Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the strong historic relationship that exists between Australia and the United States of America;

(2) acknowledges the Australia, New Zealand, United States Security Treaty, which for the past 65 years has provided for our mutual defence, anchored regional stability, and spurred economic growth;

(3) notes the many ties that bind our nations together, in areas including:

(a) intelligence and law enforcement, where information sharing and coordination are at all-time highs, which has led to the prevention of far more terrorist attacks than have occurred;

(b) security cooperation, in which Australia has made valuable contributions in the past 15 years to the United States-led campaigns against terror in Afghanistan, Iraq and across the Middle East, noting as well that the United States Force Posture Initiatives in Australia, launched in 2012, have and will continue to enhance the readiness and interoperability of our militaries;

(c) trade, with the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement in particular having expanded the flow of fair, free, and high-standard trade between our countries for 12 years;

(d) investment, recognising that the United States is Australia's largest foreign investor, and the top destination for Australian investment, with mutual investment by the United States and Australia in each other's economies having grown to nearly AUD$2 trillion; and

(e) political engagement, including the frequent exchange of politicians, officials and dignitaries between our nations, recognising in particular that over the last three years alone, the President, Vice President, and half of the President's cabinet has visited Australia, as well as more than 100 congressional delegations and prominent United States governors; and

(4) affirms that our nations' mutual and long-standing commitment to freedom, democracy and the pursuit of happiness will continue to guide and shape our relationship into the future, through both challenging and prosperous times ahead.

Australia and the United States of America share much in common. We are two of the world's oldest continuous democracies. We share the same language, cultural heritage and trace many traditions back to the little island of the United Kingdom. But we are not of the old world; we are of the new world and, like our wines, we are bold in character. The migrant story is an important part of both of our national histories. We have overcome geography and built strong civic societies from very diverse populations.

Australia and the US have grown close over 230 years, yet our early interaction was incidental. In the 19th century, US ships sailed from Boston filled with ice through the tropics to Melbourne where the remaining ice was dispatched to hotels and dining rooms as a luxury—probably in the seat of Gellibrand. The American motor car arrived here in 1908, and in the same year President Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet came alongside ports in Sydney, Melbourne and Albany. Australia for the first time witnessed America's dormant military power. Car assembly plants were set up by Ford in Geelong in the 1920s and General Motors Holden in Port Melbourne in the 1930s. This hinted at America's industrial capacity.

Sport drew us together. The first African-American, Jack Johnson of Texas USA, won the heavyweight boxing world championship here in Australia at Rushcutters Bay in 1908. World War I brought us closer still. We fought alongside US troops at the Battle of Hamel in 1918. Australia's Sir John Monash led both Australian and American soldiers to a great victory against the Germans there. Our leaders locked horns at the Paris Peace Conference in 1919. Prime Minister Billy Hughes demanded heavy reparations from Germany; President Woodrow Wilson did not agree. Hughes pushed back with:

I speak for 60,000 Australian war dead. Who do you speak for?

Wilson later spoke of him as a 'pestiferous varmint' in a way that only friends can.

It is no surprise, then, that President Trump sensed a brawler on the other end of the line when speaking with our Prime Minister last month. Our deep ties allow a frankness that we do not share with other nations, but our strong modern partnership—built on security, trade, investment—did not occur on its own. Events shape history, and the Second World War has done more than anything else to shape our relationship with the United States. It is a telling footnote of history that Canberra had no ambassador in Washington until 1940. The Battles of Coral Sea and Midway in 1942 laid the foundations for 75 years of cooperation between our two countries. The US Navy sent Japanese imperial ambitions to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, thus securing Australia's lines of trade and communication. We shifted our gaze from Britain to the US as our most important security partner, and that relationship was forged on the battlefields of the Pacific theatre and continues today. On a personal note, I am only able to give this speech because a US medic and surgeon saved my grandfather's life after he suffered a terrible gunshot wound aboard a Catalina conducting an air sea rescue mission on 31 March 1945.

ANZUS underpins our security cooperation, regional stability and our economic growth. It has done so for 65 years. We are a critical ally to the US in the Asia-Pacific region. Our military, intelligence and diplomatic support are vital to US engagement in the region. The US is Australia's largest foreign investor; US investment accounts for 23.6 per cent of total foreign investment stock in Australia. Mutual investment in both our economies has grown to nearly A$2 trillion. The Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement is at the heart of our economic independence. The Fulbright Program grows our future leaders, with Australians able to study at great US universities.

But the Australia-United States relationship goes deeper than just security, economics and cultural exchange. We are both democracies. We believe that people should elect their own governments and that those governments should be accountable to the people. We believe in the separation and diffusion of power. We believe in limited government and protecting our people's economic, political and religious freedom. In short, we share common values and a common vision of a good life. This is why we are friends and this is why our friendship with United States will endure into the future.

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