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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS OMITTED
Thank you very much, Mr President and the Government of Singapore, for your warm and generous welcome to us.
It is a great privilege and honour to be here at this historic moment: celebrating the 60th anniversary of Singapore’s independence.
We deeply appreciate the significance of you hosting us at such an auspicious time for your nation. To be welcomed to Singapore during your anniversary week is very special.
Australia was among the first to recognise your nation in 1965, so we also celebrate 60 years of friendship, respect, and cooperation between Australia and Singapore this week.
I feel compelled to mention that, like Singapore, I am turning 60 this year, too! So in the year of the woodsnake, I share with you a sense of great positivity and optimism for the future.
I am delighted to come to Singapore on this state visit for the first time as Australia’s Governor-General – however, I have been a regular visitor over many years – often to engage with your leading companies that have supported and invested in Australia.
My visit continues the tradition of Australian Governors-General and other leaders coming here in friendship, and welcoming Singapore’s leaders to Australia in return.
So, Mr President I very much look forward to welcoming you to Australia soon.
We have had a magnificent opening to this visit, to attend the World Aquatics Championship Finals last night at the remarkable Singapore Sports Hub.
Today, I had the great pleasure and privilege of meeting with both President Tharman and Prime Minister Wong. I valued our conversations very much.
Our meetings followed a memorable visit this morning to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, which has flourished here since 1859.
And in a year of anniversaries, it is important to note the 10th anniversary of the garden’s listing as a UNESCO World Heritage Site and 30th of the National Orchid Garden.
In the National Orchid Garden, I was given the honour of having a new orchid species named for me “Aranda Sam Mostyn.”
I understand this is known as ‘orchid diplomacy.’
At Government House in Canberra, we have what we call ‘kangaroo diplomacy.’
It is always a joy to take visiting dignitaries on a tour of the extensive grounds of Government House, in Yarralumla, and show them our mob of kangaroos – who are usually happy to oblige with interest in our guests.
Many things bind us – from our beautiful and iconic gifts of nature to so much more.
Singapore is our largest trading partner in South East Asia – indeed you are one of our largest economic partners globally with some of our most significant sources of foreign investment.
We work together in regional forums like ASEAN and the East Asia Summit, and our prime ministers meet every year. In fact, it was only in May that Prime Minister Albanese came to Singapore to meet Prime Minister Wong after the respective elections of May 3.
In addition to our 60th anniversary, we mark the 10th anniversary this year of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership – an agreement that covers all aspects of our relationship: from trade and travel, to arts, education and culture, to defence, science, innovation and sustainability.
Later this year the CSP will be renewed and enhanced as our two nations face the challenges of the decade ahead.
There are so many critical facets to this relationship, but I want to mention a few in particular.
We have more than 61,000 people living in Australia who were born in Singapore, as well as the many people born in Australia who have Singaporean ancestry.
Thousands of Singaporean students pursue their studies in Australia each year, and, since 2014, thousands of Australian students have studied or interned in Singapore through the New Colombo Plan.
Today Professor Tan hosted us at A*Star Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Centre, along with the local leaders of Australian universities based in Singapore: James Cook, Newcastle, Curtin and Murdoch.
Our Green Economy Agreement, signed in 2022, was the first of its kind. It is helping us trade environmental goods and services, and to develop sustainable agriculture, green shipping, cross-border electricity trade, and eco labelling.
Together we stand at the cutting edge of AI, cyber security, and green technologies. One of Australia’s five start-up ‘landing pads’ is here in Singapore, where entrepreneurs are working on everything from fintech to health care.
Culture matters deeply to us both – we have national as well as institutional Memoranda of Understanding on arts and culture. Our museums, galleries, libraries, and orchestras work together and exchange artists, artefacts, and ideas. In fact, I was delighted to recently visit Tails form the Coast – on loan from the Singapore National Museum to the Australian Museum in Sydney and Botanic Gardens in Adelaide. An enchanting exhibition of fine drawings from the Farquar collection of the indigenous fauna of the Malay Peninsula and Singapore.
Earlier this year, Singapore Symphony Orchestra made its Australian debut, featuring 17-year-old violinist Chloe Chua, and Australian-born cellist Ng Pei-Sian.
They played Romantic masterpieces, in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane, and the tour was an absolute sensation. It was a privilege for Australians to witness one of the world’s finest orchestras. This followed last years’ momentous joint MSO-SSOG Concert at the Esplanade in Singapore.
The hard-edged work of defence and security is another vital aspect of our deep historical relationship. This relationship predates our 60 years of partnership. As both the President and Prime Minister reflected upon today in our meetings – Singapore deeply remembers the contribution and sacrifice of Australia service personnel during WWII, many of whom were killed or captured in the defence of Singapore in 1942. It will be a solemn and profound moment to pay respects to those sacrifices when I visit Kranji War Memorial and Changi Chapel and Museum tomorrow morning.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Australian Defence Force, I deeply value our longstanding and robust defence ties with Singapore. We train together, share military intelligence, and work together to combat transnational challenges.
In more recent times, when Australia experienced catastrophic bushfires in 2019, and devastating floods in 2022, Singapore’s defence force, along with others in our region, came to our aid. Just this year, Singapore provided helicopters for flood relief in Townsville. I was reminded of the gratitude of Australians for this on a recent visit to northern Queensland.
We will never forget these acts of true friendship in our darkest days, which also included the vital shipments of COVID vaccines from Singapore during the pandemic.
I was delighted to learn that Singapore’s air force comes to Western Australia to train at the Number 2 Flying Training School at RAAF Base Pearce, where I visited last November to consecrate the new Governor-General’s Banner.
That banner is made of blue silk – representing the southern sky and the Indian Ocean. It features the Southern Cross, which we look to from Australia, and you can also see from Singapore, low on the southern horizon.
The sea, sky, and stars of our region have been part of the stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for millennia.
This was a feature of the exchange of gifts this morning, I presented President Tharman with a painting, commissioned for our shared 60th anniversary.
It is by an Aboriginal artist in Western Australia, Jessica Begg, one of the Yued Noongar people of the land on which RAAF Base Pearce stands.
Jessica’s painting also alludes to the Southern Cross, and the snakes that echo in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, and in this Year of the Woodsnake – the lunar symbol that recurs only once every 60 years.
Rich in symbolism, the artwork is painted in the vibrant pinks and purples of Singapore’s national flower, the Vanda Miss Joaquim orchid. Jessica travelled to the Botanic Gardens here to be inspired by the orchid and the colour of our 60th anniversary logo also reflects that.
The painting is called ‘Bunji’ which means ‘friend.’
In the spirit of friendship, I was moved to receive from the President a painting of a Peranakan urn on a batik background – created by Leong Sijung – a young man with an enormous talent and resilience who I was so pleased to meet.
A year ago, I committed to placing care, kindness, and respect at the heart of all that I will do as Australia’s Governor-General – on this very special visit, I have the wonderful opportunity to see a nation that also values care and kindness, and has so much to share with us.
Our friendship is 60 years old, and this visit confirms that in the years ahead, there is so much more to come.
I would now like to also propose a toast.
To His Excellency President Tharman Shanmugaratnam; to the people of Singapore; and to the enduring friendship between Australia and Singapore.