7 March 2024
Thank you very much. Congratulations to the organisers and to all the participants.
I want to pay particular respect to the Deputy Prime Minister of Fiji, a valued partner of Australia, a very important part of our foreign policy.
It's true that I've had some involvement in the Quad, and I'm a great believer and champion in it, because the growth in recent years represents a choice made by each partner, to move from strategic reticence to strategic clarity, to become true partners with each other, to share information, but also to coordinate on delivery, to listen and respect regional institutions and organisations, Pacific Island Forum, ASEAN, the leaders of which have been in Melbourne having an historic summit these last two days, and to think about the sort of regional order we want, how to articulate and champion and defend it, and how to act in support of it.
So I think the Quad, as Minister Jaishankar of India says, really is here to stay and grow. And I believe, of course, that for each of the Quad members, there's a lot more to our foreign policies than the Quad. The Quad is a great enabler, it adds to what we deliver individually. And it makes us more valuable partners for the broader Indo Pacific.
This conference, I wish it a great success. That partnership between India and Japan is something that helps bind the rest of the Quad partners in our region together. And from an Australian point of view, you will always find us in the room with you and hard at work at the task of making a difference in our region.
We know peace and stability aren't natural, they don't happen by themselves. They need to be worked at, championed, supported and constantly reinforced by our words and our actions and our deeds. And the Quad is a very broad vision. We've done vaccines, we've done cable connectivity, we've done maritime security.
We will do a lot more together as well. As will this conference, congratulations on your inaugural event. I too, look forward to coming back next year.
Thank you very much.