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Yeah. President von der Leyen.

My friend On behalf of the people of Australia,

it is my great honour and pleasure to welcome you and your delegation to our national Parliament.

You will shortly become one of only a handful of international leaders to have addressed our Parliament,

adding your name to a shortlist that among others, includes President Obama,

Prime Minister Modi, President Widodo, President Xi and Prime Minister Abe.

Crucially, you're about to make history as the first woman international leader to address this Parliament,

an honour that will be forever yours.

Your visit is a defining moment in our bilateral relationship.

The Australia-European Free Trade Agreement will be a once in a generation achievement that will create jobs and prosperity for generations to come.

This was a logical step for two natural partners.

But as we know it was not inevitable.

It took hard work and it took constructive engagement,

and it required both sides to see the bigger picture, the wider horizon of shared opportunity. That is the instinct that defines us. And binds us.

The European Union and the Commonwealth of Australia are both proud, modern democratic creations built on ancient foundations,

both born in a spirit of unity in the understanding that we are better and stronger together.

That is the story of the brighter future that Europe chose to seize in the final decades of a century shaped by the devastation of global war and shadowed by the menace of the Cold War.

And it has been the story of our ancient continent too,

which offered a home and a future for so many diasporas from so many corners of Europe.

Through generations of hard work, aspiration and a deep love of this country,

European immigrants and their descendants have enriched and shaped modern Australia.

And in so many ways, they are a living link between our continents.

Collectively, the member states of the EU represent the world's 2nd biggest economy.

And you are currently Australia's 3rd biggest trading partner with two-way trade already more than $109 billion.

Now, thanks to years of patient negotiation, that is set to grow,

making you our second biggest trading partner.

Yet there is so much between us that is beyond measure, unquantifiable, yet undeniable.

Ours is a friendship born out of instinct, a mutual admiration built on respect,

on values and ideals that Europe gave to us, and Australia made our own.

Ideals that Australians went to fight for alongside Europeans,

when your great continent was under the shadow of tyranny. Ideals that we continue to fight for.

There is so much in the bond between us that cannot be counted, but can always be counted on.

We turn to each other as friends and the closest of partners,

not because we have to, but because we choose to.

As the world grows ever more uncertain, our best way of navigating the new reality is for us to do more together,

not merely as a safeguard against present volatility or future uncertainty,

but as a foundation for our future prosperity, resilience, security, and stability.

Right now we're all dealing with the challenges thrown out by the conflict in the Middle East and Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine,

which has brought war to the very edge of the European Union.

Every global shock underscores the importance of the second milestone moment in your visit.

The signing of the new Australia-EU security and defence partnership.

The partnership will bolster our collaboration on defence industry, maritime security,

cybersecurity, countering terrorism, and combating hybrid threats such as disinformation.

It speaks for our shared commitment to stability and security anchored in sovereignty.

The challenges the world holds for us are numerous and ever evolving, but we do not shy away from them. We work to shape them.

To that end, Australia will join this round of Horizon Europe,

the world's largest pooled fund for research and innovation.

It will bring together the best minds of Australia with those from Europe as we work on new technologies,

advanced computing, climate and clean energy, health, and critical minerals.

Research that boosts our resilience, strengthens our economies and makes us more secure. Research that builds our future.

Madam President, I'm proud that Australia has helped lead the world with our social media ban for under-sixteens,

and I'm grateful that you strengthened this effort with your support and with your leadership.

Your attendance at the event that Australia hosted at the United Nations,

you being there to hear the wonderful Imma Mayol story.

Who took that heartache and grievance into campaigning to ensure that other parents don't go through what she went through.

To witness that extraordinary courage of parents channelling their personal grief into a call for action.

And for you to speak as a mother and grandmother as well as a president, was a powerful statement heard by the world.

Proof that when we work together, there is nothing that is beyond us.

That is the truest spirit that binds us and which unites us.

Madam President, you honour us with your presence.

You are always welcome in Australia as a partner and above all, as a friend.

And give the call to the honourable leader of the opposition. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Your Excellency.

On behalf of the coalition and federal opposition, it's a privilege to welcome you here to the Parliament.

And it's a pleasure to welcome you back to Australia. To your Guten tag, I say g'day. Yours is a historic visit.

It's the first time a president of the European Commission has addressed the Australian Parliament, as we've heard,

and on such a historic occasion,

it's important to acknowledge the historic achievement of Europe that is Western civilization.

After all, Australia is part of that civilization, an heir to the European achievement.

We too are the beneficiaries of democracy born in ancient Greece and the laws,

civics, and engineering feats of ancient Rome.

We too are the beneficiaries of the great transformations of the Renaissance that spread from Italy,

and of the reformation that spread from Germany.

We too are the beneficiaries of Christianity's influence on values and science's influence on reason.

We too are the beneficiaries of the great changes that arose from the revolution in France and from the industrial revolution in Great Britain.

And we too are the beneficiaries of the imagination of European builders and painters and the inspiration of European composers and writers.

When Europeans set sail on treacherous seas to discover and settle unknown lands, they brought legacy with them, some good, some not so good.

But Australia has been gifted with the institutions and ideas of an enlightened Europe.

Madam President, with your preser presence here today, we express our gratitude for the European achievement that is Western civilization.

And we acknowledge the contributions that European migrants have made to Australia over many generations,

especially after the Second World War.

Many people displaced by conflict in Europe found a new home in Australia.

They took up tools and they became nation builders. They also became proud Australians.

Hydroelectric schemes in the Snowy Mountains in Tasmania were amongst the labours of love for European migrants who cherished their new home.

The legacy of post-war European immigration can be seen across Australia today.

In the infrastructure constructed, the businesses started, the homes built, the food we eat, and in the people we are.

Australia has become a new home for many Jewish Europeans who became a new home for many Jewish Europeans who survived the horrors of the Holocaust.

I commend their many contributions and express our solidarity with Australians of Jewish faith.

May all of us who cherish our way of life work to expunge the cancer of anti-Semitism that afflicted our societies.

Madam President, Australians and Europeans today aren't just the beneficiaries of that way of life, we are the custodians.

In these precarious times we must defend and protect the inheritance we cherish, and as you appreciate, there are many threats.

Authoritarian regimes whose behaviour has exposed the rules-based international order to be wishful thinking, of a,

of a more benign and bygone era, regimes committed to conquest, coercion and control.

The only deterrence to such authoritarian regimes is Western strength.

And Madam President, I unquestionably, you are one of the unfaltering champions of Ukrainian freedom.

I commend all you're doing to lead Europe's support for the heroes of Ukraine.

Australia steadfastly supports Ukraine too, as it strives for a strong peace.

And as the European Parliament has declared, a threat to one democracy is a threat to every democracy.

A failure to deter the enemies of democracy in Europe will embolden them the world over, including the Indo-Pacific.

And that's why the coalition applauds the signing of the Australia EU Security and defence Partnership.

We stand together with clarity about what must be defended and what worth fighting, what what is worth fighting for, and so Madam President,

I also applaud,

applaud the joint statement of nations who are willing to lend support to restore safe passage through the Strait of Hamaz.

It was commendably signed by no less than 15 European nations,

and I'm pleased the Australian government has now signed this statement too. Another mutual threat is Islamic extremism.

In Europe and in Australia, the generosity of liberal democracies has been exploited.

We've opened our doors to some people who don't want to embrace our culture, who want to erase it. The doors must be shut.

Our culture can only survive by putting our values at the very centre of our immigration policies. A third threat is dependency.

European Europeans and Australians have become dependent on trading with nations in critical supply chains where there are real risks.

But the age of free trade has not ended.

Our goals of greater resilience,

greater self-reliance and re-industrial industrialization are best served by working more closely with true and trusted friends. We believe in free trade.

We know a good free trade agreement underpins mutual economic prosperity.

And we must stand united against tariff barriers.

The coalition has a notable record in delivering high quality free trade agreements.

I think of the Australia-UK free trade agreement that we signed in December 2021.

That agreement removed tariffs on more than 99% of the of the goods exported to the UK.

In any free trade agreement, Australia must not trade away its sovereignty.

It must not limit its ability to make decisions in the national interest or protect our way of life.

While the federal opposition will scrutinise all aspects of the free trade agreement between Australia and the EU,

we commend the spirit in which it has been made.

I acknowledge Mathias Cormann, Australia's former finance minister and now secretary general of the OECD,

the founding father of this agreement.

Madam President, we welcome you to our Parliament, and we welcome you to our country we are all so proud of.

Your Excellency, it gives me great pleasure to invite you to address the House.