As delivered.

Good afternoon.  

• Mr Ito Yoshitaka, Minister for the World Expo 2025    
• Distinguished guests, and friends of Australia  

Today I have been wearing green and gold for Australia, this afternoon I wear red and white for Japan.

As representatives of Australia, Simeon and I are so pleased to be here in Osaka, to celebrate Australia’s National Day at Expo and to witness the scale, ambition and spirit of Expo 2025.  

It is wonderful to be among the close to one million Australians who visit Japan each year.  

And to celebrate the very close and enduring relationship between Australia and Japan, expressed in our Special Strategic Partnership – Australia’s only partnership of this kind.  

Our relationship is broad and deep, spanning defence and strategy, trade and travel, culture and education.  

Together, we have a busy and ambitious agenda in pursuit of our shared prosperity.

On official visits to countries around the world, I so often speak of the importance of the bonds of family and friendship between people.  

In the case of Australia and Japan, the experience of my own family speaks so warmly of the importance of these connections.  

Together with our daughter, Lotte, Simeon and I have been frequent visitors to Japan.  

For Simeon, his enduring friendship with Japan began during his year as an exchange student in Western Tokyo in the 1980s, and he has studied Japanese ever since.  

He and many in his generation were part of that early flow of students between our countries – their immersion in the lives of their host communities, were pathways for Australia and Japan to come to know each other as friends.  

Over the decades, we have come to know Japan as a place of beauty and generosity, contrasts and synergies – a modern country of deep history, a place of stunning natural beauty and dynamic urbanism, of speed and silence, of innovation and tradition. And always of welcome.  

This essence of Japan is so evident at Expo 2025 Osaka Kansai – an exhilarating experience of ideas and potential – of partnerships formed and connections made.  

On behalf of Australia, I am proud to accept Expo’s invitation to walk boldly into the future alongside the nations of the world.  

And together with all your friends in Australia, I am delighted to celebrate Expo as a testament to Japan’s generous and insightful leadership on the global stage.  

As Australia’s national flag was raised earlier, I reflected on this day, a long time ago, in 1901, when our flag was flown for the first time.  

Then it was a symbol of our new-found national unity and optimism.  

Now it flies in this century alongside the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags as a symbol of the braided strength of our national story.  

Beginning with 65,000 years of First Nations culture; continuing with the enduring strength of our institutions of democracy and civil society; and expressed in our chapter of remarkable multiculturalism, welcoming 7 million migrants and almost 1 million refugees – our flag represents Australia’s modernity and success.  

And, as it flies here alongside the Japanese flag, it is a symbol of our shared humanity which, 80 years after the Second World War, has brought our countries and our people together in harmony and in peace.  

Japan is one of Australia’s closest and most trusted friends.  

When asked, Australians rate Japan as the most trusted country, and we are home to the second largest diaspora of Japanese people in the world.

With more than 100 sister-city and sister-state partnerships between us, and thousands of students, visitors, and workers travelling between our two countries each year.  

Cultural exchanges – from Japanese cherry blossom festivals in Western Sydney to Australian surf culture in Okinawa – show just how much we enjoy sharing our way of life.  

In a world of increasing uncertainty, evolving challenges and rapid change, we work together to shape a better future for our people and our planet.  

In the spirit of Expo 2025’s theme ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’, we imagine what is possible through shared values, mutual respect and the ties that bind us as people – students, entrepreneurs, scholars or artists – participating in a dialogue of exchange and generous sharing that inspires hope and action, grounded in principles of sustainability and care.

The striking architecture, design and programs of the Australia Pavilion have been carefully considered to take up that challenge by inviting visitors to reflect on the ancient knowledge of First Nations people in caring for country as a guide to build a fairer, more sustainable future.  

Celebrating Australia’s National Day here at Expo is an opportunity to express our gratitude to the people of Osaka Kansai, who have shared such abundant hospitality with so many visitors, and to come together once again to feel the joy of friendship between Australia and Japan – which will grow ever deeper and stronger in the years ahead.  

It is a privilege to be here with you. Thank you for your generous and warm hosting of us at this extraordinary event.