 David Hurley, Governor of New South Wales, Boris Johnson, Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs of the UK, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and other Cabinet Ministers, Shadow Foreign Minister Penny Wong and other members of the opposition, Chief Executives, Departmental Secretaries, High Commissioners, Board Members of the Lowy Institute, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen. Good evening and welcome to the 2017 Lowy Lecture. I'm Michael Fully Love, the Executive Director of the Institute. I acknowledge that we are gathered on the land of the Gadigal people of the Eora Nation and I pay my respects to elders past and present. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the most important event in the Institute's calendar and we're delighted that you could join us here tonight at the Sydney Town Hall, one of the most beautiful and important buildings in Sydney. The Town Hall has hosted many significant gatherings in our national life, including protest meetings, party conferences and memorial services. The Lowy Institute, the Lowy Lecture I should say, is the Institute's signature event. Each year we invite a prominent individual to reflect on the world. Past Lowy Lecturers have include Angela Merkel, Chancellor of the Federal Republic of Germany, David Petraeus, former Director of the CIA and Rupert Murdoch, Executive Chairman of News Corp. Prime Minister John Howard delivered the first Lowy Lecture in 2005 and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull delivered last year's lecture. We're now delighted to add Boris Johnson to that formidable roll call and I think it's a sign of the significance of this lecture in our national life that we have such a distinguished audience this evening. Ladies and gentlemen, the Institute is now in its 14th year. People often say to me it's hard to imagine the Australian debate on the world without the Lowy Institute. In 2003 our founder Frank Lowy gave the Institute two missions to deepen Australia's international debate and to ensure that Australia's voice is heard abroad. And since last year's lecture the Lowy Institute has been busy with these tasks. We celebrated our first anniversary at our new offices at One Bly Street. We published two more of our flagship Lowy Institute papers on the history of the Australia-US alliance and on the new relationship between China and Russia. We've published other important research on topics including President Trump's world view, China's Belt and Road initiative, Australia's place in the global economy and foreign fighters in Syria and Iraq. The 2017 Lowy Institute poll, the leading tracking survey of its kind, revealed that Australians remain positive about the US alliance, free trade, globalisation and immigration. We are expanding the Institute's digital footprint. Lowy Institute research is coming to life online through interactive maps, timelines, videos and podcasts on topics including global diplomacy, Pacific aid and freedom of navigation operations. Our digital magazine The Interpreter continues to host the best debates in the country, in the past week for example on the changes to our national security and intelligence structures. And of course we continue to host the world's most consequential leaders. In the past year we've hosted King Abdullah and Queen Rania of Jordan, US Vice President Joe Biden, the head of the AIIB, Jin Lee Chun, editor-in-chief of Tsai Chin Media, Hushu Lee and the US Director of National Intelligence, Jim Clapper. We've brought distinguished visiting fellows to Australia including Washington Post columnist David Ignatius, French statesman John David Levite and Hillary Clinton's top adviser Jake Sullivan. We've hosted prime ministers, ministers, mandarins and generals. Ladies and gentlemen, one leader we haven't hosted so far is President Donald Trump. Although given the way he inhabits the news and our Twitter feeds, it hardly seems necessary to hear him in person. Some of you will have seen that Mr Trump declared this week that apart from Abraham Lincoln, he is the most presidential president ever, which must be the Trumpiest statement ever. But the president is unpredictable. He's currently tormenting his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, on Twitter. However, with other colleagues I hear he's become disarmingly polite. I heard from an authoritative source that recently he bumped in Vice President Mike Pence in a corridor in the White House. And straight away Mr Trump said, pardon me, on that subject I hear that the Secret Service has a new code name for Mike Pence, 46. Ladies and gentlemen, let me take the opportunity to thank the sponsors of the 2017 Lowy Lecture, Capital Group, NAB and Qantas, three great companies. We are very appreciative of your support. Let me thank our corporate and government members and our other supporters for the invaluable support you provide us. And finally, to all who follow the work of the Institute, thank you for reading, sharing and commenting on our work, for attending our events and for participating in the Australian debate on the world. Let me briefly outline this evening's proceedings. In a moment I'll introduce Stephen Lowy, who will deliver some remarks on behalf of the Lowy Institute Board. Entrees will then be served, after which I will return to the stage to introduce our lecturer. And after the Foreign Secretary's speech, he and I will have a conversation on stage before main meals are served. Later, Foreign Minister Julie Bishop will deliver the vote of thanks. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd now like to invite Stephen Lowy to make some remarks on behalf of the Board. Stephen is among Australia's most accomplished business leaders. He's the Co-Chief Executive of Westfield Corporation and Chairman of Football Federation Australia. But for me, his most important role is as a founding board member of the Lowy Institute. Stephen and the Lowy family are great philanthropists. The Lowy Institute is just one organisation that has benefited from their generosity. In the case of the Institute, it has been a sustained investment over 14 years now, an investment in the power of ideas and investment in the national interest. And at the Institute, we like to think that we have inherited some of the qualities of the Lowy family. Their knowledge of the world, their curiosity to know more about it, their instincts, their networks and their remarkable attention to detail. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Stephen Lowy, AM. Thanks very much, Michael. Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of our chairman, my father, Frank Lowy, who is overseas in Europe right now and unfortunately, he's not able to be here, but he sends his best to everybody, of course, and is unbelievably thankful for Boris for joining us tonight. Thank you. And of course, my fellow directors, I'd like to welcome you to the 2017 Lowy lecture. It's good to see so many friends with us tonight of the Institute, including distinguished figures from politics, from business, from diplomacy and the media. In the 14 years since the Institute was established, the Lowy Institute has itself established as the leading institute in Australia and one of the leading international think tanks in the world. Our research focuses on the world's most important issues from the changing strategic architecture of Asia to the turmoil of the Middle East, from rising populism in Europe to the changing face of American politics, from the development challenges of the Pacific to the uncertain prospects for the global economy. All of this through an Australian lens. Through our events, we have debated everything from the pros and cons of Brexit to the direction of the United States under President Trump. Our polling also helps us understand how ordinary Australians view the world. As all of you would agree, these are not academic matters. As the co-CEO of a company with interests around the globe, every day I see firsthand how strategic, political, and economic issues shape the prosperity and security of nations, of businesses, and of individuals. Indeed, I was in Russia a couple of weeks ago in my capacity as chairman of the FFA, watching the Sokaroos play in the Confederations Cup. Russia is a fascinating country. Its people are warm, smart, and stoic. In fact, I even had a lovely Russian fellow fix the virus on my laptop. He even chose to give me a tip on the 2020 presidential election in the United States. Ladies and gentlemen, when the Lowy Institute was established, we wanted to project Australian voices to the world but also bring significant voices to Australia. My father and our family are very proud of everything the Institute has achieved. And the Lowy Lecture gives us all an opportunity each year to hear from somebody who says very important things about the world. You have heard the names of the previous Lowy Lecturers. We are honored to add the foreign secretary of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson, to that list. I first met Boris in the lead-up to the development of our shopping center, Westfield London, in London, more than 10 years ago. And from the outset, was hugely impressed with the way that he, as mayor of London, embraced a foreign company and worked as a partner to deliver one of the most significant investments in the UK at the time. The world was about to lurch into the global financial crisis. But he was a positive force throughout both personally and in the way he led the machinery of government. That carried through to us working together to deliver Westfield's Stratford on the Olympic site under incredible logistical and time pressures to complete this massive project for the 2012 London Olympic Games. I'm on record as saying that the way London approached these major projects was a model for how business and government can work together. And that Sydney urgently needs to learn these lessons when it comes to city planning and major projects. The UK is one of the most significant countries in the world for Australia. We share history, we share interests, and we share values. We even share secrets. It is always important, therefore, for us to hear how the UK government sees the world. But tonight, I am sure we won't just get an informative address from our guest speaker, but we will also be entertained along the way. Now, please enjoy your entree, and Michael will be back shortly to introduce the Foreign Secretary. Thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen. Ladies and gentlemen, it's my pleasure now to introduce the 2017 Lowy Lecturer, the Foreign Secretary of the United Kingdom, Boris Johnson. Thank you. I've got a lot of nice things to say about you, Boris. So just you'll have to be patient. Ladies and gentlemen, Australia and the UK are like-minded countries that share a rich history. Once Britain asserted ownership of the whole of the Australian continent, of course, we are more modest, and we only believe that we own the pitch at Lord's. Away from the cricket pitch, we have similar world views. Our diplomats work closely together in the great councils of the world. Our servicemen and women have fought alongside one another from the Boer War to the Iraq War. Our two militaries cooperated in response to the two Malaysian Airlines incidents, health crises in Africa, disaster relief in Vanuatu. In the secret world, as Stephen mentioned, we share information through the Five Eyes Intelligence Network. The Australian diaspora in Britain is large, as is the British diaspora in Australia. Visit any beach in Sydney, and you'll see some sunburned folk in their 20s, carefully warming their beers in the sun. 30 years ago, one B. Johnson was probably among them. The Lowy Institute poll shows that Australians feel remarkably warm towards the United Kingdom. When we asked Australians this year which country they trusted to act responsibly in the world, 90% said they trust the UK, the top of the list. And that was before Boris's visit. Perhaps I should have said but that was before Boris's visit. Boris Johnson was actually born in New York City. I'm advised that last year he was one of about 5,500 dual nationals to renounce their US citizenship. I gather that many of the others were members of the Australian Greens and the National Party. Boris studied classics at Balliol College, Oxford. And after Oxford, he was a journalist, well known for his flair and humour. He was first elected to Parliament as the Conservative MP for Henley on Thames in 2001. In 2008, he was elected Mayor of London with what was then the largest personal mandate in the history of British politics. Boris served two terms and was Mayor during the highly successful 2012 London Olympics. He was elected MP for the seat of Uxbridge and South Rhyslip in 2015. Of course, he was one of the leaders of the successful Leave campaign last year. And in July 2016, Prime Minister Theresa May appointed Boris as the foreign secretary. Boris Johnson is one of the most compelling and original political figures of his generation. Like Madonna and Prince, Boris has achieved global first name recognition. To give you an example, he is the only Boris that anyone in Washington these days is prepared to admit that they know. But Boris is also an historically significant figure due to his outsized role in British politics over the past few years. If Boris had not decided to support Brexit last year, I would suggest the United Kingdom would not be leaving the European Union. Politicians always say they want to make a difference. Boris has already done so. Whether for good or ill, in the case of Europe, of course, remains a topic of fierce debate and something I might ask him about later. Now, as foreign secretary, he is at the helm of the foreign policy of one of the world's most significant countries, a P5 member and a nuclear power. He is the first foreign secretary of the post-Brexit era charged with redefining the UK's engagement with the world. In addition to all this, Boris is simply a delight to watch and read. Ladies and gentlemen, please join me in welcoming to the stage the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, the Right Honourable Boris Johnson MP to deliver the 2017 Lowy lecture. Thank you very much. Thank you very much, Michael, and good evening, everybody. Thank you. It's wonderful to be here in this beautiful town hall alongside my friend and colleague, Julie Bishop, who's been hosting us all day with Stephen Lowy. And it's great to be back in Sydney. I think it's actually my second speech at the Lowy Institute. And thank you to all of you who have come to hear me again after four years in a what can only be called the triumph of hope over experience. I'm, you're absolutely right in what you have to say just now, Michael, because I did come here 30 years ago or more when I first came back to Britain after a year in Australia, I think I was 19 or so, it would be fair to say that I bore a pretty heavy imprint from my time in this country. And my conversation was studied with phrases like, bonza mate, or you little ripper. And on the streets of London in broad daylight, I insisted on wearing the same Stubby's Dax, to a shorts of a quite appalling brevity that I had worn in the bush until my then girlfriend said it was either her or the Stubby's Dax. And I'm not sure how the contest was resolved. After years in the UK educational system, my infatuation with Australian dress, manners, vocabulary, and general cast of mind was so intense that I had become a kind of unconscious Liz Patterson, a self appointed and unwanted cultural ambassador for your great country. And in so far as my friends in England were able to understand me, it helped that this was the time when neighbours and Kylie Minogue were propelling Australian life onto our screens and young Australians were beginning to pop up across the planet in a phenomenon that was set to music in 1980 by the band Men at Work. You will recall the peregrinations of the man from Down Under, how he met a man from Bombay with not much to say, how he met the man from Brussels, six foot four and full of muscles, and he asked him, do you speak of my language? And he just smiled and gave him a... The Virgin Right sandwich. The point being that the man from Brussels was himself an Australian in spite of being in Brussels and you deduce from that lyric the second characteristic of the Australians, not only a fierce sense of identity and independence, but also a truly global country engaged with the world in a way that is positive and fearless and upbeat. So keep those two features in your head, a strong sense of national, political and cultural identity combined with a truly global outlook. And I ask you to conduct a thought experiment. I'm told that Australia has just joined the Eurovision Song Contest. Is that right? All I can say as a representative of a country that regularly calls Nupois is good luck with that project, but protract the logic of what you have just done. Imagine that in 1972, Geoffrey Rippon and Ted Heath had been able, by some miracle, to persuade our friends in Paris that distance was no obstacle. Suppose that by her abundant self-evident influences from Britain, but of course also from Greece and Italy and elsewhere, it had been decided that Australia was rarely European, a great glorious syncretic European country and therefore eligible for accession. And suppose that the French had said we and suppose that Australia had been omitted to the common market. What would have happened? Well, by the way, let me interrupt this to say, who would have wanted that to happen? Can we do an on-the-spot referendum? Can I invite all those who would like to vote we, a vote yes to Australia, who would have voted then or who thinks it would have been a good idea? Let me put it this way. For Australia then to have joined the common market, get all the show of hands, all those in favour, yes, all those against. I think the nose habit, Mrs. Beak. But I think anyway, irrespective of people's feelings tonight, I think you could argue that there would have been advantages and disadvantages. Australia would certainly have continued to catapult huge quantities of butter and beef to Europe more than ever before, perhaps. But other things would not have been so easy. And I mean here no criticism of the model and methods chosen by our EU friends and partners, with whom we are, of course, currently in negotiation. But if you, if Australia had joined, you wouldn't be running your own competition or your public procurement programmes and you wouldn't be able to tackle and tailor your green energy programmes to suit Australia's needs. You would find yourselves regularly outvoted in the Council of Ministers on hours of work or the definition of chocolate. And it must be seriously doubted whether the polywaffle little in the violet crumble would have been permitted. You would never have been able to come up with your own immigration policy, the fabled points-based system. And for the past 44 years, you would have had to conform to the common agricultural policy and we must face the terrible probability that the EU's ruthless quota and intervention policies designed to protect existing Mediterranean producers would have meant that Australia's now legendary winemakers would never have got beyond the first tentative vintages because the whole lot would have been compulsorily boiled up and turned into bioethanol, which was the programme that they had. So there would be nothing and nothing of the, oh, I don't actually know what we are drinking tonight, but you wouldn't have, presumably, it's Australian wine, isn't it? Where's it from? Glasgow. There would be no wonderful Australian wines on the table tonight. And above all, an awful lot of your brightest diplomats would be spending their lives trying to stop things from happening, grappling in distant corridors with brilliant graduates of the Ecole Nationale d'administration instead of actually trying to get things done. Even if you think I'm being paranoid in this kind of factual, and even if you think it could not possibly have been as bad as all that, I think we can look at Australia today and after 26 years of continuous growth and with the capital GDP 25% higher than in the UK, I think we can say that it was not absolutely necessary for Australia to join the common market. Am I right? Indeed, I think it's safe to say that it was not necessary for Australia to join any block or grouping organised on the integrationist principles of the EU. Australia is not now required to send well-remunerated parliamentarians to an APEC parliament and there isn't a single APEC court of justice or a single APEC currency called the abalone or whatever. Australia hasn't been required in the last few decades to sign up to a series of treaties designed to create a single political unit out of a patchwork of 27 countries and no one now claims that such a process is essential for Australia's economic health or wellbeing. No one's serious as far as I know. So when we look at the forward momentum of Australia in the last few decades, you can perhaps see why we in Britain are inclined to take with a pinch of salt some of the very slight gloom and negativity that is emanating from some distinguished quarters about the decision of the British people to leave the European Union. And you can see why we might be moved to reject their notion that little old Britain is just too small, too feeble, too isolated to cope on its own. They seem to think the UK is like some poor, wriggling crustacean about to be deprived of its protective shell. I say, don't come the raw prawn with me. On the contrary, when we look at what Australia has achieved, we can see we in Britain, when we look at what you have done, we can see grounds for boundless excitement and optimism. It is true we may not have all Australia's sunshine and other natural advantages, but we are the fifth biggest economy on earth, rated two or perhaps number one for our soft power influence, a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the second biggest contributor to NATO. We have the greatest financial capital anywhere in the world which many of you go regular and you know what I'm talking about. We have the biggest creative culture, media, artistic sector anywhere in our hemisphere. And we in the UK are like Australians in that our population is possessed of the most extraordinary wanderlust. One in 10 Britons now alive is estimated to be living outside Britain, a higher proportion than any other rich country, including by the way Australia, not just diplomats and aid workers. They certainly make a huge contribution to not just to diplomats, but to international activity of all kind. I'm quite serious, I saw the other day the figures for global contributions to the four worst humanitarian disasters now afflicting the planet. In Syria, South Sudan, Somalia, Yemen and northeast Nigeria, you will find that the three biggest are the US, the UK and the EU. And that's before you've even factored in the 18% contribution that the UK makes to the EU aid budget. And I have to tell you, I, we in the UK are immensely proud of that record just as I'm proud of everything that the UK Foreign Service does around the world. But we're not just talking about public officials. We're talking about six million bankers and journalists and artists and lawyers and accountants and I suppose pirates and sub-aquatic golf ball retrievers. And actually, I kid you not, I met a policeman who turned out to be from Uxbridge, which I represent, who tours the world testing water slides. Think of that. It's a tough job, but someone's got to do it. Six million, six million people like that spread across the world in a great, shining, bright, throbbing web like a scene from Avatar. And as we leave the arrangements of the European Union, we now have the chance to become even more global. And when I say more global, it is vital for you to understand that I do not mean for a minute that we will become less European. The channel is not about to get wider. Britain is not gonna sprout funnels and steam across into the middle Atlantic. We remain historically, culturally, intellectually, emotionally, and architecturally European. Shakespeare, I think you would agree, is just as European as Michelangelo or Cervantes or Beethoven. Indeed, when you consider the range of his dramatic locations, Denmark, Austria, France, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Croatia, Turkey, to say nothing of Lebanon, Syria and an unknown, unnamed island somewhere in the New World. I think you could argue that he was more international, certainly more European than any other great artist. And this European-ness is not just words. We in the UK show our commitment to Europe by our moral and military willingness to come to the defence of our friends, a commitment that we make unconditionally, irrespective of the EU negotiations. It is 100 years since British and Australian soldiers stood side by side in the Third Battle of Ypres and what I still believe it is right to think of as a fight against tyranny. Today, there are 800 British soldiers in Estonia, almost a quarter of the NATO mission in Eastern Europe, there to give reassurance in the face of any potential provocations from the East. We in the UK will continue to be in the lead in sticking up for the rights of the Ukrainians, threatened by Russian aggression and revanchism. We will work with our friends in the Western Balkans where there is currently a political and geo-strategic arm wrestle taking place between two sets of ideals, two ways of behaving. And we will continue to help those countries to achieve what they see as their Euro-Atlantic destiny. We will help our Italian partners as they face the challenge of migration from North Africa, cracking down on the vile people traffickers who put their victims to sea in leaky boats. And we will continue to argue for balance and moderation in European foreign policy. And yes, we join our friends in deploring the actions of the Turkish authorities in arresting and imprisoning journalists and human rights activists, including Amnesty International campaigners. And we call on Turkey to release them from pretrial detention, to ensure fair and speedy trials and to find a new way forward for Turkey. But we also believe that we must engage with Turkey and that it will be a great mistake to demonize or to push that extraordinary country away from us. That is not the right way forward either. And we believe that this European engagement, military, diplomatic, working together with our friends and partners on counter-terrorism, home and justice affairs, to defeat all those who would do us harm is in our interests, it's in our partner's interest and it's in our mutual interest. And that mutual interest is nowhere more blatant and obvious than in the negotiations on trade that are about to begin between the UK and our EU friends. I wore this morning because it was a little bit nippy when I got, I later got much warm, but I wore this morning a sweater derived from a Spanish sheep reared in New Zealand whose wool was shorn and shipped to Italy where it was turned into cloth that was shipped to China. I don't know actually whether it was shipped or whether it was flown, but it was transported to China. Imagine that, that vast triangle already. So it's gone New Zealand, in New Zealand, Italy, so New Zealand, Italy, China. I know how you do it this way. New Zealand, Italy, China, then it was stitched together in China back to New Zealand where it was exported to France and Britain and everywhere else in the world. Now think of that woolly jumper as it bounds over borders and barriers and customs posts with not a bleat of effort or exertion. That is really how trade works today with standards and supply chains that are increasingly global and with the help of the excellent negotiators on both sides, I have no doubt that we will get a great deal that preserves and even enhances the frictionless movement of goods that is in the interests of both sides of the channel. I'm sure that we will get a solution that does nothing to undermine the interests of London's financial sector because the real rivals of the city are not in Paris or Frankfurt, as everybody knows for well, they're in Hong Kong and Singapore and New York. And in the end, I think everybody in our part of the world understands that London is a fantastic asset for the entire continent because that is where you will find the deepest pools of liquidity. And when we do that deal, intergovernmental corporation, a giant free trade deal, I believe we will create a solution that has been long desired and long in the making. A strong EU, buttressed and supported by a strong UK, with each side trading freely with the other and with the UK able to think about new opportunities in the rest of the world. And there's nowhere more exciting to do that than here in the Indo-Pacific, where there's a third of the global economy around two thirds of the population and it's here where the growth is. And that is why we have decided once again that the UK must be more present, more active and more engaged in this region. And in each of the three countries I visited in the last week, Japan, New Zealand, here in Australia, I've heard people ask for Britain to get more involved. They want more Britain, not less Britain. And we're gonna oblige them. We will be here as a partner and a friend, aiming at good relations with all the major countries of this region. Not choosing between our relationship with China, the engine of global growth will be crucial now and in the future of course. But so will our deep and long standing partnerships with Japan and India. And of course with you, our friends in Australia and New Zealand. But we need to do more. And so I can tell you tonight that after leaving the EU we will be seeking to strengthen our own national relationship with ASEAN as an institution, which by the way costs about one million pounds a year to join rather than 20 million pounds a year. Not that I wish to, as I say, to cast aspersions on the wonderful EU. But we want those partnerships because they're a big part of how we uphold the liberal international order. And that's why last week I stood shoulder to shoulder with my friend and colleague, Fumio Kishida, the Japanese foreign minister in denouncing the nuclear adventurism of Kim Jong-un, a man who reportedly deals with his enemies by strapping them to the side of a mountain and shelling them with an anti-aircraft gun. And that's why we stand up for the rights of the people of Hong Kong and for the one country, two systems principle. And can I by the way thank you again, Julie Bishop, for making that same point very forcefully and well when she spoke a couple of nights ago. In the South China Sea we urge all parties to respect freedom of navigation and international law, including the ruling of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague. We're also ready once again to articulate, articulate our commitment to international order with money and a military presence. And that's why last year we sent our typhoons for the first time to train with Japan, South Korea and Malaysia. One of the few countries able to deploy more than 7,000 miles from our shore and one of the first missions of our two vast new aircraft carriers will be to sail through the Straits of Malacca, the route that currently accommodates a quarter of global trade. And if you look at those vessels, colossal great things, they haven't got aircraft yet but they will soon, don't worry. If you look at those vessels, you will see that they are not only longer than the entire Palace of Westminster but I think you'll agree they are more persuasive than most of the arguments deployed in the House of Commons. And we do this and we pledge to do this not because we have enemies in the region. On the contrary, I've made clear we're determined to intensify our friendships but because we believe in upholding the rule of law. And that brings me to the final and the key point that I want to make tonight. Winston Churchill identified what he saw as the special genius of the English-speaking peoples. And I think you've got to be a bit careful with that stuff or you've got to avoid any conceit or complacency in thinking that English speakers or the English-speaking peoples are particularly blessed. But it is certainly true that we have a series of ideas in common that have, let me put it at the most modestly, that have been hugely successful. They are democracy, the rule of law, habeas corpus, and independent judiciary. The absolute freedom to make fun of politicians in any way you like. And above all, the freedom to live your life as you please provided you do not harm the interests of others. And it's, I think, speaking as a former mayor of a great city, I think it's because they know that they can fulfill themselves in that way, that people of talent and imagination and creativity are drawn to such beautiful cities as Sydney and London. And it is that very freedom under the law that makes these cities so prosperous and so innovative. And really it's to expand and to defend that ideal of freedom under the law that Britain and Australia are committed to working hand in hand. Because we know that ideal is not really the property or copyright of the English-speaking peoples, but something that belongs or can belong to all humanity. And today, Julie Bishop, Marie's, Michael Fallon and I discussed every issue under the sun. And I've got to tell you that we was positively glutinous in its consensus, those last 24 hours we had an almost embarrassing failure to disagree about anything. We covered the waterfront and we are building greater security together and now intensifying our intelligence cooperation. We agreed about Iran, Iraq, a huge gamut of issues and a great work program that we're now gonna take forward. I think of all the Orkman meetings, that's Orkman is the Australia UK ministerial meeting. This was the most detailed and I think the most effective we've had so far. And what we want to do now is intensify the trading and commercial relationships that the security I'm talking about makes possible. And frankly, we have huge potential. We already do so much together, my friends. The yesterday morning I met a bunch of engineers rebuilding the UK engineers, Lang O'Rourke, putting in new, I don't know what it was exactly, scenery. Totally rebuilding the inside of Sydney Opera House. It's gonna go on for a long time. I said, when's it gonna finish? They said, when the fat lady sings. It's a massive undertaking. Great to see a British firm doing that work here in Sydney. But I know only too well of the debt of my own city. It's not mine, I don't own it, but it's a city I used to represent, London, to Frank Lowey, who can't be with us tonight. Alas, now Sir Frank, of course, a man who kept investing in London, even in the darkest days of the 2008 crash, and he kept building, and I'll never forget this, because I was deeply grateful. I really was, he kept building, he kept employing thousands of people, even when pretty much every other crane on the horizon had gone down in London. So thank you, Frank, for what you did. And of course, we already trade so much together. Australia exports skateboards, I was shocked to discover, all the way to the UK. We, on the other hand, get the ball back over there. We sell you boomerangs. We do, we sell you 100,000 boomerangs made in late in buzzard, roughly 100,000 boomerangs every year made in late in buzzard. They are obviously the boomerangs that don't come back, and I'm delighted. We sell you Marmite, you sell us Vegemite. I would not like to speculate who does better on the deal, and I know a lot of people have asked me about visas over the last 24 hours, everybody wants one, one of the flattering things about coming from the UK, everybody seems to, but there is already an incredible lively vaivien, isn't there, between, if I can use the continental expression, which I can, between our two great countries. You send us Jermaine Greer and Patricia Hewitt and Linton Crosby, we send you Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott. Never, never in history has there been such a happy, swollen, happy, swollen, distance obliterating pipeline of goods and services and people and ideas and ideals, and as we do that, free trade deal, which we will, and as that flow increases in pace and volume. Let us remember that our success in the trade and our success is made possible and guaranteed by the ideals we share. They are not unchallenged. They are not uncontested in today's world. They have their enemies and their detractors, but they have stood us in good stead and we can be absolutely cure, go absolutely confident that they will succeed with the help of the Lowy Institute, by the way, with the help of the Lowy Institute and the rest of you. Those ideals will succeed triumphantly in the years ahead. Thank you very much. Well done, Boris. Well done. Boris, thank you for giving such a wonderful and memorable lecture this evening and thank you also for agreeing to take my questions and he's already looking at his watch. I was just wondering how long the speech lasted. Boris, let me start. The last time you spoke to the Institute, you and I laughed over a claim that your sister Rachel makes, that your first declared ambition as a child was to be world king. Now, you haven't become world king, but you do travel the world meeting many kings and presidents and some of them these days are particularly strange characters. So let me begin by asking you what has surprised you about the job of foreign secretary and who has impressed you? Well, I think that the answer, let me answer the first part of your question first because the answer, the first part of the question is the same as the answer, the second part of your question. I wouldn't trust anything my sister Rachel necessarily says about what I said at the age of seven or eight. We have a wonderful reigning monarch and, by the way, I don't know whether what the plans are here in Australia, but I took a bet when I first came out. No, actually the second time I came, I was a visiting professor of European thought, would you believe it? At Monash University in Melbourne. And a lot of the slightly left-wing academics took me out to the pub one night and we all, we got very merry and we took a bet. This was 1992. I think it must have been on my second or third trip to Australia and we took a bet. They bet me that Australia would be a republic by the year 2000. Anyway, I'm just putting it out there. They didn't win that bet and they didn't pay up either. By the way, if anybody is watching this now who knows the identity of those left-wing academics who I'd be very grateful. But the answer to your second question is who's impressed me? Well, I have to say it is Her Majesty the Queen. She is extraordinary. I noticed that when Barack Obama was giving his funeral oration for Perez, it's actually right. For Shimon Perez, he tried to single out great world leaders that he knew and Her Majesty the Queen was top of his list. And I was very struck by that because she's after all a constitutional monarch. She hasn't been elected. But she would not only, she incarnates something very special about our country, but she is a, I don't know, she carries it off in a great style. I hope that's a safe answer. That's allowed. How about that? One of the characters who hasn't impressed you or didn't impress you was Donald Trump because you remember in 2015, let me remind you when you were the mayor of London. I've been on this trip. I've been in Japan. I've been in New Zealand. I've now done two days in Australia. And I have to my certain knowledge, I have yet to say anything that has caused a major international incident. And so I am far away. So I know exactly where you're coming from. So in 2015, you said that the Donald Trump was clearly out of his mind and you declared you would not visit New York because of the real risk of meeting Donald Trump. But so my question is, what does it mean for the special relationship to have an American president who is so unpopular in the UK that he's afraid to visit? Well, I have to say that when I met Donald Trump, he was actually extremely gracious, in spite of the remarks to which you unkindly allude. And he said, rather mystifyingly, how often he was mistaken for me, which I thought was a low blow. But given that he is the president of the United States and the leader of the free world and of our most important military and political ally, I'm afraid I was rather ingratiating and said that the honor was all mine. And so, but the serious answer to your question is, look, whatever people may think about the president, whatever people may think about what he says and does. And actually, I think sometimes firing off things, tweeting in the middle of the night, exactly what you think can be pretty refreshing. And I know it's not a universally held view, but sometimes it can be, sometimes. We have to face the reality that our relations, and I think it goes for Australia too, our relations with the United States are of cardinal importance. The US has been the guarantor, the primary guarantor of peace and stability in our continent, in the West, and indeed in the Pacific for 70 years. And that is a huge fact, and that transcends personalities. And that's what we have to focus on. You said in your speech that the values of the West don't go unchallenged, they're not uncontested. And one of the leaders who is contesting Western values is Mr. Putin. So what do you make of Mr. Trump's odd affinity for Mr. Putin, given that this is an individual who invaded Ukraine, annexed Crimea, attacked American democracy, and indeed is accused of killing his domestic opponents at home? What do you make of that? Well, I think, Michael, by their deeds, shall you know them? And actually, when you study what the Trump administration has done since it came into office, when you look at the way they've handled the Russian problem, and you're right, it is a problem. Russia is revanchist. Russia does feel that Mr. Putin certainly feels that the loss of the Soviet Union was a great tragedy for his country. He is trying to re-establish a zone of influence by all sorts of means. Some of them, I think, underhand and dangerous. Actually, the Americans have been resolute in maintaining sanctions in respect of what Russia did in Ukraine. And perhaps more interestingly, when you look at how the Americans responded to the Syria crisis, they've been more hard-line against the Russians than the Obama administration was. And actually, the Americans who responded to the barbaric Khan Sheikhun massacre on April the 4th when up to 100 people died in a chemical weapons attack by a kinetic action, which the Obama administration never did. It's the Americans who've been tough on the Assad regime's convoys in Al-Tanf. And so I think just look at what they're really doing. And is it fitting and right for the president of the United States to have any kind of personal relationship with Mr. Putin? Well, I think actually it is. I mean, he didn't meet him until July the 20th. And they had a lot to discuss. And speaking for the UK, we've got to engage with Russia as well as being vigilant and as well as deterring them. And I said what I said just now about the need to stave off Russian adventurism in the Western Balkans and to hold them to account for their aggression in Ukraine. But you've also got to talk to them. I mean, this is a country that feels injured by the way the end of the Cold War was handled that is seeing its population decline, that is not seeing a great deal of economic growth. We need to talk to the Russians. And the Russians, Russia is not just Vladimir Putin. So, you know, I suppose what I'm gropingly trying to say is that you need a policy of beware but engage or engage but beware. I don't know which way around it is, but that's the way we should approach it. Another country that has different values from the West is China. And in 2015, you remember that the UK literally rolled out a very thick red carpet for the visit of President Xi Jinping and there was a lot of criticism at the time that Britain was treating China really just as a business opportunity rather than seeing it in a three-dimensional way and seeing it as a strategic player. In the couple of years since then, China's external policies have hardened, including in the South China Sea. Has that changed Britain's thinking about China? I think we've always been very realistic about China just as we're realistic about Russia. You know, I agree with what you said, China is the biggest trading partner of 120 countries around the world, including Australia, by the way. This is a country whose rise we cannot ignore and which has actually been profoundly beneficial for the world. Huge amount of demand, huge amount of consumption, huge amount of growth is owed to China. Unless I missed my guess, quite a lot of Australian raw materials of one kind or another over the last 20 or 30 years have found a way to that country, have they not? I think they have. I think they have. The 26 years of continuous growth that I mentioned in my remarks are not unconnected. So the economic relationship that we all have with China is very important and China is a great country. We disagree with some of the things they say and do. So we disagree, for instance, with the Chinese assertion that the joint declaration on Hong Kong does not matter or is now void. And as I say, I was very grateful to Julie for the way she stuck up for it and vindicated that principle. We don't agree with what China does in the way they approach the South China seas and whatever view you take of the dispute over the Unclos ruling over the nine dashed line, it is something that should be abided by. The findings of the Unclos UN Conventional Law of the Sea Tribunal should be observed and they should be obeyed. And that's something that we've been very clear about. On that topic, you talked about the international rules-based order in your speech and you mentioned these magnificent warships coming down to the South China Sea. Yes, I got to be, by the way, we haven't yet quite decided to do that, okay? That was, I'm called, these warships, they're huge, but they have literally only just been... Yes. One of them's only just been also, this is something, I'm trying to give you a bit of a picture of something in a few years. I don't want you to... But let's play with the idea. I don't want you to go out and start scanning the horizon for these warships tomorrow. They are coming, they are coming, they are part of a pattern that we began with the typhoon deployment last year. They are coming, but don't expect them tomorrow. Can we expect, before those carriers arrive, could we expect, for example, Britain to conduct freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea? Well, we are certainly interested in doing that. I think different countries take different interpretations of phonops and how you do it. Some do it in quite a sort of assertive way. Australia does it in a more easy-going kind of way. I mean, that is exactly the sort of thing we want to do, and we want to be working together on the terrorism problems that are in this area, what's going on in Marawi, in the Philippines. There is a lot we can do, we think, with Australia on the problems of the region, and we certainly want to be here. Let me ask you a little bit about Brexit. You conducted this thought experiment about Australia. Yeah, I was quite interested that there were some people who wanted to join. They were, that's right. So we saw what you were trying to do with that thought experiment. But let me ask you a serious question. There's a lot of critics who would say that, under your general ship, in a way, Britain made this colossal decision to leave the European Union, really without fully thinking through all the consequences of it. And they would say that the consequences, really, for the next 10 years will be division and distraction as Britain tries to resolve all these complicated issues. How do you respond to that? Well, that is certainly a view that you will hear in some quarters in the media. And look, it was a very exciting campaign, and a lot of people got very head up on either side. I'm absolutely certain that we're going to do a brilliant job of it, and we will come through this thing with a fantastic future for the UK. I don't want to repeat absolutely everything I said tonight, but I just think as an example of confidence of a country that believes in itself that a country is willing to go out into the world and do deals and make friends and trade, then here it is. And what an amazing achievement Australia is. And my argument is a very simple one. If Australia can have this future, so many thousands of miles from most of the other major centres of economic growth, why can't we? Little old us. We've got a few things going for us too. So that would be... That's my argument, but it's so important to understand that... I think the whole thing about the customs union and the technical difficulties, this is all being turned by great superstition into the equivalent of the Millennium Bug. Does anybody remember the Millennium Bug? This terrible newspaper, they're sort of, this thing is going to happen, it's going to happen on this day, and everybody gets absolutely fixated about the planes will fall from the sky and the lorries will be stuck at Dover and nobody will be able to move. Plasma supplies will be cut off or whatever. It's just not true. We will do a great deal. It's overwhelmingly in the interest of our friends and partners to do it. Are there going to be some arguments about money and about free movement to people and that kind of thing? We'll get it done. It's vastly... They have a big net trade balance with us. They export much more to us than we do to them. Everybody's going to want to keep this thing moving as frictionlessly as possible. And so be of good cheer, Michael. It's going to be great. Let me ask you a final question about British politics, if I can. In 2014, you published The Churchill Factor, and you and I were having a yarn about a line that's often attributed to Churchill on the difficulty of being Prime Minister, where it said that Churchill said this, the loyalties which centre upon number one are enormous. If he trips, he must be sustained. If he makes mistakes, they must be covered. If he sleeps, he must not be wantonly disturbed. If he is no good, he must be pole-axed. So, Boris, my question is, when do you think a Prime Minister should be pole-axed? Well, you know, we've got very good relations with the polls. They are not going to... And the polls that we do, by the way, and many other European... And every other European country. So I don't see any prospect of a Polish attack on Theresa or... And just to get to the... I think the heart of your question, Michael, if I can. You know, yes, it is true that the recent general election did not evolve entirely according to plan. Nobody is going to contest that, OK? Well, actually, it's vital to remember that we didn't lose, or we did, that we conservatives didn't lose. On the contrary, we won. We won. We got 56 more seats than the other guys. We were miles ahead. I don't know how they managed to pull off this impression that they somehow won the election. They didn't win the election. And Theresa May, to her great credit, gripped what was admittedly a difficult situation. She totally gripped it. She did a good deal with the Alster Unions. She's bubblegum the whole thing together, and we are going to get on with it. And I tell you why I'm confident about this. It is going to work because it is overwhelmingly the desire of the conservative party that it should work. It's the desire of many Labour MPs that it should work because they are genuinely terrified of the prospect of Prime Minister Corbyn as, by the way, they should be. And it is overwhelmingly the desire of the British public because they didn't really want an election. They wanted us to get on and deliver for them. And they don't want any more political kerfuffle. They want certainty, stability, a great Brexit, and then, you know, as we do a great Brexit, they want us to attend to their needs and their cares and get a better educational system where we keep improving our health care, keep doing things that keep attending to the priorities of the people. And I'm sure that Churchill said something on those lines, too. Ladies and gentlemen, Boris Johnson has been very generous tonight. He first gave a very substantive and funny speech and then he parried my questions, I'm afraid to say, with great ease and enormous wit. So please join me in thanking Boris Johnson. Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I'd now like to call upon Australia's Foreign Minister, the Honourable Julie Bishop MP to move the formal vote of thanks to Boris Johnson. Thank you. In her years as Foreign Minister, Julie Bishop has earned a reputation as a determined advocate of Australia's national interests, leading the government's response to the MH17 crisis, representing Australia admirably at the UN Security Council and establishing the new Colombo Plan. She's been a very effective Foreign Minister and is a great friend of the Lowy Institute. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the Australian Foreign Minister, the Honourable Julie Bishop MP. Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, today, Boris Johnson and I, with our distinguished defence ministerial colleagues, Senator Maurice Payne and Sir Michael Fallon, met for the annual Australia-UK ministerial consultation, Orkman, as it's rather awkwardly called. And this was my fourth Orkman, and it was evident to me that we were meeting at a time when the global environment is more uncertain, more unstable, more volatile, and that this period is one of great change and has been brought about by numerous factors that have been discussed this evening, economic nationalism and the rise of protectionism, Brexit and the implications for the EU, the new Trump administration, the increasingly complex conflicts in the Middle East and the evolving nature of global terrorism from Syria and Iraq to now in our region in the Philippines, and the horrendous terrorist attacks in places of mass gathering, such as has occurred in London in recent months. And as Boris said, the international rules-based order is under strain. The rules and the norms that have indicated how countries should behave and how nations should behave towards each other has been in place since the Second World War, and this is all under pressure. So we believe that it is more important than ever before for like-minded countries, those who love freedom, who respect the rule of law, and individual rights and democratic institutions and free and open trade that they should work more closely together. And Australia and the United Kingdom are as close as two countries can be. And we believe that working together we will assist in creating a more optimistic world, more prosperous, more stable, more certain. And the ease and familiarity of the relationship between our two nations is not just about our shared heritage. It's about the exchanges between our people. Long has it been a rite of passage for young Australians to live and work in the United Kingdom. There are about a million Australian citizens who were born in the UK. So whether we're tourists or students or residents, visitors, we really know and understand each other. And tonight, we were privileged to have a most distinguished case in point. For the United Kingdom's foreign secretary, the right Honourable Boris Johnson spent some of his formative youth in Australia. And I first met Boris when he was Lord Mayor of London. And he immediately told me a story of one of his Australian adventures. And it involved him being abandoned, inexplicably it seems, his Australian hosts on a roundabout in Canberra. Late at night, only to wake the next morning, still on the roundabout, with Canberra's traffic, and Boris's hands the size of oven mitts because mosquitoes had been feasting on him. Now, I've heard a number of Boris's stories about his time in Australia, and they increasingly take on a rather Rudyard Kipling-esque flavour, with Boris cast as Mowgli from the Jungle Book, and he's being brought up by ferrules in the wild only to return back to civilisation in due course. I think there's no doubt though that the windswept plains of Australia have certainly left a lasting impact on Boris's style. Boris is an accomplished politician, journalist and author, and his prolific output of books over the years has included works on Shakespeare, his series on life in London, his intriguingly named novel, 72 Virgins, his political tomes such as Have I Got Views for You, and his self-help book called The Pitfalls of Pushy Parenting, The Portionary Tale. His latest work on the great British statesman Winston Churchill is utterly brilliant, and I read the book on a recent overseas trip, Cover to Cover, and I urge you all to buy a copy, read it, for you will agree with me, I am sure, the Churchill Factor by Boris Johnson is a tour de force, but you will also agree with me, I am sure, that should the paths of these two extraordinary Englishmen have ever crossed at a point in history, we would surely be reading the Johnson Factor by Winston Churchill. Ladies and gentlemen, we have been informed, we've been entertained by a great friend of Australia. Boris, you are always welcome here. Ladies and gentlemen, please thank our special guest, Boris Johnson. Thank you, Julie. Let me second on behalf of the Institute, let me second Julie's thanks to Boris Johnson for his performance this evening. He is great box office. He gave us important news tonight about an important announcement about freedom of navigation operations in the South China Sea. He had very high-minded things to say about the rules-based order, but to me the lasting image will be Boris Johnson is in his stubbies on the streets of London. Boris, you've paid us the compliment now of speaking at the Institute twice. You're always welcome back, in fact, based on ticket sales. Why don't you come back next year and give the 2018 lowy lecture. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for joining us this evening. I hope you've enjoyed the evening. Thank you to everybody who's been involved in putting on this event. I want to give a special thanks to Minna Rawlings, the British High Commissioner, who's a wonderful advocate, Boris, of your country's interests in Australia. And let me particularly thank all my colleagues who've worked for many months to pull off this event. The Lowy Institute doesn't pay big event organisers to run events. We do it ourselves with our staff and people have worked very hard to pull off what I think you will agree has been a very elegant evening. I'd like to mention by name Andrea, Jen, Erin, Georgia, Louisa, Sarah, Sophia, Tara, Anthony, Allie and Alastair. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, dessert and tea and coffee can now be served. Please feel free to mingle over dessert. Please continue the conversation and please come and visit us in Bly Street very soon. Thank you very much and good evening.