Speeches
Thursday, 04 June 2026
Reception to mark the 50th Anniversary of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Australia and Japan
I warmly welcome you to Government House.
Rod and I are pleased to host you this evening to celebrate 50 years of the Basic Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation between Australia and Japan.
In particular, I thank Consul-General Furuya for travelling from Melbourne to be with us.
When the treaty was signed in 1976, it was a landmark moment in the bilateral relationship between our two countries.
As a former diplomat, it has been my pleasure to witness what began largely as an economic partnership develop into one of Australia's most important and comprehensive bilateral relationships.
As Governor, it is my honour to support South Australia's long-standing and valued connection with Japan.
Areas of contemporary cooperation are both broad and forward-looking: food and agribusiness, international education, advanced manufacturing, renewable energy and the green economy, defence and space industries, and research and innovation partnerships.
I am heartened that our Sister-State relationship with Okayama Prefecture has endured for more than three decades.
Originally built upon shared manufacturing strength, it is now sustained through education exchanges, sister-city and sister-school collaborations.
I am pleased that Japanese is the most widely studied second language in South Australian government schools, and that thousands of Japanese students continue to visit South Australia each year through study tours and exchange programs.
These connections are built not only by governments or universities – although their activities are greatly important - but by individuals, families, schools, cultural organisations and community groups.
I thank all of you for your dedication to the relationship between our two regions. It’s your vision, enthusiasm and hard work which has ensured its depth and longevity.
Friends,
Anniversary celebrations are an opportunity to reflect on the past as well as consider, with purpose, the future.
DFAT's objectives for this anniversary year — to elevate the Special Strategic Partnership, to redefine cooperation for the next 50 years, to secure Japanese investment in Australia's future, and to inspire the next generation of leaders — resonate deeply with South Australia's own ambitions, which I am pleased to support.
In April I launched an exhibition of Tomoko Fuse’s stunning origami at the Hawke Centre at Adelaide University, supported by the Japan Australia Friendship Association, in conjunction with the anniversary.
In May I welcomed His Excellency Mr Kazuhiro Suzuki, Ambassador of Japan to Government House, and later this month I will undertake my second official visit to Japan, with engagements in Okayama Prefecture and Tokyo.
I look forward to strengthening educational, cultural, economic and governmental connections, and to conveying South Australia's deep appreciation for its friendship with Japan.
I thank everyone present this evening for their individual and unique roles in advancing Australia–Japan relations.
I recognise that the success of this relationship rests as much on people-to-people connections as on formal agreements.
Together let us look forward, with confidence and purpose, to the next fifty years.
May the ties between Australia and Japan, and South Australia and Japan, grow ever stronger in the decades ahead.