UN General Assembly
1986

Australia has historical reasons to be conscious of the United Nations, of the grave responsibilities that it bears and the great hopes invested in it. Our nation was the first to have a permanent mission accredited to the United Nations in New York. An Australian was the first President of the Security Council. A predecessor of mine, as Minister for Foreign Affairs of Australia, was President of the Assembly in its third turbulent year. In this forty-first year of the united Nations Australia is reaching the end of its fourth term on the Security Council. It has been a period of high significance, both to the cause of global security and to the effectiveness of the Council itself.