Speech to the United Nations Australia Association

Welcome, everyone, to Government House. 

This is a place of peace, of discussion, of engagement, but mostly this is a place where we would like you to feel at home. 

These great houses are the property of the Australian people. 

It is one of the great pleasures of my role as Governor-General is to welcome guests as they arrive at Government House here in Yarralumla, and at Admiralty House in Sydney. 

Both these official residences are places of welcome, where all Australians are invited to speak, listen and learn. 

And it is so important that, as we gather here, we remain alert to the freedoms we enjoy. 

We can never be complacent. 

The freedom to gather as a community, regardless of gender, faith, ethnicity or identity or ability … 

… to lift our voices as one, or to share a different perspective … 

… to listen attentively, and to disagree respectfully. 

For many of us, these freedoms are ours by the happy accident of our birth. 

For others, they are a gift of citizenship. 

For all of us, they are our responsibility to uphold and preserve. 

In the five months since my appointment as your Governor-General, these doors have been opened to groups representing so much that is mighty about our nation, including: 

  • community groups and school children 
  • Legacy widows and defence veterans 
  • defence leaders, police and emergency workers 
  • members of the Order of Australia 
  • politicians, ministers, and the diplomatic community 
  • sportspeople and artists 
  • philanthropists and volunteers 
  • orators, musicians and scientists 
  • First Nations people and recently arrived migrants and refugees 
  • and charities and organisations doing good work across the country. 

All of them engaged in the extraordinary work of care, kindness and respect that I have committed to elevate as the focus of my term as Governor-General. 

It is my privilege to recognise their work, celebrate their achievements and honour their aspirations. 

And I am always so pleased when the opportunity arises to further those relationships by acting as their patron. 

So, I am particularly delighted today, as we celebrate UN Day 2024, to confirm my acceptance of the role of National Patron of the United Nations Association of Australia. 

This is a role I will use to amplify the work of UNAA, and I look forward to growing in understanding of the association’s people and programs. 

As author, keeper and preserver of peace, the United Nations is a global forum for common problems and shared solutions. 

It is a system that upholds collective action. 

It stands in solidarity with the oppressed … 

… calls for action on issues of critical, global importance … 

… defends the rights and dignity of every person … 

… and upholds the international laws that ensure sovereign equality. 

As its voice in Australia, the UNAA plays such an important role in sharing the UN’s mission to achieve peace, dignity and equality on a healthy planet.

In 2015, I was privileged to be present in New York when the UN General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.  

Sitting with our then Foreign Minister Julie Bishop, Ambassador for Women and Girls Natasha Stott Despoja and Ambassador to the United Nations Gillian Bird, was a moment of wonder and affirmation. 

I was filled with optimism and pride that Australia was at the forefront in addressing some of our biggest global issues.  

I am proud of our progress, and I am still optimistic for the future. 

I am certain that a prosperous, inclusive, dynamic, sustainable future is achievable.  

But only through determined collaboration, collective action, effective multilateralism and, at every opportunity, personal leadership.  

And I know that, almost 10 years later, it will be leadership that determines whether we meet the commitments made then. 

This is the leadership role of UNAA. 

Your teams across Australia, and the myriad groups you convene and support – particularly in communities of young people seeking to understand and act on global issues – you keep Australians connected and informed about the UN. 

Achieving peace, justice, respect, human rights, tolerance and solidarity – the values that are enshrined in the UN charter – is a global responsibility with local imperatives. 

I am delighted that we have come together to celebrate those values and engage on the ways that our nation, and all Australians, can act in concert with our UN friends around the world to enshrine those values in the words and acts of today and tomorrow. 

Thank you.