Volume 39, Number 02
Features
Greetings from the Australian Ambassador
Mr Murray McLean
It's a great pleasure to address readers of the Weekender. The Weekender is important for the many Australians and others who live in Japan, helping us through the English language medium, stay in touch with what's happening in this wonderful country.
Australia Day is a special day for all Australians. Wherever we might be, we celebrate with pride our nation's achievements. We are a stable and harmonious democracy with a thriving, dynamic and open economy. Composed of people of many ethnic and cultural backgrounds from all over the world, we are a land of opportunity, where everyone can realise their full potential.
Australia's links with Asia, especially with Japan, are hugely important to our nation. Australians and Japanese are close friends across a wide and diverse range of sectors. We are close strategic partners with robust democracies, highly developed and sophisticated economies and we share a fundamental commitment to a secure, stable and prosperous Asia-Pacific. The areas in which we work together are boundless and will continue to expand. With the new Australian Government's ratification of the Kyoto Protocol, one such area will be the increased scope for our two countries to take a leadership role in the fight against global warming and climate change.
Our trade and economic relationship is vital for both countries. Japan has been, by far, Australia's largest export market for the past forty years. It is our biggest market for coal, aluminium, LNG, copper ores, wood chips and agricultural products. We are also major suppliers of iron ore and uranium. Japan is a major investor in Australia and increasingly, there is significant Australian investment in Japan.
The Australian presence in Japan also continues to grow. More Australians are living and working in Tokyo and Japan. Tourism from Australia is growing—many Japanese know about Australia's attraction for the brilliant ski fields of Niseko, which Australian investors and skiers are helping turn into a world-class resort. Australians are increasingly prominent in the hotel management and restaurant business in Japan.
The closeness of the bilateral relationship has been highlighted in recent years by the holding of the Australia-Japan Year of Exchange in 2006 and the signing of a joint declaration on security cooperation in 2007. And we are well underway in our negotiations for a free trade agreement (FTA) between us. When concluded, a comprehensive FTA will expand the potential for further growth in our trade and investments links, including in such areas as investment and the services trade sector.
In our cultural links, let me warmly commend to you the blockbuster exhibition of the work of the late Australian Aboriginal artist Emily Kame Kngwarreye, who is being heralded as a major abstract painter of the late 20th Century. This will be a must-see event it when it comes to Osaka and Tokyo from February 2008. Please take your Japanese friends together with you to visit it. www.arts.australia.or.jp/english/events/0802/emily.
While we do have differences in the relationship, in particular that over whaling, a matter about which a great majority of Australians feel strongly about, it is important to place this in the context of a relationship that is growing in all its aspects. This immensely important relationship is one to which the new Australian Government under Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is firmly committed as one of highest priority. I wish all readers of the Weekender a happy and successful year in 2008.