There are no pics from this, but these meet-and-greets are great.
Meets with Staff and Families of Mission Perth
Remarks
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
Hyatt Regency Hotel
Perth, Australia
November 14, 2012
Well,
I’ve been introduced in lots of ways, but the Pope has never been
(inaudible). (Laughter.) I am so grateful to be here with all of you and
to have this chance to thank you in person for what you do every single
day.
And Jeff, I want to really, in front of part of your team, thank you
for the extraordinary energy, creativity, intelligence, determination
that you’ve brought to your work as our Ambassador. It’s really made a
difference. We’ve seen the results, and we have, thanks to you and this
amazing team, built such a strong foundation for this critical
relationship. Aleisha, thank you for your service. The Ambassador was
bragging about you when we were driving in because of the way that you
have demonstrated leadership and extraordinary commitment here in Perth.
Jeff and Becky have been great ambassadors for our entire country, and
it’s a big country that you came to, so you’re representing one big
country to another big country. And you have been everywhere and, from
my observation, so well appreciated by the people of this country as
well as the leaders.
It’s great to be in Perth. I was kidding Stephen Smith, who of course
reminded me every 10 seconds that he represented the constituency we
were in. (Laughter.) I said, “My goodness, Minister, you have a lot of
Perth-sistance. You do. ” (Laughter.) But then, of course, I was in the
Premier’s district just now. So all politics is local. (Laughter.)
But it’s great being in a country with so much dynamism and vitality.
We have a deep relationship. It’s about our great military alliance;
it’s about our wonderful and growing commercial relationship; but most
of all it’s about the people, the personal connections that really are
the core of everything that we do and can do.
We had an excellent AUSMIN today and last night, covered all the
bilateral, regional, and global issues. It’s wonderful now that
Australia will be on the Security Council, where its voice will be even
more prominent in the debates of today.
It’s also exciting, as Jeff reminded all of us, that this mission has
done so much to take advantage of the growing market for U.S. exports. I
have these factoids here that exports to Australia have jumped more
than 40 percent between 2009 and 2011. And in just the first nine months
of this year, it’s up another 20 percent. As you know, President Obama
has set the goal of doubling U.S. exports within five years, and I think
Australia is going to get most of it done for us. (Laughter.)
But it’s not just about trade statistics. What you’re doing by helping
to promote exports is really important on a personal level – the farmer
in Washington state who starts sending part of his cherry harvest to a
merchant in western Australia; inviting members of this community to the
cherry pie bakeoff – (laughter) – showing that the United States is a
good friend and the consulate a good neighbor; finding ways to
illustrate, dramatize even, what more we can do together. Your one team,
one mission approach has really worked, and it’s something that I hope
more missions worldwide will consider adopting.
And I know you face some challenges. Five weeks of renovation here in
Perth, 19 months of construction in Canberra, haven’t stopped you from
getting the job done.
I want to thank all of our Foreign Service families who are here,
working on behalf of the importance of this mission. And I particularly
want to thank our local staff. Will all of our Australian employees
raise your hands so that we can give you all a round of applause?
(Applause.) Consuls general and ambassadors and certainly secretaries
come and go, but you’re here year after year, providing continuity and
kind of that nerve center and memory bank that makes such a difference.
And I know that whenever somebody like me shows up, when two of us
show up, two Cabinet secretaries at the same time, that’s double the
work at least, so I especially appreciate everything you’ve done for the
success of this visit. And I just hope that I’ll be able to come back
as a private citizen and see more of this beautiful country sometime in
the future. But I’ll be coming back as a very proud American and someone
who highly values the relationship that we have built with Australia
and hoping that it goes from strength to strength.
So again, Ambassador, thanks to you. Thanks to this great team that
has done such a bang-up job, the envy of others, who I shall not name.
(Laughter.) But people are watching, and they know what you’ve done. And
let me now take a moment to thank as many of you in person as I can.
Thank you. (Applause.)
