Thank you, Mr Speaker.
I commend Prime Minister Albanese for his warm welcome for our guest of honour and his wife Diane.
Mr Speaker, I have a confession:
I knew our guest of honour long before he became the Prime Minister of Canada.
It was 1991.
The Berlin Wall had fallen.
The Cold War was all but over.
In that atmosphere, two young – somewhat idealistic students – met in an economics postgraduate course at Oxford.
The bond was immediate.
Both from provincial backgrounds – Alberta, famous for its cattle; southern New South Wales, famous for its sheep.
Both from families who cherished the value of education.
Both quietly cynical about the pompous Poms and the boisterous Yanks sauntering around Oxford.
And despite our different politics today, we both shared a healthy distaste for Soviet sympathisers.
There we were: a Canadian and an Australian sitting next to each other in class.
You, sporting black eyes from ice hockey.
Me, sporting bruises and cuts from rugby.
But Mark’s thesis was of great interest to the professors.
Whereas I wrote mine on the price of beer – a far greater interest to our student friends.
Back then, I don’t think either of us imagined a life like this in politics.
One of life’s great joys is seeing old friends do well.
So it gives me immense joy to see Canada led by an old friend – a man of the highest calibre, utterly devoted to his country.
Prime Minister Carney:
With your presence here today, we celebrate a remarkable bilateral relationship.
And while our eyes are on the horizon, we also take this moment to look behind us.
Our democracies are the gift of our British inheritance.
It was the pragmatic, enlightened, and accommodating nature of British stewardship that nurtured within our colonies self-identity, self-government, and ultimately, sovereign nationhood.
With your presence here today, we acknowledge Canada and Australia’s mutual inheritance – and two great constitutional monarchies.
Australia was fortunate to look to the example of Canadian Confederation as we forged our own federation.
Our federation debates were robust.
One of our founding fathers said:
“… we shall find the Canadian Constitution is about the best basis that we can select.”
Another founding father had a very different view, saying:
“… in no regard can we look upon the example of Canada as one to be imitated.”
But whether Australia’s founding fathers praised or criticised the Canadian model, they learned from Canada – and yearned for what Canadians had achieved.
Prime Minister Carney:
With your presence here today, we say with gratitude that Canada helped shape the Australian nation.
We are two great democracies that have successfully woven together the Indigenous, colonial, and migrant threads of our societies.
Over the course of 125 years, our two nations have known a steadfast, stable, and mutually supportive partnership.
In peacetime and wartime – in good times and in tough times, as we’ve just heard – our two peoples have known a deep and abiding friendship.
Our partnership and friendship are testimony to many achievements over many generations.
In trade – and in business.
In sharing intelligence – and sharing industriousness.
In fighting our enemies – and fighting bushfires.
Since you’ve become Prime Minister of Canada, I’ve admired many of the decisions you’ve taken that are grounded in economic realism:
Removing the consumer carbon tax.
Getting immigration under control and ensuring it’s conducive to social cohesion.
And a deregulation agenda that supports business and industry.
Your speech in Switzerland in January was a much-needed wake-up call for middle powers of the West.
Prime Minister Carney said, we’re at a “turning point.”
We must indeed “stop invoking ‘rules-based international order’ as though it still functions as advertised.”
I’d go further.
The “rules-based international order” has been exposed as wishful thinking of a bygone and benign era.
Especially in these times where autocratic regimes act with impunity.
And I wholeheartedly agree with you:
In this brave new world, middle powers cannot simply build higher walls and retreat behind them.
We must work together. We must act together. Closer than ever.
On defence.
On secure supply chains and sovereign capabilities.
On maintaining free trade.
As you said, the “strength of our values” matter – and the “value of our strength” matters.
It’s that moral clarity that must guide us, and protect our way of life.
Prime Minister Carney:
On behalf of the Coalition and Federal Opposition, it’s a privilege and a pleasure to welcome you to the Australian Parliament.
And from one old friend to another – it’s great to see you mate.