Prime Minister Gillard with visiting Irish Minister Frances Fitzgerald. (Pic: Nadean Brennan)

The Prime Minister has paid tribute to the “empire of song and story” built by the Irish in Australia.

In what was the first appearance by a serving Australian Prime Minister at the Lansdowne Club’s St Patrick’s Day lunch – an annual gathering of over a thousand Irish Australians – Ms Gillard acknowledged Ireland had been “doing it tough” recently.

She told a crowd who had gathered to mark St Patrick’s Day, and the 25th anniversary of Australia’s largest Irish network, that Australia was looking forward to Fine Gael and Labour offering the country a fresh start.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott, NSW Premier Kristina Keneally, NSW Liberal Leader Barry O’Farrell and Ireland’s Minister for Children, Frances Fitzgerald, also addressed the gathering.

Ms Gillard said that the real legacy of the Irish in Australia was characterised by education, hard work and respect.

“The Irish landed just a few miles east of here. They landed in chains. Yes, they brought a song and a smile and a tear, and “drinking, praying, fecklessness” – all that malarkey,” said the Prime Minister.

“But we know you a bit better than that. We know what really happened. Our Irish worked. And they taught their kids. And I don’t see too many chains in the room today.”

The Prime Minister also paid tribute to an “empire of song and story” and to the contribution the Irish had made to education in Australia.

“People have made the point before me – these kinds of Irish people and these kinds of Irish values were how Irish emigration created a kind of Irish empire.

“Not like the empire that the Romans or the British built, but an empire nevertheless – an empire of song and story; an empire of education.

“The Roman Empire’s strongholds were its legions. The British Empire’s strongholds were its ships. The Irish Empire’s strongholds are its schools, the thousands of them in Australia today; St Mary’s, St Joseph’s, St Edmund’s, St Pat’ – the strongholds of the Irish empire.”

In a speech that focused strongly on Irish Catholicism, Mr Abbott joked about the Coalition’s opposition to Labor’s planned price on carbon.

“I’m afraid my own ecclesiastical namesake, St Anthony Abbot, was a rich merchant who gave away all his worldly possessions to live on a desert mountain top, clad in skins and living on locusts and wild honey,” said Mr Abbott.

“According to St Athanasius, the devil fought with St Anthony by afflicting him with boredom, laziness and fantasies of women, and I thought to myself, this is what happens when you try to live with the lowest possible carbon footprint.”

The Lansdowne Club presented its chairman, Peter Brennan, with a specially made trophy to mark his 25-year involvement.

With a New South Wales State election just days away, the lunch hosted some verbal jousting between Ms Keneally and Mr O’Farrell

The NSW State Opposition Leader said politicians have always had an affinity with St Patrick’s Day.

“There’s a reason why St Pat’s Day and politicians go hand in hand.

“St Patrick had the first example of spin ever seen in the world. If you believe he drove the snakes from Ireland you would believe Labor’s election promises,” said Mr O’Farrell.

Mr O’Farrell’s Liberal Party is well ahead of Labor in polling for the New South Wales election, to take place on March 26.

Premier Kenneally, his opponent, told the crowd that “with a Keneally going up against an O’Farrell in this election, the only certain winner in New South Wales on March 26 will be the Irish.”

Read the Prime Minister’s full speech here and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott’s full speech here.

By Luke O’Neill

Speech by Federal Opposition leader Tony Abbott, MP, delivered at the Lansdowne Club Lunch, Sydney, on Thursday, March 17, 2011.

“Well ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much. Fittingly at this rugby-oriented dinner my only connection with Ireland is through sport. I was with the Sydney University rugby team and the lineout throw depended on the recognition of the letter ‘T’ at the start of the word called. ‘Tchaikovsky’, I called.

There was complete chaos in the lineout, complete chaos, and I think it was the Guinness that made me do it.

But ladies and gentlemen it is a real honour to attend this splendid feast honouring Saint Patrick and the contribution of Irish people and the Catholic faith to Australia.

I acknowledge my brother leader of the opposition Barry O’Farrell. I acknowledge the Premier and the Prime Minister, and it’s good to see the Prime Minister wearing green without any prompting from Bob Brown.

Last night in Adelaide the Prime Minister said of herself “I will put our nation first every time, no matter what the personal price. Faced with hurdles, I will always find a way through” and naturally I was reminded of our Catholic faith by this statement. She’s obviously drawn inspiration from Saint Julia, her ecclesiastical namesake.

The historians tell us that Saint Julia was a woman of faith who suffered defilement of the hair, flogging and crucifixion. But she never became a denier, she never became a denier of her Catholic faith that is.

And Saint Christina, the Premier’s ecclesiastical namesake, also did it tough. She was tortured, so the historians tell us, by iron hooks, grilling by fire, assaults by snakes and drowning tied to a millstone, which sounds easy enough compared with facing the wrath of voters here in New South Wales.

But ladies and gentlemen, I’m afraid my own ecclesiastical namesake, Saint Anthony Abbot, was a rich merchant who gave away all his worldly possessions to live on a desert mountain top, clad in skins and living on locusts and wild honey.

According to Saint Athanasius, the devil fought with Saint Anthony by afflicting him with boredom, laziness and fantasies of women, and I thought to myself this is what happens when you try to live with the lowest possible carbon footprint.

But turning now to the Leader of the Opposition, the other leader of the opposition. So far, I regret to say there has never been an acknowledged Saint Barry. Nowhere in the canon is there an acknowledged Saint Barry. But I can say this, Barry, canonisation awaits you, depending on the results of the 26^th of March.

Ladies and gentlemen, this is a marvellous day. It’s a marvellous opportunity, as I said, to celebrate the contribution of Ireland and its faith to our education, to our health, to our politics and to our culture.

I think we should all enjoy St Patrick’s Day, celebrate all things Irish. But there is one thing we must remember on a day such as this — work is the curse of the drinking classes.

Thank you so much.”

Read Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s speech to the Lansdowne Club HERE.