2018 Australia Day Flag Raising Ceremony

Our Premier, Members of Parliament, our Mayor and Councillors, Service Chiefs, ladies and gentlemen, girls and boys.

It is with great respect that I extend greetings to the Bindal and Wulgurukaba peoples, and acknowledge their elders, past and present.

And I extend my sincere gratitude to Uncle Francis Tapim for his presence and Welcome today.

Queensland, and Australia, is enriched so magnificently and fundamentally by our Indigenous heritage, and by the ongoing beneficial contributions of our Indigenous citizens. 

It is a great honour for Kaye and me to be here, once again, in Townsville – magnificently vibrant, cohesively-aligned Townsville – for today’s State Flag-Raising Ceremony.

I am doubly honoured that today’s Ceremony should take place at this richly historical Jezzine Barracks precinct, with its significant Indigenous, community and military heritage.

There is an important vice-regal link, too, with the Jezzine Barracks officially opened by my predecessor, and our State’s 17th Governor, Sir Henry Abel Smith, in Townsville’s centenary year, 1964.

I am sure Sir Henry would be proud of the community spirit which continue to provide such a wonderful accent to this Precinct, a spirit epitomised so wonderfully by you all here today!  

And by gathering here today, as are our fellow Queenslanders and Australians at locations all around our great nation, you are demonstrating your commitment to the pervasive themes of Australia Day – of mutual support for one another, of respect for our State and nation, of the strength therein of our shared values and heritage.  

I thank the members of the Australian Defence Force for their impeccable turnout and drill here today.  

I wish you all a most successful and energising 2018. How appropriate it is that we Queenslanders, united as we are by a shared and proud heritage, and mutual support for one another, genuinely aspire for the advancement and contentment of all our fellow citizens, sentiments expressed through your attendance at today’s celebration.