PRIME MINISTER:

We are here today to grieve and to remember. We are here, all of us, assembled with you who have lost so much.

The Governor, Mrs Hurley, the Premier, so many of our state and federal parliamentary colleagues.

All of us here, standing with you, sharing your loss.

It was an ordinary day forty years ago when the 6.09 from Mt Victoria set off for the city, picking up nearly 500 busy commuters along the way.

PRIME MINISTER:

Shinzo, I am delighted to have you here in Australia with us - visiting us here in Sydney with your wife on this most beautiful day.

We’ve had a good walk out on South Head and now we have another spectacular view here from Kirribilli House.

Our meeting has reinforced that the Japan-Australia relationship is truly a very Special Strategic Partnership.

The relationship between Australia and Japan is closer, stronger and more constructive than ever.

It’s great to be here with the Premier and my ministerial colleagues, local members, but above all with you – the men and women of Portland Aluminium.

Today, we've reached agreement between the company, the State and Federal Government. Support from you, support from your union - the State Secretary Ben Davis is here as well - to ensure that you have the financial support, the energy you need, to keep going with this great plant, the largest exporter in the state of Victoria.

Well done to all of you.

PRIME MINISTER:

Thank you Dan and thank you for your outstanding advocacy for Portland Aluminium and the community here.

What we’ve done today is - together, Federal and State Government, working with the company, working with the community – to ensure that this smelter keeps working. To make sure that the 700 men and women who have jobs here at the smelter and the over 2,000 people in this region whose jobs depend on it, keep those jobs.

Thank you all very much for your very warm welcome. Thank you Damein and the guides for showing us your country. All of us have been deeply moved to see such ancient structures of engineering. 7,000 years old, showing the ingenuity, the understanding of the natural environment by your ancestors - the Gunditjmara People, here on this lake, working with the landscape, understanding the country and building those remarkable structures, which are surely worthy of being on the World Heritage List.

The Turnbull Government joins all Australians in offering our love, solidarity and deepest sympathies to the victims of the vicious and cowardly attack that took place in Bourke Street, Melbourne on 20 January.

The Commonwealth will contribute $100,000 to the Bourke Street Fund being established by the Victorian Government.

PREMIER OF VICTORIA:

Well thank you for being here in the most terrible of circumstances. Today is a day of great sadness for all of us.

To provide some comments, I’ll ask the Prime Minister to speak in just a few moments but on behalf of all Victorians, Prime Minister can I thank you for being here, showing all Victorians that each and every one of their fellow Australians stands with them in grief, in loss, in pain but also in love and caring and compassion and for that I very much thank you for making the time to be here.

The prayers and heartfelt sympathies of all Australians are with the victims and the families of the victims of this shocking crime in Melbourne today.

And we thank and acknowledge the heroism, the professionalism of the police and the emergency workers who rushed to the aid of the victims.

Joined by bystanders who mindless of their own danger sought to help those who had been attacked in this shocking crime.

Their love, their selflessness, their courage is the very best of our Australian sprit. 

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