Speeches
Thursday, 09 July 2026
Friends of AFS in Australia Reunion Luncheon
I am delighted to be here today for the Friends of AFS in Australia Reunion Luncheon, joining returnees and host families whose connection to AFS stretches back more than fifty years.
Being an AFS returnee myself, I find it both particularly appropriate and a particular pleasure to join my fellow the AFS community for this reunion.
In 1979 I was one of just three students in my year of 180 to travel somewhere other than the United States, spending that year with a host family in the Netherlands.
I found myself in the heart of Europe, close to the border with what was then West Germany, at a time when the Cold War and the threat of Soviet missiles hung over the continent.
Living amid that tension, with anti-nuclear campaigners a prominent voice, gave me a first-hand awareness of global geopolitics and of how European perspectives could differ from those of the United States.
I remain in touch with my Dutch host family to this day and retain a deep fondness for the Netherlands and its culture, not least the tulip, which is still my favourite flower.
I have no doubt that my AFS experience was a formative step along the path that led me to a career in the diplomatic service, profoundly influencing my lifelong interest in global affairs.
I am far from alone among AFS alumni in having found my way into public life, and I note that Senator Penny Wong is among the graduates of this program, as are other diplomats.
As Governor, I have come to appreciate how vital these early experiences of cultural exchange can be in shaping open, engaged and resilient citizens.
For more than sixty years, AFS has made an important contribution to fostering global citizenship, building lifelong connections between Australia and the world, separated by geography but united by cooperation and understanding.
AFS began when American ambulance drivers, who had witnessed the horrors of the Second World War, resolved to build intercultural friendships that might prevent such conflict happening again.
More than 15,000 Australian teenagers have since had that experience abroad, while a similar number of young people from overseas have stayed with Australian families and attended school here.
When the pandemic halted international travel in 2020 and forced the winding up of AFS Australia, I am heartened that its legacy was not allowed to end there.
I commend Friends of AFS in Australia on its dedication in creating the AFS Global Competence Certificate, carrying intercultural learning into the 21st century for teens, adults and educators alike.
It is no substitute for a year abroad, but it is a good substitute in an increasingly divided world, and shows an organisation being agile and responsive in the face of adversity.
I thank the volunteers of Friends of AFS in Australia for their notable contribution in keeping this legacy alive, and for their unwavering pursuit of its founding purpose.
I encourage all AFS alumni here to continue championing intercultural understanding, and to keep celebrating the enduring value of international friendship and exchange.
To Friends of AFS, may you support Australians to build global competence and to become global citizens, well into the future.