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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2022-09-07 Daily Xml
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Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

The Hon. S.S. MARSHALL (Dunstan) (15:23): I rise to acknowledge the appointment by Her Majesty The Queen of the 56th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, the Rt Hon. Liz Truss, who was recently elected as the leader of the Conservative Party in the United Kingdom. I offer my personal congratulations to her and bring the house's attention to the great friendship she has had with South Australia in recent times.

Before I do that, I will point out that she previously served in the Johnson government in the role of Secretary of State for International Trade and was, indeed, President of the Board of Trade under Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In that role, she worked alongside the Hon. Simon Birmingham, the then Minister for Trade and Investment in Australia, to negotiate the fundamentals of the most comprehensive free trade agreement in the history of Australia.

Ultimately, that free trade agreement was signed by Anne-Marie Trevelyan, the secretary for international trade, and the Hon. Dan Tehan, our federal minister. In fact, we had a role in that historic agreement being signed because it was signed here in South Australia alongside that other wonderful great institution between England and Australia, and that is the Adelaide Ashes test. So it was wonderful to be present at that, but I do acknowledge the work that then foreign secretary Truss had played in that important negotiation.

One of the major reasons why, as foreign secretary, she travelled to Australia in January of this year was to attend the AUKMIN conference. The AUKMIN conference is held between the foreign secretaries and the defence secretaries between Australia and the United Kingdom. There has probably never been a more important time for those AUKMIN discussions. They took place in Sydney. It is important to note that the only other state that was visited by then foreign secretary Truss in January this year was South Australia. It was a great honour to host her visit here. She visited Osborne to inspect the site where the frigates are being assembled and built now by BAE.

We also note that she attended Lot Fourteen. At Lot Fourteen, then foreign secretary Truss signed an historic agreement, an MOU between South Australia and the United Kingdom. To me, this was very logical because Lot Fourteen is focused on critical areas of importance between the United Kingdom and Australia—defence, space, cyber and quantum. In fact, these are the very issues that are bound up in that document, that agreement, that treaty that was organised and signed off by our former Prime Minister, the Hon. Scott Morrison; Boris Johnson, then Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; and President Biden of the United States.

I look forward to continuing to work on the strong ties that we have with the United Kingdom. We now have a friend, a very strong friend, a continuing friendship, between South Australia and the United Kingdom. I note that on that visit that was held here she was accompanied by Her Excellency Vicki Treadell, the High Commissioner from the United Kingdom to Australia, and our own High Commissioner to the Court of St James's in the Hon. George Brandis, who was here accompanying Liz Truss on that important visit. Liz Truss was also met on that occasion by Professor Don Markwell, who was her tutor at Oxford, and it was a happy reunion between those two.

What I point out is the strong and enduring friendship and relationship between the new Prime Minister and South Australia. In the increasingly hostile and complex geopolitical landscape that we are all living in, Liz Truss is a true beacon—somebody who stands up for conservative values and the rule of law. She has had a very strong and bold stance against the unprovoked invasion of Ukraine by Russia. We congratulate her on the strong stance she has taken and we wish her all the very best for all that lies ahead for her in her important role as the 56th Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.

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