Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to extend my condolences to the family of former Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and to his party, his parliament and the people of Japan. I congratulate the member for Sturt on such a fine condolence speech.

Former Prime Minister Abe was a great friend to the people of Australia and a true statesman of Japan and of democracy in our region. Over nearly nine years as Prime Minister and nearly three decades as a member of Parliament, Abe Shinzo was single-minded in his pursuit of a stronger Japan, a more connected Indo-Pacific and a more peaceful world. Under his leadership, the friendship between Japan and Australia flourished, coinciding with the birth of the Quad alliance and the governments of John Howard, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott, Malcolm Turnbull and Scott Morrison.

In fact, in 2014, he became the first Japanese Prime Minister to address the Australian parliament, using the occasion to highlight our shared values as two parliamentary democracies and constitutional monarchies, which extend beyond the fences between political parties. That speech that he gave to the Australian parliament really demonstrated the way—a long way—that our relationships have developed since the Second World War. It reminded me of my grandfather who had served in the Royal Australian Navy. He had very strong views, as many people of his generation did, towards the Japanese. I remember, as a young child, we'd sold the family Ford Fairlane and bought a Honda Accord, and I don't think my grandfather talked to my dad for a week afterwards, because he was so angry that we'd swapped from an Australian car to a Japanese car. I guess that was the culture of—I'm sure, being of a similar vintage—our grandparents, who had endured those war years. But fast-forward many decades, and our relationship between Australia and Japan is now, of course, on an extremely solid footing.

During his leadership, former Prime Minister Abe steered the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement, launched by John Howard and concluded by Malcolm Turnbull. Sixty-five years after former Prime Minister Abe's grandfather concluded the Japan-Australia agreement on commerce with Robert Menzies, Japan remains Australia's third-largest trading partner, second-largest export market and second-largest source of foreign direct investment. This economic relationship, as well as our strong academic, sporting and cultural exchange, is testament to a deep and mature partnership which stands Australians and their businesses in good stead.

Prime Minister Abe was also instrumental in realising the Trans-Pacific Partnership in the wake of growing populism on the Left and the Right and in the face of protectionism. His approach to economic leadership in Japan and the global economy was so remarkable that Abenomics has joined Thatcherism and Reaganomics as a well-known political eponym. His three so-called arrows of monetary easing, fiscal stimulus and structural reforms—reflation, spending and growth—have widely been lauded as a stroke of economic genius in the face of global and domestic financial pressures. Prime Minister Abe believed: 'A robust economy is a source of national strength for Japan.' And a stronger Japan is very good news for democracies in the Indo-Pacific.

Former Prime Minister Abe joined the coalition in developing a more comprehensive strategic security partnership in complement to the work of the Quad alliance—cooperating on shared challenges, such as cybersecurity and emerging tech, terrorism and the threat of extremism, COVID-19 and regional health security, and conflict in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. He began to change the way Japan and its Self-Defense Forces engaged in collective security overseas and, in so doing, made clear that Japan would back her allies.

He didn't shy away from the mounting global pressures which threatened his pursuit of a free and open Indo-Pacific. He contended with an increasingly more belligerent China intent on impinging on Japanese territorial sovereignty. Former Prime Minister Abe called out the CCP's—the Chinese Communist Party's—aggression, their deathtrap diplomacy and their record on human rights when many others would not. He defended the rights of Tibetans and Hongkongers to self-determination, he grappled with a malicious dictator in North Korea, he resumed relations with Russia after centuries of conflict in the pursuit of a lasting peace, and he acknowledged the role of Japan as an economic power to assert its moral power as well in responding to regional health concerns like Ebola and COVID-19. Prime Minister Abe demonstrated that he was prepared to take up the fight to those who would threaten peace and stability in the region and Japan's territorial sovereignty. He also showed that, through strong economic leadership and a single-minded devotion to do what is right, a leader can transform a nation in the wake of all kinds of trials. Conviction like this is rare in politics in the modern era. But that conviction cost him his job in 2007, in a period of what Japan endured as a revolving door of politics. .And it means that he saw off his fair share of political, economic and, indeed, health challenges.

There's a famous Japanese proverb, nana korobi, ya oki, which means 'fall down seven times, get up eight'. Prime Minister Abe put it this way: 'Our predecessors overcame many troubles and much suffering, but each time got back up stronger than before.' Prime Minister Abe's story is one of conviction over convenience, of integrity over expedience and of resilience in the wake of grave and near insurmountable challenges. He was a thoroughly modern conservative leader who broke through the vested interests and norms that had such deep roots in his party and his country. In his own words, Prime Minister Abe was a patriot. He didn't back down when totalitarian dictators and idealogues challenged him one way or the other. He was a true conviction politician and a true friend and ally of the Australian people. May he rest in peace.

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