SM Lee Hsien Loong at the Investiture Ceremony for the Honorary Companion of the Order of Australia

Your Excellency Governor-General Sam Mostyn, High Commissioner Allaster Cox, High Commissioner Anil, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, a very good afternoon.

Thank you all for this tremendous honour. I am deeply humbled to receive this award. I do so on behalf of the generations of Singaporeans and Australians who have worked hard to strengthen the partnership between our two nations over the past six decades.

I would also like to thank the Governor-General for her warm and very generous words which brought back memories of many fond interactions, exchanges and visits to Australia over very many decades.

Singapore-Australia Relations

From Singapore’s early, uncertain days as a fledgling nation, Australia has been a steadfast friend. You were among the first to recognise our independence, and in fact the first to establish diplomatic relations with us. You extended us security support through the Five Power Defence Arrangements in 1971, at a time when we needed it the most – an arrangement that continues to this day.

Over the years, the bonds have only deepened. We have refreshed and deepened our bilateral cooperation. On security, Australia has long welcomed the Singapore Armed Forces to train in your country. This year, we are celebrating the 35th anniversary of Exercise Wallaby, the SAF’s largest overseas unilateral exercise, in the Shoalwater Bay Training Area. On trade, the Singapore-Australia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) – signed in 2003 – was Australia’s first bilateral FTA with an Asian country. In new and emerging domains, we recently signed the Singapore-Australia Digital Economy Agreement and the Green Economy Agreement, paving the way for new fields of co-operation. And now we are exploring how both countries can strengthen our economic resilience in times of crisis.

In 2015, we launched the Comprehensive Strategic Partnership, which frames and focusses our efforts to strengthen partnerships across many important sectors. This year, we celebrate its 10th anniversary this year. I look forward to the next bound of the CSP, which we plan to upgrade when PM Lawrence Wong visits Australia for the 10th Annual Leaders’ Meeting later this year.

Australia’s Role in the Region

Beyond your bilateral relations with Singapore, Australia has long played an important role in the region. Australia became ASEAN’s first dialogue partner in 1974., and Australia and Singapore closely collaborated to launch the ASEAN Regional Forum. At the first annual ASEAN-Australia Summit in 2021, Singapore supported the establishment of a Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between ASEAN and Australia. I made my last visit to Australia as PM in March 2024, and that was in fact for the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of dialogue relations between ASEAN and Australia. We have also collaborated to advance regional economic integration. Our efforts began with APEC, in whose formation Australia played a pivotal role. And since then, we have launched further significant initiatives such as the CPTPP and RCEP.

Conclusion

How have we been able to achieve so much bilaterally and regionally, despite being two very different countries – in the words of former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull − “a wide brown land and a little red dot”?

It is fundamentally about our shared values, our compatible perspectives of the world, and a deep reservoir of trust built up over the years. We both believe in the importance of an open, inclusive and rules-based multilateral order. Our societies are multicultural, diverse, and pragmatic. Australian leaders from both sides of the political aisle appreciate that Australia’s future is deeply intertwined with our region’s, while Singapore has consistently sought to be a steadfast partner and pathfinder for Australia’s engagement in Southeast Asia.

Throughout my years in government, I have been privileged to work with many outstanding Australian leaders and officials. One happy consequence of a long career in politics is that you end up being grateful to many Australian counterparts and friends. They are too many to name and thank individually, but I will long remember their support and friendship, how we handled complex issues together, and the paths we found to take our countries forward. I am glad that the close personal ties between our leaders have continued under Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese and Lawrence Wong.

These deep and extensive ties did not come about by chance. They are the fruit of sustained hard work, political will, and mutual trust built through weathering tough times together. I am privileged to have played a modest part in strengthening this relationship. I am confident that Singapore and Australia’s friendship will continue to blossom and grow.

And may I add, this is not just a friendship between governments and officials, but also between the peoples of our two countries. The Governor-General visited Sembawang this morning and met some servicemen there. Sembawang is one of our Group Representation Constituencies in Singapore. It is divided into five pieces, and the piece which you visited used to be called Canberra because it was the British naval base and there was a gate to the naval base which was called Canberra Gate. But with the increase of the population, Canberra had to be split. So, it is now two divisions instead of one, one of which needed a new name. And the new name, we called Naval Base. The old name − for the other half − is Canberra. It so happened that I met the MP for this area, this afternoon for lunch. I asked him how do the residents like this. He said, “Well, the old folks like Naval Base because they remember the times the British were there. The young people, they like Canberra. They don’t remember the history, but Canberra is in Australia and that is a good place. So, there is a lot of goodwill, and I think it bodes well for our relationship.

Sixty years is a significant milestone. In Chinese culture, it is one complete cycle of the Chinese calendar. It is so in relationships between countries, and it is also significant in a person’s life. So, I wish the Governor-General a very happy 60th birthday to come. And I wish our relations between Singapore and Australia many more happy years, and at least one more 60-year cycle of depth and understanding ahead.

Let me express once again, on behalf of the people of Singapore, my heartfelt gratitude to the Government and people of Australia, and particularly to the Governor-General, for this distinct honour.

Thank you very much.

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