It gives you a good stepping stone, a solid foundation for the real work on which you have already embarked and on the career path along which I hope each of you will successfully progress. But much more than a degree is needed for success. Hard work, determination, tenacity and above all belief in what you are doing and the moral fibre to do it with integrity are needed. The Australian ethos has been forged under the fiery Australian sun. It has been toughened by adversity - drought, depression, flood and war.
Australian people are free spirits, individualistic.
They demonstrate great initiative. This background and those characteristics result in the relationship between the Australian community and those who govern, control or regulate the community, being one of tension. Governance, control and regulation are essential characteristics of any society. They are even more part and parcel of modern society and recognised as such by all Australians. But there remains a tension between the free spirited Australian ethos and the recognised need for control.