Speech, General Sir John Monash Foundation Scholarship Reception
There are so many important things about the Sir John Monash Foundation – whether through the philanthropy, government, institutional and university support, the alumni, who have contributed to society for more than two decades.
This has assured that the Foundation has grown in size and reputation.
Everyone associated with Foundation represents the very best of care in this country.
And you don’t just care.
You are also always practical, pragmatic.
You invest in the brilliance of today and you endow a legacy for the future.
As Patron-in-Chief of the General Sir John Monash Foundation, it is a great pleasure to welcome you to Government House.
As a faithful Jew and the son of migrants, as a proud citizen and a brave soldier, as a farsighted leader and a generous and compassionate friend to all Australians, the legacy of General Sir John Monash is a gift to our nation.
In October last year, Simeon and I travelled to Villers-Bretonneux Military Cemetery and the Sir John Monash Centre in France.
A place where many Australian visit during their pilgrimage to the Western Front.
It was a profoundly moving experience of service and sacrifice, and the meticulous research represented in the Centre’s exhibition gave us a deep sense of Monash’s stature as a wartime leader.
Later, in December, we visited Rabbi Glasman and his team at St Kilda Shule, where we were delighted to see in Monash’s desk – strategically position under a framed Collingwood guernsey, one of the Rabbi’s secular passions.
While I am not sure who Monash barracked for, it is so fitting that his desk has found its place in the heart of the Shule to which he devoted so much of his life.
Over the course of my term, I look forward to coming to know the story of Sir John Monash, the aims of the Foundation, and you, its Scholars, very well.
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Jillian, I very much like your description of the Scholars as a ‘talent bank’ for the nation.
Far from being purely transactional, this is a creative, flourishing and sustainable gift that grows year on year.
With investments in the poetry of science and the rigour of history …
… the artistry of engineering and the precision of musical composition
… the mosaic of economic modelling and the logic of philosophy …
And so much more.
Australia is fortunate in the wisdom and leadership of the General Sir John Monash Foundation in playing such a vital role in stewarding our future.
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Like Admiralty House in Sydney, Government House has long been a place of peace, where all Australians are welcome to speak, listen and learn and to celebrate.
It is an atmosphere established by the Governors-General before me, and it is one that my team and I are striving to preserve and modernise.
In the words of Dame Quentin Bryce, the first woman to be appointed Governor-General, this role is about "striking a balance between observing traditions and protocol and being thoroughly contemporary”.
That is what I hope to do in the role, and to ensure that we bring great visibility to the Office of the Governor General and the important role of civics in this country.
In Canberra and Sydney, we host a program of events, receptions, roundtables and gatherings that mirror the life of our nation.
Community groups and the diplomatic corps.
The Australian Defence Force, the public service and academia.
Philanthropy and social enterprises.
Multicultural organisations and research bodies.
Every week, these rooms are filled with the voices and stories of Australians from across the country, including 25,000 school children who come here to learn something of the role of the Governor-General in our civic life.
It brings to mind the breadth and depth of General Sir John Monash’s character, which was so admired throughout his life and commemorated in the decades since his death in 1931.
As one of my predecessors in this role, Sir Isaac Isaacs, wrote, Monash ‘consciously sought light and learning from all sources’.
So, it seems particularly fitting that this evening we welcome and celebrate the 2025 cohort of Monash Scholars, who bring the light of knowledge from such myriad sources.
Having admired your achievements and ambitions on paper, it is a great pleasure to be here with you this evening to celebrate you in person.
Individually, you represent expertise, intellect and innovation.
Together, you encompass a staggering and ambitious scope of investigation and experimentation that brings with it the promise of enormous progress.
From education policy, economics, AI, regional development, business administration, planetary health, cardiac therapies, neuroscience, quantum and technology, linguistics, social equity, public policy, sustainability and water science … it is a prodigious list of subject areas.
But that is just the high-level summary of your projects.
Bringing together layer upon layer of human knowledge, you span disciplines, build broad networks, and draw from a well of deep knowledge.
Working in concert with civics and society, as well as with local communities.
Making connections with others, finding unexpected applications and filling the gaps in our social, cultural and intellectual resources.
As scholars, you are committed to a collaborative endeavour between research and civil society that is global in scope, and will achieve powerful positive and local outcomes.
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When I became Governor-General, I undertook during my term to focus unstintingly on the uplifting power of care, kindness and respect.
Care for each other, care for those who care for others, care for our extraordinary continent and its environmental beauty and the enormous riches it has brought, care for civics and institutions, and care for the way in which we discuss and debate the issues of our time without judgement, anger or violence.
Care means being good citizens and good stewards.
It means showing up and being accountable.
That means being consistent about care.
It’s not soft or easy, but it as muscle that a country like Australia needs to exercise and exercise well.
And it includes care for the three parts of our Australian story,
… beginning with 65,000 years of Indigenous culture so generously shared with us over centuries …
… our institutions of democracy …
… and our highly successful, modern, multicultural society, where almost 8 million people have to this country as a migrant or a refugee, and where over half the population is either from somewhere else, or their parents came from somewhere else.
Care in this context is a complex lever for good in society.
And it makes a powerful and recognisable contribution to the stability and prosperity and cohesion on which we all depend, and on which our success is built.
Sir John Monash recognised education as the foundation from which the individual can enact their contribution to society.
He framed the goal of education as to,
‘befit persons for the high duties of citizenship and for roles of leadership in all fields to make Australia great.’
It is in tribute to the spirit of Monash, which is woven through the Foundation’s mission, that you are given the gift of these scholarships.
Congratulations to all of you.
I hope your global journeys of discovery are the source of great riches of knowledge and wisdom that inspire and shape your varied paths as – scholars, leaders, seekers and citizens.