NSW Premier Kristina Keneally delivers her specch at the Lansdowne Club Lunch in Sydney on March 19.

Speech by New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally, MP, delivered at the Lansdowne Club Lunch, Sydney, on Friday, March 19.

“I acknowledge the Gadigal people, the traditional owners of this land and pay my respects to Aboriginal elders, past and present.

And on behalf of the people of NSW, I extend a warm welcome to our guest, Mr Billy Kelleher. We wish you, Minister, a most enjoyable and productive stay in Australia. And I trust that today’s event will be a highlight of that stay.

Well, folks… Céad Míle Fáilte… and…..more importantly…What’s the crack?!

As Mr Kelleher will tell you trade between our two countries is now valued at some $2.5bn a year. That alone would be remarkable evidence of the strength of our relationship.

But today … this celebration of the Irish-Australian connection … is about much more than trade. It is about something precious in the history of both our countries ….those unique ties that bind us in friendship, in understanding, in spirit.

It is fitting that this relationship should be celebrated every year on St Patrick’s Day…here at the Lansdowne Club ….the oldest Irish Australian business club in this country.

And this lunch is acknowledged to be largest event of its kind in the world … so I’m glad I was invited to the party.

Being the bearer of a distinctive Irish name has some distinct advantages on some days….and this day is one of them.

Admittedly it is by the good fortune of a great marriage….but it is one of the many reasons I feel very much at home here today. And, by further good fortune, the most widely read authority on Irish-Australian history…. ….is a distinguished member of my extended family…Tom Keneally.

Tom’s monumental work, The Great Shame, covers 80 years of turbulent Irish history….years of famine, emigration and transportation to Australia. It’s a mighty shadow to stand in, in terms of Irish history….so, let me assure you….I’m not going to try and outdo that today!

But I would like to quote just one element of the Irish Australian story from Tom’s work, and it is this…. Australia was the potential punishment…..that hung over all protest, political activism and revolt in the British Empire

Over the Chartists of Britain….the French “habitants” of lower Canada…..and the republicans of upper Canada. But… in particular… it hung over gestures of power and rebellion in Ireland.

Now, there are two things that strike me when I read this statement. Firstly, as an immigrant to Australia myself….a place that I love, and in which I have chosen to have my own family…the idea of Australia being “the punishment” seems to me almost inconceivable.

My, how times have changed.

Secondly, as the Irish-Australian story does have its roots in the suppression of rights and expression….. is it any wonder that the characteristics that many define as “Australian”…… seem remarkably Irish.

The rebellious humour…The larrikin spirit…The rejection of class….The self deprecating humour…. And a way with words that can be both funny and bitingly accurate…..especially when cutting someone down a peg….. if they richly deserve it.

Is it any wonder so many Irish Australians found their way into politics…..adding some real wit and repartee to our political scene.

And indeed… when an Australian Prime Minister can make such colourful contributions to Hansard as: ‘He’s all tip and no iceberg’, ‘He’s wound up like a thousand day clock’, and ‘I was nearly chloroformed by that speech. It nearly put me right out for the afternoon.’ Then you know that he has to be a Keating.

The Irish influence on Australian public life …not just in politics….in the arts, academia, law and beyond ….has been spectacular and profound.

50,000 people living in Australia were born in Ireland … and nearly two million Australians claim Irish heritage.

Around 80,000 holders of Irish passports are permanent residents of Australia. And whilst I receive the occasional petition…. to rename Bondi to “County Bondi”…ok, I made that up….. the Irish Australian community is actually…across Sydney and….across our way of life.

After all it’s in western Sydney….far from county Bondi….that we find the Penrith Gaels – a thriving local Irish Gaelic Club. And let’s not forget the Irish contribution to Sydney FC – Terry McFlynn

Or our Irish AFL connection……..Tadhg Kenneally of the Sydney Swans…..who is also my cousin…..ok, I made that up too.

And we should not forget that AFL itself is a hybrid of Gaelic and rugby football… an early example of compromise between British and Irish sensibility.

Yes, the Irish have infiltrated almost every aspect of Australian life… just as they have in my home country. After all, without poitín, how would the Americans have learnt to make moonshine?

Not that I would know anything about that. So I’ll quickly move on…And I don’t want to harp on….I’ve said enough as it is….So I will simply once again thank you…. for the opportunity to celebrate the memory of St. Patrick on this great annual occasion.

After more than 15 centuries, St. Patrick’s place in the hearts of the Irish people remains undiminished … just as Ireland’s place in the hearts of Australians will endure forever in this country’s story.

And on that note, ladies and gentlemen… Sláinte!”