PRIME MINISTER:
Andrew, Nicola and Grace Forrest – we are here on an extraordinary moment of love, of generosity and leadership. Your love, your generosity, your leadership.
We are here assembled, the leaders of your nation – Bill Shorten, the Leader of the Opposition, so many of my parliamentary colleagues – here to thank you for this extraordinary act.
Now, in this building, we dispense with billions of dollars. We spend, we raise it in taxes, by compulsion, it is not an optional matter and then we spend it on good causes, on health, on education, on national security, on social welfare.
And every dollar we spend, the government spends, will buy as much as a dollar that a philanthropist like Nicola and Andrew give – it buys the same amount. But what you give and what other philanthropists give and what other people whom you will inspire give, comes with their love.
This is not extracted from you by force of law, this is a matter of conviction, of your love and your commitment. Your recognition that, yes, you have achieved extraordinary things, to build your iron ore industry, your Fortescue Metals, to build that in such a short time, to be one of the greatest exporters in Australia, to do all of that is extraordinary enough. And it has created thousands of jobs for Australians and billions of dollars in exports.
But then to recognise that despite so much of your achievement having been the result of your hard work and your determination and thus your just reward for your efforts, you have nonetheless recognised that all good fortune comes with an element of fortune. And that all of us, no matter how successful, know that if life’s wheel had turned somewhat differently we could be much less well off, much less well situated.
All of us who have done well have been blessed by good fortune.
So the generous person, the loving person gives back.
We thank you for the leadership you have shown and the scale on which you have shown it.
But as Grace was saying earlier, obviously, those to who much is given are able to give more. But, all of us should seek to do as much as we can with what we have.
So, this is real leadership. This is leading by example.
Now, Andrew and Nicola Forrest are making a donation today of $400 million.
This is the biggest single philanthropic gift in our history and the largest donation by living Australians.
It is a game-changer in the Australian philanthropic community. And it will change the lives of thousands of people here in Australia and around the world.
The funds will be dispersed as follows; $75 million for coordinating world cancer institutes to make lethal cancer history for the coming generation, $50 million towards building stronger communities, $75 million for higher education and breakthrough research, $75 million towards giving every child their best chance, $50 million towards creating equality of opportunity amongst all Australians – and $75 million towards removing, once and for all, modern slavery from human history.
Now, your passion and commitment goes beyond this extraordinary generosity. You have not only been generous, you have been committed and you’ve shown your conviction in advocacy around the world.
It is one thing to have the moral fibre to speak out against slavery, but Andrew and Nicola don’t do things by halves. They’ve stood up to the people smuggling business models whose structures make modern slavery possible.
Your work has enabled more people to walk free. You have brought the abhorrent business practice of modern slavery out of the dark and into the light of board rooms across the word.
Your work through GenerationOne has enabled individuals and communities to try for employment, but more importantly, you have challenged the racism of low expectations that not only holds back Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, but which holds us back as a nation.
As Prime Minister, I have seen the depth of talent, the innovation, the resilience of our First Australians. There is not a single Indigenous experience in Australia and you’ve challenged businesses and governments to commit to practical ways to give our First Australians dignity through employment.
And you have led by example and you have inspired and we have adopted your vocational training and employment centre model.
Your support for Thrive to Five is changing the way we value parents as first teachers and the early childhood education and care sector, so that all children get the start in life they deserve.
All of this and so much more Andrew and Nicola seek to achieve with this $400 million gift to society.
Thank you Andrew, thank you Nicola, thank you Grace, thank you to your family.
And I want to thank Nicola as well for her work on my Community Business Partnership, as you encourage those who can give to give more and to give more strategically.
The power of philanthropy to change lives, to change society is perhaps even greater than that of government, because it comes with the love of the philanthropist, a love of mankind.
That is what the Greek means, the word philanthropy.
This is an act of love. It is an act of generosity and above all, it is an act of leadership that will inspire other Australians, now and in the years to come, to show their love by helping those who we can support and we can advance through that commitment of love for mankind.
Thank you, Andrew, Nicola and Grace and your family for this extraordinary act of generosity. Thank you.
[ENDS]