Official dinner; President of the Republic of Korea Lee Myung-bak
Thursday, 05 March 2009
Your Excellency, Prime Minister, Ministers, Members of Parliament, friends of Australia and the Republic of Korea. On behalf of the Liberal and National parties, I join with the Prime Minister in welcoming your Excellency to Australia.
I understand that you met last evening with my colleague and leader Malcolm Turnbull and he sends his best regards.
The relationship between Australia and the Republic of Korea is strong and is based on historic, strategic, economic and political links.
However, it is the personal ties, the people to people connections, that make the relationship between our two countries all the more enduring.
I recently discovered a connection that would not be known to many Australians.
My dear friend in Perth, Professor Barry Marshall became a household name in Australia when he was jointly awarded the 2005 Nobel Prize for Medicine.
He discovered that stomach ulcers were caused by bacteria and not stress.
Professor Marshall famously swallowed a concoction of the helicobacter pylori bacteria to give himself stomach ulcers and then undertook a course of antibiotics to cure himself.
However, Barry Marshall was a household name for much longer in Korea, where his work as a scientific adviser to Korean Yakult, a company that sold yoghurt drinks, saw him feature in television advertisements, on billboards and other advertising.
He conducted some of his research in Korea due to the relatively high incidence of stomach ulcers among your people.
After he was awarded the Nobel Prize, one of the first countries he chose to visit was Korea, to thank Korea for its support for his research.
Barry assures me that he was treated like a rock star!
During the past few years Australia has been dubbed as the “miracle economy”, the “wonder down under”, after more than a decade of significant reforms to the economy – in tax, labour market, welfare and finance sector.
However, the transformation of the Korean economy after the Korean war has been nothing short of miraculous.
In just one generation, Korea has risen from having one of the lowest rates of GDP per capita in the world to now be the 14th largest economy in the world – an astonishing achievement.
The rapid economic expansion of Korea in the 1960s had parallels in my home state of Western Australia, where the iron ore export industry began to flourish at the same time under the guidance of the great politician and statesman Sir Charles Court.
Over past decades, our trade relationship has blossomed - crude oil, coal, iron ore from Australia; motor vehicles, mobile phones, computers from Korea.
And as Korea focuses on its long-term energy needs, Australia is likely to play a significant role. Consistent with its commitment to reducing greenhouse gas emissions, I understand that Korea is looking to expand its nuclear power generating capacity.
Australia has the largest reserves of uranium in the world.
Last November the Government in Western Australia lifted the ban was lifted on uranium mining, paving the way again for significant opportunities between my home State and Korea. And we also have plenty of LNG to export.
There will also be additional opportunities from the proposed free trade agreement between our nations.
I am aware that the legal profession in Australia has expressed some interest in a Bill that was passed yesterday in the Korean National Assembly that allows law firms from countries with which Korea has a free trade agreement to set up local firms in Korea – some Australian lawyers seemed quite excited by that prospect.
With both our countries buffeted by the winds of a global economic storm, I have no doubt that your country is calling on your Excellency’s extensive commercial background and business experience to help guide your country through these challenging times.
I understand your Excellency was elected on a platform of deregulation, liberalising labour markets and encouraging greater foreign investment.
As you noted in a speech last weekend, despite the crisis this is still a time for opportunity and reform, and that Korea cannot stop change and reform nor detour from your principles.
You called on the passion and resilience of the Korean people to see your nation through this crisis, as has happened in the past.
Our strategic relationship is of great significance - Our historic connection from the Korean war; our alliance with the United States; our shared commitment to a solution to the tensions on the Korean peninsula; and our contributions to East Timor, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Australia and Korea are more than strategic partners – we are good friends.
We have much in common.
Let us hope that our relationship continues – like the four symbols on your national flag – with harmony, symmetry, balance and circulation.
