Penny Wong calls on Britain to face its colonial past

“My father is of Hakka and Cantonese Chinese descent,” she will say. “Many of these clans worked for the British North Borneo Company in tin mines and plantations for tobacco and timber. Many worked as domestic servants for British colonists, including my own grandmother.”

Wong said understanding the past would enable all nations “to better share the present and the future.”

“It gives us the opportunity to find more common ground than if we were hiding in narrower versions of our countries’ histories. It helps us open the world. It helps us open up the Indo-Pacific.”

Wong praised the work of former Labor Prime Ministers Gough Whitlam and Paul Keating, both of whom are Australia’s prospects in the second half of the 20th century.

“Australia sees itself as part of the Indo-Pacific and as part of the Indo-Pacific.”

Acknowledging the rise of Britain’s first prime minister with South Asian roots, Rishi Sunak, and several senior government ministers with African and non-white backgrounds, Wong says the changing face of Australia and Britain has become “unmistakable” among its citizens and their political leaders .

Visiting the UK and mainland Europe as part of several meetings with Defense Secretary Richard Marles, Wong addressed Beijing’s ever-growing influence in the Indo-Pacific region head-on. “Use our national power, our influence, our networks, our capabilities to avert catastrophic conflict.”

“I shared Australia’s views directly with my Chinese counterpart when I made Australia’s first ministerial visit to China in three years just before Christmas,” she said.

“If conflict were to break out in the Indo-Pacific, it would be catastrophic – for our people and for our prosperity.

“Australia views our investment in our future defense capabilities as essential to deterring conflict and maintaining a strategic balance in the Indo-Pacific.”

She also hailed the UK’s decision to expand its economic ties in the region, saying promoting prosperity would help alleviate poverty and reduce deprivation.

“It’s not just a contribution to the betterment of humanity, it’s an investment in our own safety. Stability and prosperity are mutually reinforcing,” she will say.

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