Australia - Canada Economic Leadership Forum Welcome Reception
Monday, 17 February 2025
Government House
Her Excellency the Honourable Margaret Beazley AC KC
Bujari gamarruwa Diyn Babana Gamarada Gadigal Ngura
In greeting you in the language of this land’s Traditional Owners, the Gadigal of the Eora Nation, I welcome you to Government House as I pay my respects to Gadigal Elders, past, present and emerging.
- The Honourable Mary Ng, Canada’s Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development,
- High Commissioners and Distinguished Guests, all:
I warmly welcome you to Government House and the Australia-Canada Economic Leadership Forum. At the risk of mentioning the “most beautiful word in the dictionary”[1] - a word which starts with ‘t and ends with an f’ - recently, both Australia and Canada, have been reminded of the vagaries of economic relationships.
In reaching for the books, history has shown up some interesting precedents.
In 1894, the Colonial Conference, held in Ottawa, saw representatives from six Australian colonies, New Zealand, the South African colonies and Britain join Canada to discuss a proposed Pacific telecommunications cable between Canada and Australasia.
Debate turned to strengthening trade relations through preferential tariffs, as Canada had developed with France for the import of fine French wine.[2] Going one step further, the Canadian delegates proposed an imperial customs arrangement, which was opposed by the colonies of New South Wales and Queensland, and New Zealand.
The sticking point? As stated by the NSW delegate – no doubt, with the rapidly developing NSW wine industry at the forefront of mind: “the resolutions were more a part of the commercial policy of Canada, and intended as a support … for the extension of her trade, than anything directly in the interests of, [or required by], the Colonies of Australasia.”[3]
His comments might have seemed a tad ungrateful. In May 1893, Canada had agreed to give an Australian, James Huddart, a £25,000 subsidy to operate a regular steamship service between Canada and New South Wales. Shortly afterwards, Canada's first Minister of Trade and Commerce, and later Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell,[4] arrived in Sydney with a delegation to seek new export markets, although he was not optimistic, saying: “I do not anticipate any great immediate results from our visit to Australia.”[5]
Needless to say, he was pleasantly surprised. In 1895, Canada’s first Trade Commissioner to NSW, John Short Larke established an office in Sydney. Despite the opposition of a protectionist press, Larke convinced NSW to help subsidise the new Canadian-Australian Steamship Line. As a result, Canadian exports to Australia—timber, canned salmon and manufactured farm implements—tripled in value between 1892 and 1900 and tenfold during his term of office. By 1911, a federated Australia was Canada’s fourth largest market.[6]
The rest, as they say, is history …[7]
As founding and senior members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Canada and Australia share deep ties to Westminster traditions and institutions, and in defence and Indo-Pacific security. Our servicemen and women fought alongside each other during global wars. Indeed, diplomatic relations began formally in 1939 when, on the eve of the Second World War, Australia and Canada agreed to exchange High Commissioners.
Our ties date even further back to the early days of the Colony of New South Wales. Ten kilometres west of here in Sydney is a place called Canada Bay, so named for the Canadian rebels who were transported to the then colony of NSW after the Lower Canada rebellion of 1837-1838. Thanks to the intervention of Sydney’s first Catholic bishop Bede Polding - I surmise that as they were French Canadians they were Catholic, they were spared being sent to Norfolk Island – then and now the windiest place outside of Wellington New Zealand and far more remote.[8]
Collecting oyster shells for lime and breaking stone, they helped build Parramatta Road which remains a major road link between the Sydney CBD and Parramatta, the State’s third largest city. Receiving free pardons by 1844, their descendants became part of the rich and diverse fabric of the Australian community.
Today, our Free Trade Agreement, the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans Pacific Partnership, is enhanced by collaborations across business, tourism, science and research, and in cultural and educational exchange, including multiple agreements between Canadian and Australian universities.
Fifteen years ago, the first Australia Canada Economic Leadership Forum reception was hosted here at Government House by Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC CVO. I am honoured to follow previous Governors in hosting this evening’s celebration of our bilateral friendship: ‘Trusted partners, navigating the future together’.[9]
For now, please enjoy Government House and its harbourside gardens. I conclude with words from a 1905 speech of your aforementioned Trade Commissioner:
“If you go to Sydney, you would go through the most beautiful harbour in the world … from which [come] the riches of the gorgeous East as well as the industries of the West.”[10]
I wish all delegates all the very best for a successful Forum.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/news/audio/2024/dec/16/the-most-beautiful-word-in-the-dictionary-donald-trumps-tariff-plan-podcast
[2] 1894 Colonial Conference at Ottawa, Canada Report, by Francis Bathurst Suttor: https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/historictabledpapers/files/138369/LCTP%201894%20528-572%201895%201-136_045.pdf
[3] ibid, page 16
[4] Fifth Prime Minister of Canada: 1894-96
[5] Canada-Australia: Towards a Second Century of Partnership: Association for Canadian Studies in Australia and New Zealand (ACSANZ) 1995 conference:
https://dokumen.pub/canada-australia-towards-a-second-century-of-partnership-9780773591417.html
[6] ibid
[7] Two-way trade was $10.7 billion in 2023: https://www.dfat.gov.au/geo/canada/canada-country-brief#
[8] City of Canada Bay Factsheet: The Canadian Exiles
[9] Conference theme
[10] Address by Mr. J. S. Larke, Canadian Trade Commissioner at Sydney, Australia, Empire Club of Canada, October 19th, 1905: