Selected Speeches and Messages
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The Queen’s Club Annual Country Week Welcome Dinner
Monday, 31 August 2020
I am delighted to join you here this evening, on Gadigal land, celebrating the commencement of The Queen’s Club’s annual ‘Country Week’. I pay respect to the Gadigal of the Eora Nation and their Elders past, present and emerging. Walter Bagehot’s...
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Polish State Awards Ceremony
Thursday, 27 August 2020
Dobry wieczor Good evening, Thank you, Your Excellency, and Consul General for this unique invitation where four Australians are to be honoured by the Government of Poland. I seek your indulgence for just a couple of minutes to talk about the long...
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Vietnam Veterans' Day Commemorative Address
Tuesday, 18 August 2020
I, too, pay my respects to the Gadigal of the Eora Nation and Elders and servicemen and women, past and present. The day chosen to commemorate Vietnam Veterans’ Day is the anniversary of the Battle of Long Tan, fought 54 years...
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75th Anniversary Victory in the Pacific Commemoration Service
Saturday, 15 August 2020
I, too, pay my respects to the Gadigal of the Eora Nation and Elders and servicemen and women, past and present. Two radio announcements made to the entire nation by the respective Prime Minister of the day could not have been...
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Commemoration Service for the 104th Anniversary of the Battle of Fromelles
Monday, 20 July 2020
When John Donne wrote ‘for whom this bell tolls’ in his Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, Meditation XVII[1][#_ftn1]he did not have in contemplation the rawness of the first global conflict in history, World War One. Nor, I suspect, could Andrew Fisher –...
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NSW Humanitarian Awards
Saturday, 20 June 2020
A humane society not only looks after others, it acknowledges those who strive to make lives better. I welcome you to the 12th annual NSW Humanitarian Awards Ceremony. In Refugee Week, with this year’s theme ‘Year of Welcome’, it is poignant...
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Queen's Birthday Message
Saturday, 6 June 2020
Sixty-six years ago, Her Majesty sat here on the Arcade at Government House, with Prince Philip, my predecessor Governor Northcott, and his daughter Elizabeth, who was deputising for her mother who, sadly, had been ill for some time. It was...
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National Sorry Day and Reconciliation Week Message 2020
Tuesday, 26 May 2020
Today is the 22nd Anniversary of National Sorry Day, which followed one year after the tabling of the landmark ‘Bringing Them Home’ report in the Parliament of Australia. On this day, a day of remembrance of the Stolen Generations, we remember...
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Eid ul-Fitr Message 2020
Friday, 22 May 2020
Assalamu Alaykum As we approach Eid ul-Fitr and the end of the holy month of Ramadan, I extend my best wishes to all members of the New South Wales Muslim community. This year’s observance of Ramadan has been a very different experience...
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Welcome Remarks for the Inaugural Ideas@theHouse
Thursday, 21 May 2020
Welcome to Government House. It is a pleasure to welcome you, as Patron, to this Royal Society of New South Wales ‘webinar’. Indeed, it seems entirely appropriate as we explore our topic today with ‘zoom’ technology that the subject of this...