Remarks by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong at the official luncheon hosted by the Prime Minister of Australia, Julia Gillard

The Honourable Julia Gillard, Prime Minister of Australia

The Honourable Tony Abbott, Leader of the Opposition

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

1.     May I thank Prime Minister Gillard for her kind words and generous hospitality. Let me do my best to respond in the same spirit, and I shall also try my best to deliver you a tranquil speech.

2.     I am delighted to reciprocate Prime Minister Gillard’s recent visit to Singapore this year in April, and glad to be here in Australia in spring. Yours is a beautiful country, blessed by Mother Nature and the warmth of your people.

3.     Singaporeans have long appreciated your great country. Starting in the 1960s, many Singaporeans came here on scholarships under the Colombo Plan. They studied in your universities, made many Australian friends, and returned home to build a nation. Many rose to key positions in our public service. Several became ministers. And even after Singapore graduated from the Colombo Plan, many more Singaporeans have continued to come and have arrived at your shores to study, work, or live. I’m told there are some 50,000 Singaporeans in Australia, and on Tuesday, I met a few of them from the Singapore community living in Melbourne. Many of them are students. They all felt at home, amidst friendly and generous people.

4.     We share a deep reservoir of goodwill and trust built up over many years of friendship. Singaporeans will never forget that many Australian soldiers paid the ultimate sacrifice defending Singapore in World War II, and that Australia was one of the first countries to recognise Singapore when we became independent in 1965. We deeply appreciate Australia’s continuing contributions to the security of Singapore and the region, during the Malayan Emergency in the 50s and 60s, and until today under the FPDA – the Five Power Defence Arrangements. Our soldiers have served alongside yours on international security missions, in the former East Timor and Afghanistan, and our sailors in the Gulf of Aden.
    
5.     We are also grateful to Australia for so generously allowing our armed forces to train in your great country, and huge country. I was at Shoalwater Bay in Rockhampton yesterday to watch our armed forces’ annual live-firing Exercise Wallaby. The training area at Shoalwater Bay alone is 4 or 5 times the size of the whole of Singapore. Our soldiers were happy to be in Australia, and greatly appreciate the warm hospitality of the Rockhampton community, especially the local “barbies” (BBQs). I hear one Rockhampton family even hung out a banner to welcome the troops with the words “Welcome Lah!”, which is the Singapore version of “G’Day Mate!”. I am sure our servicemen in Pearce, Oakey and Tamworth feel equally at home.

6.     Beyond our robust security relationship, we cooperate well in many areas - trade, culture and education, and many more. We are inspired by your care for nature and the environment. We recently opened Gardens by the Bay – a beautiful garden in the middle of our new downtown, which is still being built. And we created in the Gardens, amidst many living plants, a cluster of man-made “Supertrees”, which are modelled after the Valley of the Giants in Western Australia. And we also have, amongst our many species and varieties of plants, one very special type which came from Australia, the Wollemi Pine which is an ancient living organism previously only known as fossils but discovered about 20 years ago in the Blue Mountains in New South Wales, and it’s been cloned and we have a few in Singapore. And we hope this will make a small contribution to your efforts to conserve this magnificent species.

7.     In Australia, Singapore sees not only a steadfast partner for bilateral relations but also a valued regional friend. We welcome your active engagement in the Asia-Pacific, particularly your dialogue partnership with ASEAN and your participation in the East Asia Summit and APEC. Indeed, it was because of Australia that APEC came into being and subsequently became a Leaders meeting, for which we have to thank two Labour Australian prime ministers, Bob Hawke and Paul Keating. We thank you for your support for the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership and Trans-Pacific Partnership, both of which are pathways to an eventual Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific. We are also very happy to support your candidature for the UN Security Council for 2013-2014, and we believe you have many contributions to make on the UN Security Council, to the security and peace in the region, and our region and the world.

8.     Even as we celebrate our shared history, I am glad that we are bringing our relations to a new level. Today we signed a Memorandum of Understanding on Combating Transnational Crime and Developing Police Cooperation, and we also welcomed the institutionalisation of the Australia-Singapore Public Service Roundtable among our permanent secretaries and the “2+2” Strategic Dialogue among our Foreign Affairs and Defence officials. These initiatives enrich our relationship and enhance the professional interactions that we value highly.

9.     Prime Minister Gillard, I have had the privilege of working with you as Prime Minister for the past two years, and we have met and interacted bilaterally and on many multilateral occasions. It has always been a privilege and a pleasure to exchange views, perspectives on the world and explore new areas for cooperating with you. We have made good progress in our bilateral relations and I think we have opened up new areas where we can work together. I look forward to continue our close cooperation to strengthen our enduring friendship and Singapore-Australia ties.