19 August 2024
Good evening, distinguished guests, friends, and colleagues.
Welcome to the Australian embassy.
I thank Otsuka-sensei for being here at what is a busy time in Japanese politics.
Tonight, we celebrate and reflect on the collaboration among the Quad nations—Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.
I’ve had quite some involvement in the Quad – most recently at the Foreign Ministers Meeting in Tokyo last month - and I'm a great believer in what it can achieve.
As Australia’s Foreign Minister said here in Tokyo a few weeks ago, the Quad enables choices about the character of the region we want – a region in which sovereignty and the capacity to both agree and disagree is safeguarded.
It also enables cooperation to respond to the priorities of our regional partners.
To quote Dr Jaishankar, India’s Minister of External Affairs, the Quad is here to stay, here to do and here to grow.
With a combined population of 1.9 billion and a combined GDP of $34.8 trillion US dollars , we have the weight and the wherewithal to invest in shared solutions for shared problems, from climate change and energy transition to maritime security and cyber resilience.
At last year’s Quad leaders’ summit, Australia committed over $100 million in support of new Quad initiatives in the Indo-Pacific – most recently establishing the new Cable Connectivity and Resilience Centre, which will support the development of resilient undersea cable networks in the Indo‑Pacific.
As like‑minded nations with aligned strategic objectives, we recognise the need to lead in the technology ecosystem.
The Quad Critical and Emerging Technology Working Group is at the forefront of promoting global technology markets and standards that reflect principles of openness, diversity, trust, and resilience.
Our recent cooperation with Palau to deploy Open Radio Access Network capabilities is just one example of how we are driving innovation in the region.
Australia is investing to strengthen our own technology ecosystem. We are investing nearly a billion dollars in PsiQuantum to build and house a utility‑scale, fault-tolerant quantum computer in Australia.
Our $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund prioritises investments in new technologies, including automation and AI, supporting our cutting-edge research in these fields.
And our nations complement each other. Japan has been at the forefront of robotics and automation for decades, producing 45% of the world’s industrial robots. Japan is Australia’s oldest collaborator on quantum technology and the 4th largest global market for quantum. Japan also has one of the biggest space economies in the world, as Australia builds its own space industry.
And we all know what science and innovation powerhouses the United States and India are.
As we look to the future, the continuation of the San Diego Process in Tokyo provides an opportunity jointly to answer important questions about how to promote responsible global adoption of emerging capabilities, like AI, quantum and biotechnologies.
We are pleased to support dialogues like this, bringing together experts and officials to share their assessments and ideas.
This free-flowing exchange of views between our four nations is key to the Quad’s strength – a forum which brings together four maritime democracies committed to strategic balance, public goods and supporting international law and transparent rules.
Thank you for being here – and thank you for your own contributions.
Enjoy the evening.