YouSaid · the spoken record

Scott Morrison

lines on the record: 38
first: 2019-09-24
most recent: 2021-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
sources: un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“Because respecting the rights and freedoms of the individual is intrinsically important — it is fundamental to our values as a people and as a nation. It lifts all societies and nations, too — delivering better outcomes through economic inclusion, women’s empowerment, environmental sustainability, rising living standards, and so much more. Australia’s actions are guided by our belief in the inherent dignity of all people. Everywhere, no matter the circumstances. Mr. President, We learned through the pandemic that every moment of challenge requires us to think anew, to engage with each other, to learn as you go. It is an experience understood by many others. And so we will continue to meet this moment, with dialogue, with partnership. Thank you, Mr. President.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“We believe in a world order that favours freedom — an order that was established through the fine institution of the United Nations that we gather around through these contributions and that supports the dignity and free expression of all people. We believe in human rights, in gender equality and the rule of law — and we back that up with how we pursue these things in our own country, in our own society, and how we raise our own children. Australia was one of eight countries only involved in the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And we continue to strengthen the international human rights system. And we will continue to raise our voice on important issues like the rights of women and girls, the rights of indigenous peoples, the global abolition of the death penalty.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“That’s why we’re helping other countries reduce their emissions and build resilience to climate change, too. It’s why we’ve set aside $1.5 billion in practical climate finance globally — and it will have a particular focus on our Pacific family, dealing directly. We’re up for this global challenge. We’re up for achieving net zero emissions — a challenge that we know will be met in partnership. And that unless we all get there — well, we will not achieve our goal. Australia’s liberal democratic values Mr. President, Australia has always sought to make a positive contribution to meeting global challenges. Our voice is clear, it’s direct, it’s respectful, it’s constructive. It reflects our confidence in who we are and what we stand for. We are a proud, liberal democracy.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“We know that if we can support developing economies to embrace and use the technologies that achieve net zero emissions, and see their economies grow and increase their jobs, that is not only wonderful for those economies and their peoples, but it also is good for Australia. We know that their success will also be our success. And so we are blessed here in this country with natural resources, including transition fuels, and the resources needed for the new energy economy. And we will apply them. We will apply them in our region as we continue to work with our Southeast Asian partners and to assist them make their energy transitions successfully through finance, through trade and capability building. We have one global atmosphere — and it’s in our shared interests to work with each other in this way.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“That’s why we’re investing around $20 billion to commercialize promising new technologies like clean hydrogen, green steel, long duration energy storage and carbon capture — vital to meeting the global task to achieve net zero emissions. And we want to work with everyone, other countries, to commercialise these technologies, and ensure they’re scalable and accessible, as soon as possible. This is critical for the good of developing countries, who we all know face the steepest challenge in reducing their emissions. Developing countries need job-creating investment in the same productive, commercial technologies, energy technologies, available to advanced economies, like Australia. Australia is a reliable partner during this time of transition.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“And we are committed to achieving net zero emissions. My Government, the Australian Government, will release our Long Term Emissions Reduction Strategy ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in Glasgow at COP26. We know the world is transitioning to a new energy economy. It’s no longer about if — or even when for that matter. It’s about how. How we achieve the reduction in global emissions — in our own emissions, in individual nations’ emissions — while still lifting living standards across all nations. And the answer, as history has shown us time and time again, it’s technology — practical, scalable and commercially viable technologies.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“Australia has a proven track record when it comes to setting, achieving and exceeding our commitments to responsibly reduce greenhouse gas emissions. We exceeded our Kyoto commitments. Our emissions in the year to March 2021 were 21 per cent below 2005 levels. That is a strong record of achievement. And it’s been achieved by Australians right across our community — our businesses, individual households, small businesses, our institutions, our governments. In Australia, we already have the world’s highest uptake of rooftop solar. And we’re deploying renewable energy at nearly eight times the global per capita average. We are well on the way to exceed our 2030 Paris commitment of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below 2005 levels. We will meet it and we will beat it — and we’ll beat it strongly.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“The United Nations must continue to reinforce the international rules-based order, and preserve the institutions that uphold that order and ensure they’re effective, as the mechanisms, the dialogue and adjudication that buttress and hold together this all-important order. Australia also values the rules and institutions that foster international trade ... which creates wealth and brings nations together ... ... and is vital to our recovery from the economic costs of this pandemic. The challenge of climate change & transitioning to a net-zero global energy economy Finally Mr President, Australia is determined to play our part in meeting the global challenge of climate change, as the world makes the transition to a net-zero global energy economy — a new energy economy.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“A global order where sovereign nations can flourish, free from coercion, because of collaborative and purposeful action. Enables them to correspond and engage in a fellowship, that is supported by a rules-based order. Rules that have underpinned regional peace and prosperity, such as through the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, and the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which we affirm as Australians and which we will always honour. We must reinforce a sustainable rules-based order ... ... while ensuring it is also adaptable to the great power realities of our time.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“Through the Quad, with a practical agenda for peace, contribution and security in our region. With our many bilateral strategic partners — comprehensive strategic partners. And with our longstanding friends and allies — the United States and the United Kingdom. Strengthened of course further last week with the announcement of our new Enhanced Trilateral Security partnership — AUKUS. Designed to further the cause of peace, stability and security in the Indo- Pacific region for the benefit of all who live within that region. It is essential that countries pursue these interests in ways that are mutually respectful and support stability and security. Because we want to maintain an open, rules-based international system that supports peace, prosperity, human dignity and the aspirations of all sovereign nations.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“Meeting these challenges requires cooperation and a common purpose among likeminded nations, and all who share that purpose of peace, stability and security — to enhance these as the outcomes that benefit all peoples from wherever they come and whatever their perspectives. Australia’s interests are inextricably linked to an open, inclusive and resilient Indo-Pacific. A region where the rights of all States — no matter how large or how small — are protected. This is what we believe. Australia continues to work constructively on this goal — with agency and purpose and commitment, passionately building a network of partnerships and relationships that support these goals, contributing to. With our Pacific family — through the Pacific Islands Forum. With our ASEAN friends — very much at the heart of our own Indo-Pacific vision.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“Strategic competition in the Indo-Pacific region Mr President, COVID-19 has underscored the vital importance of international cooperation and coordination. The patterns of cooperation that have sustained our prosperity and security for decades — they’re under increasing strain. And so are the institutions that have helped maintain that rules-based international order for over seven decades now. The global strategic environment has rapidly changed, indeed deteriorated in many respects, particularly in the Indo-Pacific region where we live here in Australia. The changes we face are many ... ... whether it’s tensions over territorial claims ... ... rapid military modernization ... ... foreign interference ... ... cyber threats ... ... disinformation ... ... and indeed, economic coercion.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“As well, we must prevent future pandemics and Australia supports the calls for a stronger, more independent World Health Organization, with enhanced surveillance and pandemic response powers. This should be the duty of every single member of the World Health Organization to share that ambition for a World Health Organization that can seek to protect us all in these circumstances. And we also need to accelerate efforts to identify how COVID-19 first emerged. Australia called for an independent review, and sees understanding the cause of this pandemic, not as a political issue, but as being essential, simply, to prevent the next one. We need to know so we can prevent this death and this calamity being visited upon the world again. That can be our only motivation.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“We’ve also contributed $130 million to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment, which has delivered over 51 million doses to South-East Asia and 1.7 million doses to our Pacific family and Timor-Leste. And we’re investing more than $620 million to procure millions of vaccine doses, and providing technical advice, training of health workers, and cold chain support to our friends and our neighbours. Now this includes a $100 million contribution to the Quad Vaccine Partnership with our good friends the United States, India and Japan. This will support a boost in production by at least one billion doses by the end of 2022, and provide access to vaccines and delivery support to countries across the Indo-Pacific. This is the right thing to do. It will help slow the spread of the virus — and, we hope, prevent variants emerging.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“They significantly lower the risk of hospitalisation, severe illness and death. And high vaccination rates are the pathway to taking back so much of what we have lost, and to living with this virus — confidently, safely, securely and prosperously. Vaccinations are the key to keeping our neighbours safe also. Australia has been helping countries across our region battle this pandemic — with personal protective equipment, testing equipment, medical personnel. And now we’re doing everything we can to help them with access to safe and effective vaccines. None of us are safe unless all of us are safe. So this is the most urgent priority for Indo-Pacific nations. Already, we’ve delivered more than three million doses to countries across our region — and millions more doses are on their way.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“Challenges that shape our times. The global COVID-19 pandemic and economic recovery Mr President, COVID-19 has tested the world like nothing in our lifetime. We mourn the millions lost. And millions more who have suffered such terrible illness. After so much heartache and so much sorrow, there is hope now and a way forward. The development of a safe and effective vaccine — vaccines, so many of them — has been one of the greatest achievements of modern times. Our collective task though now is to roll that out — a global vaccine rollout, the largest in world history. Here in Australia, more than 70 per cent of our adult population has had the first dose of the vaccine, and more than half will have had two doses. We know vaccinations work. They lower the risk of transmission.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“Mr President, It is a pleasure to give Australia’s National Statement to the General Assembly. Here in Canberra, I’m on the ancient land of the Ngunnawal people — one of Australia’s many Indigenous peoples who have cared for this continent for 60,000 years. Our First Peoples remind us that caring for country — and for each other — is the essence of our shared humanity. The past year has been one of extraordinary adversity, as the world has struggled and dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic — and it continues to rage. Yet it has also borne witness to humanity’s remarkable resilience and creative ability to overcome problems; to deliver solutions. Each generation navigates its own destiny amidst anxiety and hope. Ours is no different. Today, I would like to speak about three of the most pressing global challenges that together we face.”
2021-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 76 (2021)
“At the same time, we must not allow their concerns to be dismissed or diminished, as that can also needlessly increase their anxiety. What parent would do otherwise? Our children have a right not just to their future, but to their optimism. Above all, we must let our children be children, let our kids be kids and let our teenagers be teenagers while we do the work positively together to deliver the practical solutions for them and their future. I am confident that, as Australia stands here once again, together we will have the wit, the capacity and the will to surmount the challenges that will come our way, just as those who have come before us in this place have done, consistent with the values that have made that possible.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“My impulse is always to seek to respond positively, to encourage them, to provide them with context and perspective, and in particular to generate hope, focus their minds and direct their energies to practical solutions — things they can do, positive behaviour — that will deliver enduring results for them. I seek to encourage them to learn more about science, technology, engineering and maths, because it will be through research, innovation and enterprise that the practical work of successfully managing our very real environmental challenges is achieved. We must respect and harness the passion and aspiration of our younger generations and we must guard against others who may seek to compound or, worse, facelessly exploit their anxiety to advance other agendas.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Today, I want to reassure all Member States that Australia is carrying its own weight and more, just as we always have. We are a generous nation playing our part in securing our shared future. We are reforming the rules of global governance, setting common standards to ensure global connectivity in a digital future, preventing conflict, building the capacities of developing nations, supporting essential health projects, protecting our oceans, taking action on climate change and achieving results. Like many of the leaders here, I get many letters from children in Australia who are concerned about their future. I take them very seriously and I deeply respect their concerns. Indeed, I welcome their passion, especially when it comes to our environment.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Australia is also committed, among other countries, to the Montreal Protocol on Substances That Deplete the Ozone Layer, an agreement that will help protect the world from ozone depletion and combat climate change. Under the Montreal Protocol, Australia will further accelerate its efforts and will use 60 per cent fewer hydrochlorofluorocarbons than permitted. I can proudly inform the Assembly that Australia is on track to fulfil those commitments and I urge all other countries to do likewise. All of that adds up to significant and comprehensive action by Australia in response to the world’s greatest environmental challenges. Australia is under no illusions about the challenges that the global community will confront in the years ahead.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We have decided to invest that directly from within our international overseas development programme, rather than by making an additional budget contribution to the Green Climate Fund. That enables us to target our support directly to Pacific island nations to ensure that they receive that support directly, and in a more timely and targeted fashion. At the same time, it provides greater transparency, fairness and accountability for Australian taxpayers, who rightly demand attention and support from their Government to address the significant challenges at home, in particular with regard to boosting drought resilience through our investment in national water grid infrastructure.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We are also investing significantly in research and development to use the best science and business expertise to commercialize new renewable technologies and integrate renewables into our electricity grid. Australia now has the highest per capita investment in clean energy technologies of anywhere in the world and one in five Australian households has rooftop solar systems. In 2018, $13.2 billion were invested in clean energy technologies in Australia. That builds on the estimated $10 billion that was invested in 2017. We are also doing the right thing by our neighbours. We recently committed to investing an additional 500 million Australian dollars over five years from 2020 for renewable energy, climate change and resilience in the Pacific region.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We have committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 26 to 28 per cent below our 2005 levels by 2030. That is a credible, fair, responsible and achievable contribution to global climate change action. It represents a halving of emissions per capita in Australia or a two-thirds reduction in emissions per unit of gross domestic product. At the centre of our domestic efforts is our $3.5-billion climate solutions package, which I campaigned on during our recent national election and successfully launched as Prime Minister. It supports practical projects, such as capturing methane from waste and the revegetation of degraded land and soil carbon. Through our climate solutions plan, we are supporting the transition to renewable energy with projects such as Snowy 2.0, the largest pumped hydro station in the southern hemisphere.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Our latest estimates show that Australia’s emissions per capita and the emissions intensity of its economy are at their lowest levels in 29 years. In 2012, it was estimated that Australia would release some 693 million tons of emissions in 2020. As of 2018, that estimate has fallen to 540 million tons. Australia’s electricity sector is producing fewer emissions. In the year to March 2019, emissions from Australia’s electricity sector were 15.7 per cent lower than the peak recorded in the year to June 2009. While Australia is a resource-rich country, it is important to note that it produces only around 5.5 per cent of the world’s coal production. Having met and on its way to exceeding its Kyoto targets, Australia will also meet its commitments under the Paris Agreement on Climate Change — and we stand by them.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We are successfully balancing our global responsibilities with sensible and practical policies to secure our environmental and economic future. However, Australia’s internal and global climate change critics willingly overlook or, perhaps, ignore our achievements because the facts simply do not fit the narrative they wish to project about our contribution. Australia is responsible for just 1.3 per cent of global emissions. Australia is doing its bit to combat climate change and it rejects any suggestion to the contrary. By 2020, Australia will have surpassed its commitments under the Kyoto Protocol and reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by 367 million tons more than is required to meet its 2020 Kyoto target. There are few members of the United Nations or the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development that can make that claim.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“The reef is vibrant, resilient and protected under the world’s most comprehensive reef management plan. The UNESCO World Heritage Committee has found that Australia’s management of the reef is highly sophisticated and considered by many as the gold standard for large-scale marine protected areas. Australia’s $2-billion Reef 2050 Long-Term Sustainability Plan is based on the best available science and draws on 40 years of analysis and experience, underpinned by the management of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority. Australia’s continued support for reef, coral and water quality science will ensure that the Great Barrier Reef remains one of the best-managed World Heritage sites. Australia is also taking real action on climate change and getting results.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“In addition, we provide patrol boats to 13 countries, supported by aerial surveillance through our Pacific Maritime Security Program, which assists Pacific Island nations police illegal fishing in their own waters. We are leading efforts to preserve natural habitats and biodiversity, including through partnerships with other countries to protect migratory birds and their habitats. We have also worked hard to prevent commercial whaling and to end whaling in the Southern Ocean. In 2015, Australia set up the International Partnership for Blue Carbon with the aim of protecting and conserving mangroves, tidal marshes and seagrasses for climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Great Barrier Reef remains one of the world’s most pristine areas of natural beauty, and everyone is welcome to visit it.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“There are too many nations standing by while their nationals are thieving the livelihoods of their neighbours. Australia is not only acting in its own interest, but also helping its Pacific island family to reduce illegal fishing, which depletes the fish stocks of Pacific islanders, who rely on them for their jobs, revenue and food security. We have also worked together with Indonesia, and for that I congratulate President Widodo. We are jointly committed to an action plan to combat illegal fishing in South-East Asia, and we thank Indonesia for its regional leadership. We are also working with regional organizations to improve fisheries governance.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Australia supports the High-level Panel for a Sustainable Ocean Economy and we are working through the International Maritime Organization to address the way shipping contributes to plastics pollution in our oceans. Australia supports the Group of 20’s work on marine plastic debris and the Osaka Blue Ocean Vision, championed by Prime Minister Abe. We welcome the contributions and leadership from business and the private sector to address these challenges, including Australia’s own Minderoo Foundation. Industry-led mechanisms for investing in new recycling technologies and mitigating plastic waste in rivers, beaches and oceans on a global scale are absolutely essential for the way forward. We must also act to safeguard the sustainability of our fisheries. That means cracking down on illegal fishing.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“New technologies are coming on line, with the potential to recycle used plastics into valuable new plastics, creating a circular plastics economy. These include innovations like bioplastics, compostable plastic replacements and technologies like the Catalytic Hydrothermal Reactor — an innovative Australian- designed technology that converts end-of-life plastics into waxes, diesel and new plastics. Those innovations show us that a truly circular economy is not only possible, but achievable and, of course, essential. As Australians, we intend to do more. Australians will invest $167 million, through our Government, in an Australian recycling investment plan. Our focus is to create the right investment environment so that new technologies are commercialized, preventing pollution from entering our oceans and creating valuable new products.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“To protect our oceans, Australia is committed to leading urgent action to combat the plastic pollution that is choking our oceans, to tackle overexploitation of our fisheries, to prevent ocean habitat destruction and, of course, to take action on climate change. Scientists estimate that in just 30 years’ time, the weight of plastics in our oceans may exceed the weight of fish in those oceans. Recently, I announced that Australia will ban exports of waste plastic, paper, glass and tires, starting in 2020. That is about 1.4 million tons of potent recyclable material. Australia is also leading practical research and development into recycling, turning recycled plastic and glass waste into roads, manufacturing 100- per cent recycled PET bottles and capturing methane and waste to create energy.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Over 85 per cent of Australia’s population lives within just 50 kilometres of the coast. Australia’s indigenous peoples have been linked to our land and sea for more than 65,000 years. Our oceans connect Australia with the world. Some 99 per cent of Australia’s trade, by volume, is carried by sea. By 2025, marine industries will contribute around $100 billion each year to our economy. Our prosperity and security rely on the established laws that govern freedom of navigation, be it in the Strait of Hormuz or closer to home. Protecting our oceans is also one of the world’s more pressing environmental challenges.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“The Organization’s work, in partnership with Australia, has also helped to build a more sustainable and resilient Pacific, to support local climate change actions and resilience, to strive for gender equality through the empowerment of women and girls, to support continuing improvements in health outcomes and to bolster regional peace, including through the Bougainville Referendum Support Project. Today, however, I would like to take the opportunity to speak about Australia’s response to the great global environmental challenges. First among them is how Australia is acting to protect our oceans. Australia is an island continent. It has the world’s third largest maritime jurisdiction, stretching from the Great Southern Ocean to the vast Pacific and Indian Oceans.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“It demonstrates that the United Nations and its norms are central to a cooperative, rules-based approach to global challenges. In the Pacific, we are also stepping up. Australia is the single largest development partner for Pacific Island nations. That is an instinctive response for Australia, consistent with our clear national interest and our commitment to our Pacific family — our vuvale, our whanau. Our goal is simple — to ensure that the south-west Pacific is secure strategically, stable economically, sovereign politically and sustainable environmentally.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Those are the liberal democratic values that underpinned the United Nations at its inception. Those are Australia’s values. We believe that they should remain the guiding principles of the United Nations into the future. The alternate path of lowest-common-denominator transactionalism and relativism is a dead end. The United Nations is the prime custodian of the rules-based order. It is also the custodian of the mechanisms for dialogue and adjudication that buttress them. It has a challenging task ahead of it. For Australia’s part, we will continue to practice what we preach. Last month, Australia ratified a maritime treaty setting out a new sea boundary with Timor-Leste. That followed the first conciliation initiated under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“As it approaches its seventy-fifth anniversary next year, the United Nations must reform and evolve to respond effectively to the challenges of the twenty-first century. And, to fulfil its core mandate, the United Nations must be ever mindful of the principles and values that have always been foundational to the Organization’s efforts and success: the peaceful settlement of disputes in accordance with international law; respect for the sovereignty and independence of all States; open markets that facilitate the free flow of trade, capital and ideas; freedom of faith and freedom of expression; respect for human rights; and combating disadvantage, discrimination and persecution based on disability, gender, religion, sexuality, age, race or ethnicity.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“Much has changed since the United Nations was established many years ago. Australia was there in the beginning and we are here today because we continue to believe that differences can be resolved through dialogue and mutual respect; because we believe that an international rules-based order is essential for global stability, security and prosperity; and because we know that there can be no prosperity without peace. The world today is complex and contested. Many fatalistically see a polarized world where countries feel pushed to make binary choices. Australia will continue to resist that path. Australia will continue to seek to honestly maintain our great alliances and comprehensive partnerships in good repair, from our great and powerful friends to our smallest Pacific Island family neighbours.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)