UN General Assembly
2018

We are all proud members of this venerable institution. If this place and our membership in it stand for anything, then we stand for an international order based on rules and cooperation. That principle guides our actions, our dealings with each other, and our treatment of collective challenges as they arise before us. Australia recognizes the reality of a world in which the power of great States shapes the international system in which we seek to advance our national interests. That is the grain with which we all work. We also hold true to the following simple proposition — we will be safer and more prosperous in a world where global differences are managed and global challenges met by agreed rules rather than by the exercise of power alone. Strong global cooperation sets a tone and sets in place rules and norms for constructive diplomacy in every region of the world. That is true even in a period of rapid and accelerating change and of rising nationalism and geopolitical