I acknowledge that we are on Gadigal land and pay my respects to elders past and present.
I’d also like to acknowledge the Australian Malaysian Singaporean Association (AMSA) and the dinner's theme celebrating SG60 and 70 years of Malaysia-Australia diplomatic relations.
And the representatives of the High Commissions of Malaysia and Singapore, Dr Fahmi Abdul Rahim and Ms Simret Kaur.
Thank you for having me here tonight for your annual dinner, as we celebrate two anniversaries of tremendous significance – 60 years of diplomatic relations with Singapore and 70 years of Australia’s diplomatic presence in Malaysia.
Congratulations on both milestones.
For both, we have stood together, as partners, and friends.
Australia was one of the first countries to recognise Singapore’s independence in 1965.
And we were one of the first to establish formal diplomatic relations with Malaysia, soon after its independence with a former Governor-General of Australia, Sir William McKell helping to draft the nation’s constitution.
While tonight invites us to look back, it also offers us the opportunity to look ahead to further growing our relationships, across multiple domains, from trade and investment to education and research, defence, green energy cooperation, even artificial intelligence.
In particular, I want to mention Invested: Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, Australia’s strategy to deepen economic engagement with the region, including Singapore and Malaysia, our first and fourth largest regional trading partners respectively.
We have sent nine business missions to Singapore and Malaysia since 2023 we have set up Deal Teams in both countries, facilitating nearly $700 million of Australian investment and a pipeline of opportunities worth over A$20 billion.
And we’ve also established our $2 billion Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility to boost Australian trade and investment and support the region’s clean energy transition and infrastructure development.
As we look to the future, we are reminded that these relationships do not grow overnight, they develop over decades of working together to progress shared interests.
Tonight’s theme reminds us of this: 'Weaving Cultures, Celebrating Unity'.
Or as you may put it another way – we are one, but we are many.
Because Australia is a multicultural nation – a majority migrant nation, home to the world’s oldest continuing culture, and to people from every country on this planet.
And people of Malaysian, or Singaporean heritage, have long been a part of our national story.
The Malay migrants who made their way to our shores from the middle of the nineteenth century worked as pearl divers in the north and west of the country, or as miners in South Australia, or as workers in the sugar plantations up north in Queensland.
Singaporeans too, were here pre-federation, as part of the gold rush and a hundred or so years later, returning, in large numbers for education.
Today, Australians of Malaysian, or Singaporean heritage, or descent, have woven their successes and talents into the social fabric of our communities.
Like Patrick Y-Kin Grove, the co-founder and CEO of Catcha Group, and alumni of the University of Sydney, a driving force in the region’s digital evolution, proving a great internet company doesn’t have to come from Silicon Valley.
Or Dr Yvonne Ho, an internationally acclaimed radiologist, and nuclear medicine specialist, and a University of Melbourne alumni.
In 2015, she was the first Malaysian-born woman to receive an OAM in recognition of her significant services as both a practitioner and educator.
I also mention household names like tennis player Nick Kyrgios, whose mother was born into the Pahang royal family but who renounced her royal title to move to Australia in her twenties and become a computer engineer.
And of course, our Foreign Minister, Senator Penny Wong, whose father came to Australia on a Colombo Plan scholarship to study architecture at the University of Adelaide.
So, as we celebrate these milestones tonight, we also celebrate our people, our diaspora community, grounding the future of our relationship with both Singapore and Malaysia, and with the region.
And we celebrate AMSA for your work to support and empower Australians of Malaysian and Singaporean heritage.
Congratulations again, and thank you.