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I am so happy to be here with you this morning.

Joining you here today, looking out at you all, brings back a special memory of almost exactly a year ago.

On 3 July last year, I had been in the role of Governor-General for a little over 48 hours.

And today, I am a little less than a week away from having been your Governor-General for a year.

As I said then, it will always be that you were the first leaders I was able to address as Governor-General.

And in that address, I made two considerable promises – one from my swearing-in speech – that my term would be characterised by an unstinting focus on care, kindness and respect.

And the second, that I would visit you, prioritise local communities, and be available to you.

As I anticipated, in my travels I have seen the qualities I committed to prioritise flourishing in the communities you represent.  

So I want to start my remarks this morning by thanking you for showing me just how deep and resonant the place of care, kindness and respect is in Australian life – in the way we interact with each other, our communities and the places in which we live, and the way that you collaborate with each other.

I first defined the scope of care in my address to you last year as care for each other, care for those who care for others, care for our extraordinary continent and its environmental beauty, care for civics and institutions and care in the way in which we discuss and debate the issues of our time without judgement or rancour.  

It has been my privilege to witness care enacted and embedded in your communities across the country.

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This last year has been filled with wonderful surprises and fascinating revelations.

Throughout it all, one thing has been constant: that local governments – your work and leadership – and the passion, commitment and deep engagement of the people who serve in them – have been my pathway to better understanding and building a relationship with Australia and Australians.  

From my first meeting with Mayor Steve Krieg and Deputy Mayor Jeri Hall of Lismore City Council in that first week, to my most recent conversation with Mayor John White of East Gippsland Council in Bairnsdale, I am grateful that you are all here today.

It gives me a chance to thank you after last year’s ALGA.

It was clear to me then that, if I asked, you would show me what I needed to see; and if I listened, you would tell me what I needed to hear.

That has been the exceptional experience for me and my team in each of the 23 regional visits I have made this year as your Governor-General.

The understanding and insights about our country only emerge at the local level, and I am so grateful to all of you that have been so generous in sharing them with me.

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As you all know, my role and the Office of the Governor-General does not have the influence of politics, policies or money.

But it does have the privilege of both a panoramic and fine grain view of Australia, and the power to communicate what I have seen and heard with the people who need to hear and see it, too.

To amplify the voices and experiences of Australians across the country, so that we can see and understand their stories as our stories – an Australian story of powerful optimism, great success, and striking modernity embedded in the people and places you represent here today.

I hope that, in reflecting, as one of my predecessors, Sir Zelman Cowan, put it, the light and shade of our society, I have helped tell those stories of care and kindness, and the power of community, in a way that is modern, respectful and balances the light and shade.  

The challenges – particularly in communities in recovery from natural disasters or navigating tough challenges – and the great opportunities.  

I particularly look for the local ingenuity and innovation that is making an impact and could have a national influence.  

As I approach the end of my first year as your Governor-General, I have been reflecting on Australia’s mighty story, and the chapter that is being written across the country now – the narrative of modern Australia, shaped by the magnificent achievements of our history, but uncoupled from the limitations – on gender, ethnicity, sexuality, age, ability, background -- of another time.

In your roles, you know your people and your places intimately.

And you and the people of your communities have been alongside me for so many of the extraordinary pinch-me moments that have shaped so much of the last year.

I felt it at the moving ceremony I attended with the Prime Minister and the Chief of the Defence Force on Christmas morning in Darwin to commemorate 50 years since Cyclone Tracy wrought devastation on that city.  

As we joined the people of Darwin, I was struck by the thread of courage, service and sacrifice that connects that terrible dawn in 1974 to the days, hours and weeks of care, kindness and respect offered so generously by first responders and volunteers in the many natural disasters that Australia has experienced in the decades since.

The visit to Australia of His Majesty King Charles and Queen Camilla in October last year was a unique and important opportunity to share and amplify the stories of Australia and Australians, this place and people they love and admire so sincerely.

And those stories were grounded in your experiences and communities, and shaped by ideas some of you had suggested.

It was such an honour to represent Australia at the wonderful Paris Paralympic Games, where I joined the Australian team in the Athletes Village and celebrated the spirit of Australia that they carried with them.

Our paralympians were magnificent ambassadors for their cities and towns, and they carried the extraordinary stories of their local communities who had stood by them to get them to Paris.  

And, of course, most recently, I represented Australia at the Anzac Day commemorations at Gallipoli, at the funeral for Pope Francis in Rome, and at meetings with the heads of state of Turkey, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Just as important, though, are the simple, daily local experiences that surprised and enlightened me, and challenged me to reconsider what I thought I understood and look at our country anew.

Like the moment at a civic reception in Lismore, when, having toured the flood-affected parts of the region, the community gently asked me to use the word ‘recovering’ to describe their situation, instead of ‘resilient’.

They wanted me to know that while they were resilient, that didn’t mean the work of recovery had stopped, or that people like me shouldn’t keep paying attention.

In fact, I now know, recovery will continue long after the destructive physical effects of disaster are alleviated.

The recovery of the economic, social, physical, and mental wellbeing of people and communities must remain our focus.

Then, in Taree after the mid-North Coast floods in May, I spent time with Mayor Claire Pontin of Midcoast Council, and heard about the MidCoast Community Flood Response, a new and innovative partnership between MCFR and NSW SES to coordinate a safe and organised clean-up response. I was so impressed by the sheer numbers of people volunteering to serve their community, and the goodwill and collaborative efforts between an established organisation and a group of inexperienced but committed volunteers

In Lismore and Taree, and in conversations with mayors across south Queensland and northern New South Wales who were preparing for the impact of Tropical Cyclone Alfred – another series of revelations  – I recognised something the Foundation for Rural and Regional Renewal, of which I am Patron, has been saying for 25 years – rural communities need the backing of all Australians to find local solutions to local impacts of climate, environment, economic and social upheaval.  

And, just as your theme for this year’s conference so powerfully says, national priorities need local solutions that, in turn, have the potential to provide answers to national challenges.

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In my visits to your local government areas across the country, I have also been uplifted by a dedicated commitment to tell your history, showcase your creativity, honour the sacrifices of past conflicts and bring communities together and connect them with the world.

From the poignant and moving Anzac Centre in Albany and the memorial of HMAS Sydney II at Geraldton, the superb skill and beauty of the National Art Glass Collection at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery and the ambitious exhibition program of Townsville’s Perc Tucker Regional Gallery, to the Bairnsdale Library …

… in galleries, museums, public libraries, and places of commemoration, your councils are investing in those people and projects that reflect the complexity of the past, and inspire our future.

Some of your collaborations are simply breathtaking – I am proud to be the Patron of Bus Stop Films, a non-profit social enterprise that uses filmmaking and the film industry open the doors of creativity and community to people with disabilities.  

Working with local governments, like Georges River Council, the City of Launceston and the City of Darwin, Bus Stop is building local identity and supporting inclusive storytelling, employment and empowerment through filmmaking.  

I know just how powerful that work is – with Bus Stop currently filming its first feature-length film

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At your civic receptions and events in centres across the country, on the coast and in the bush, in cities and towns, I have been uplifted and moved by the warmth and energy of the people of your communities.

I felt it in the enthusiasm of the welcome I received from students attending high schools in the Gosnells region of Perth, and most recently at Bairnsdale Secondary College.

I felt it in the beauty and riches of culture, history and heritage displayed in the music and dancing of a Pongal harvest festival at Parramatta Town Hall, and in the new library there which we toured after the festival.

It has been at every citizenship ceremony I have presided over in Canberra and Sydney, most recently in Hornsby.

The emotion and devotion to their community of the first responders I joined for lunch in Townsville.

The layers of knowledge and insight in the stories shared with me as I sat over a cup of tea with the Mount Gambier community.

Just last night, we celebrated the 50th birthday of SBS.

It was truly wonderful – and clear to me that the story of SBS is a proxy for the story of Australia.  

And it links with our other half-century celebrations occurring in 2025, which are worth reflecting upon,

The end of the Vietnam War, and the beginning of 50 years of arrivals of Vietnamese refugees welcomed to new lives in a new land.

The 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Australian honours system, in which so many of the people of your communities have been represented over time.

And it is 50 years since a single day of remembrance in July has grown to be recognised as National NAIDOC Week.

In each place you have invited me to visit, I have witnessed a depth of care for each other, communities and our country.

A capacity for kindness and compassion, in times of community crisis and personal hardship.

And a respect for the values of modern, optimistic and successful Australia, where we find our power in diversity and where everyone belongs, regardless of race, ethnicity, religion, gender, language, ability, sexuality or age.

Visiting your communities, coming to know you and the people you represent with integrity and unfailing loyalty, has been the greatest gift of my first year as your Governor-General.

You have welcomed, delighted and, so often and so wonderfully, surprised me.

You have revealed, in so many different and subtle ways, the character and shape of modern Australia.

And some of you, like Mayor Teeny Brumby of Burnie City Council, have taken me right out of my comfort zone, in her case with a dawn swim in the bracing waters off the northwest coast of Tasmania in winter.

It was a striking contrast to the warmth of the ocean off Geraldton, where I swam in February.

I know that hosting me and my team, or my Vice Regal colleagues, adds to your workload, but let Mayor Brumby’s example prove that I’m up for anything – well, almost everything!

And, while I’m not inviting you to be always quite so bold, I am asking you to keep challenging me with everything your regions have to offer.

And your insights for your leadership of your communities.

I want to know how you communicate and collaborate.

I want to learn about your innovations and local solutions, how you solve problems and create sustainable opportunities at a local level ... reinvigorating towns and economies, helping people transition.

And I have a particular request.

I want to understand how you engage with our democracy and the institutions of government that are the foundation of our stability, security and prosperity, and how you teach your young people about the responsibilities and opportunities of citizenship.

Reengaging young people with civics is a challenge I want us to face as a nation.

We know that around 50 per cent of our Year 6 students have some knowledge of civics. Not great but not disastrous.

By Year 10, it has dropped to 25 per cent.  

That figure is deeply worrying.

It is a big warning sign, because it opens the gateway to the influence of mis- and disinformation across our communities.

As always, the answer to understanding, arresting and reversing this decline in civics knowledge lies at the local level.  

I have seen examples of the possibilities that emerge when young people are engaged as citizens – in Devonport City Council’s Youth Advisory Group, in the wonderfully diverse, proud and enthusiastic students at Bairnsdale Secondary College, and in the more than 25,000 students who visit me at Government House each year.

Some of you may have seen the series of social media posts and videos my team and I have shared the story of everything I do as your Governor-General, particularly during the recent federal election process, and illustrate the how, why, what and where of the Vice Regal role in our constitutional democracy.

The response has been overwhelmingly positive, and we will continue to explore ways of reimagining how we share the story of our modern democracy and encourage our citizens to play their part.

Your roles in local government demonstrate that you have already chosen to engage directly in our democracy.  

So, I am inviting you to share your ideas, solutions and opportunities to address this great challenge.

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Almost a year ago, I said to you that, where I can, I want to see you in your place, and listen carefully to all you want to teach me.

And I want to continue to share those stories with the rest of Australia, and in the places where they need to be heard.

So thank you for this return invitation to your assembly – for your leadership and your critical role in our democracy and our communities – and thank you for being such a vital, vibrant and uplifting part of my first year as your Governor-General.

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