dearly.

Now, after we finish proceedings this afternoon, you're very welcome to spend time exploring all of the ground floor of the house, going into all the rooms to explore everything. And I'd love you to admire a piece that's particularly relevant to the topic today: the Yarralumla cabinet, crafted by Churchill Fellow Geoffrey Hannah. Now I know Geoff is currently at work restoring another one of his cabinets—we have a glorious one here—but one of his cabinets, which was his Churchill project in 1980, was badly damaged by floods, and he's been drying it out ever since. I hope he brings it back to a splendid original state. But when you see our cabinet, you'll know the brilliance of his remarkable craft that he continues to sustain. We are so honoured to have it here as a gift of the Australian Government.

So, all I need to say now is congratulations. Thank you for caring so deeply about our future, taking on the challenges that we need to have solved, that we didn't know we had, that you've discovered, and you’ve devoted so much energy and passion to solving. It's a great honour having you in the house today. Congratulations, and welcome.