I’m deeply grateful to you, Prime Minister Chinh for your hospitality this evening and for hosting me for this important visit.
It’s been an honour to travel to Vietnam in this milestone year of our relationship.
No matter where I have been on this visit – whether talking to students studying at RMIT, or meeting business representatives, or enjoying a Vietnamese beer at a bia hoi – I have felt welcome.
While I’m a long way from home, it doesn’t feel like it.
Even my Vietnamese beer yesterday was made using Australian barley.
My Banh Mi using Australian wheat.
And beyond plenty of Australians and Australian produce in Vietnam, I have also felt a strong sense of familiarity.
And that’s because there’s a lot of Vietnam in Australia.
350,000 to be precise – the number of Australians of Vietnamese heritage.
They brought their culture, their creativity and their ambition to Australia.
If you walk along any city or suburban street at lunchtime in Melbourne or Sydney or Brisbane, the people you see might just as likely be eating a Vietnamese banh mi as an Aussie meat pie.
You can even watch Luke Nguyen on both Masterchef Australia and Masterchef Vietnam.
Cafés sell Vietnamese coffees with condensed milk alongside cappuccinos and lattes.
And if you look on any primary school child’s bookshelf, you’ll probably see a Ninja Kid or Hot Dog book written by popular Vietnamese Australian author Anh Do.
Books and food might seem like simple examples, but they’re emblematic of the closeness of our relationship, expressed in the cultural affinity of our people.
Because that’s where relationships start.
It starts with our people.
Our respect for one another.
Our understanding of one another.
Our appreciation of one another.
People are the basis for what we want to build for the future.
A future where we:
- Increase our prosperity by ramping up our trade and investment
- Increase our potential by giving more people access to higher education and skills
- Support one another as we transition to clean energy and achieve our environmental goals
- And work together for regional security – for the precious stability that is under so much pressure in our region right now.
Together, we can build that future on the foundation of what we’ve achieved in partnership over the last fifty years.
A foundation of trust. Of growing trust.
Friendship.
Knowledge.
Respect.
And of shared interests.
All of this is a precious gift, based on the seeds of friendship that we inherit from the efforts of our people across the last five decades.
Seeds that we – that I personally – are committed to nurturing.
So, on this occasion of our anniversary year, let us reflect on how far we’ve come, and on the exciting opportunities ahead.
Thank you again for your hospitality.
And here’s to the next half century.