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HE High Commissioner Moraitis,

Invited guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen

Firstly I would like to thank His Excellency for the invitation to be the guest of honour at the beginning of your Australia Week celebrations.

I understand there are a range of activities organised for the week from cultural events to sporting, development and trade and investment promotion.

Amidst all these is the Contemporary Australian Art from the BALGO Hills of Western Australia.

PNG and Australian Aboriginal culture are two ancient cultures but like all cultures, they too evolve.

I am pleased to see Aboriginal spirituality, mythology and folklore kept alive in different forms as Papua New Guineans will witness during the course of this week.

I thus commend the High Commission for encouraging this kind of people to people exchange.

PNG contemporary arts have also flourished with the improved economic condition in the country and our two governments would do well in continuing to encourage these developments.

A natural affinity also exists between indigenous people and I am pleased to see Australia is promoting this.

It also encourages our people who come from more than 832 cultures to see what other ancient cultures are doing and keep our own stories alive through contemporary forms of expression.

As we are a people with over 832 languages it is important that we are able to still get our message across other than through the use of language.

Needless to say, art is a powerful way of raising issues, be it political, religious, and social or just expressions of our different emotions.

I note that this exhibition will be open to schools as well as the general public.

This is especially laudable as PNG has many naturally gifted and talented people.

Exposure to different forms of expression is not common but greatly appreciated by the people of PNG.

I know High Commissioner that you will have a good turn out during your week long celebration.

I understand that you also have an indigenous performer, Christine Anu and sports personalities Michael Long and Kevin Sheedy that will be taking part in the Australia Week celebrations.

I warmly welcome all of them to Papua New Guinea.

As well as carrying out ambassadorial duties for Australia, I hope that they also get out of this visit something positive to take back to their own communities.

In terms of sporting events, Your Prime Minister Mr Rudd is very enthusiastic about Papua New Guineans passion for rugby league and is contributing towards its development here.

I take this opportunity to thank him for his personal interest and commitment towards the development of this sport in PNG.

Aside from soccer, I personally enjoy AFL and will be keeping a watchful eye on the result of the One Tribe Challenge between the PNG Kupundas and the visiting Flying Boomerangs that will be played during the week.

High Commissioner, I do not want to steal essentially the Show of the people of Australia so I will keep my remarks short.

I would like to express however my great satisfaction at the PNG/Australia relations reaching new heights today and on behalf of my government look forward to further deepening our relationship.

Despite our historical ties, many young Australians know very little about PNG. Essentially it is PNG’s duty to ensure that one of its closest neighbours, Australia finds out about PNG.

However, I want to point out a small fact of history that is not included as part of the achievements of the Australian people.

Australian pioneers like Jim Taylor, the Leahy Brothers, and the Champions were notable explorers who did a great service for their country in discovering almost the last undiscovered peoples on earth.

While they are a part of PNG’s history, I hope that one day Australia will recognise their efforts and include them as part of Australia’s history.

With these last remarks High Commissioner I wish you a successful week of celebrations.

Thank you.