Australian of the Year Awards
I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.
Friends, how special it is to come together like this on the eve of Australia Day.
As we take up our anthem’s invitation to rejoice, we take the opportunity to reflect, and to celebrate the modern nation we are so privileged to call home.
To contemplate all that our nation is – and all that it can yet become.
A nation that is not an accident, or the mere jackpot of good luck.



