I am Proud to be part of a diverse and inclusive country that honours the people and the land.
Below are extracts of ScoMo’s message to the nominees at the Australian of the year awards last night honouring our people and our land.
“We gather in Ngunnawal country at our National Arboretum, whose elders past and present and future we acknowledge and respect.”
“Our stories now number more than 25 million Australians, they are all important, they are all respected, woven together to make us strong.
Like the eucalypts, wattles, the cassias, the wildflowers and grasses that surround us, we are a diverse nation .... but also a nation that is based on equity and inclusion .... “
We are a melting pot of cultures - in which we respect each and everyone.
We have had many challenges in the past 12 months - bush fires , drought and disease.
The bushfire scarred landscape is recovering. The greyness of the Australian drought is giving way to a new green tinge.
And we are are fighting this dreaded Covid-19 together.
If our land teaches us anything - it is that if we persevere - we can withstand, we do recover and we do renew.
And this land - Australia - has a seamlessness about it that accommodates so much difference.
The story of Australia is of a people who persevere and overcome - who know that reward and effort, enterprise and fairness, justice and hope, accompany each other.
I am proud to be Australian