January 26 is Australia Day – a day to celebrate modern Australia and acknowledge our history.
For at least 65,000 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have lived in the great southern continent that we now call Australia. For millennia, First Nations Australians have been the land’s traditional owners and custodians of a vibrant culture – the oldest continuous culture in the world – that continues to enrich us.
Today, Australia is proud to be the most successful multicultural society on earth: one in four Australians are migrants like me, and almost half of all Aussies have a parent born overseas. This includes over 400,000 Filipinos who now call Australia home.
In the Philippines, we mark Australia Day with our friends and partners. It is an opportunity to look back and celebrate the enormous amount of collaborative work that underpins our Strategic Partnership.
The friendship between Australia and the Philippines brings together people from all walks of life. Our police forces work together on combatting transnational crime and protecting the most vulnerable in our societies. Our defence forces train together in air, land and sea. Our students study in each other’s countries, including through Australia Awards Scholarships and the New Colombo Plan. Our scientists are collaborating to improve agricultural research for the benefit of Filipino farmers, fisherfolk and better food security for the wider population.
So this Australia Day, I hope you will join me in toasting the true friendship between the Philippines and Australia; how much we have achieved, and how much more we can accomplish together.
—Ambassador Hae Kyong Yu
