I’m back in Canberra after a very hectic week in Perth. We had a busy programme around the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). It was good to see so many UK ministers in Australia.
Early in the week I was accompanying Lord Green the Trade Minister. He attended the Commonwealth Business Forum which attracted some 1200 business representatives from many countries. There were particularly strong delegations from Africa, who were very keen to promote opportunities in their mining sector. Lord Green gave several speeches, met individual companies and called on his Australian counterpart Craig Emerson.
I also spent some time with Lord Howell, Minister of State in the Foreign Office. We had a particularly enjoyable visit to the Commonwealth Youth Forum, where the Minister had a stimulating discussion with a small group of young people drawn from every continent. Then Foreign Secretary, William Hague, arrived. He was mainly involved in the CHOGM meeting itself, during the course of which he had numerous bilateral meetings with his opposite numbers from various countries. I was pleased that he found time to drop in on our small consular office in Perth, from where we deliver trade services, consular support and biometric registration for visas.
The Prime Minister arrived on Thursday evening, hotfoot from the emergency European Council in Brussels. He chaired an historic meeting of Realms – those countries for whom the Queen is the head of state. They agreed to take forward work to modernise the arrangements for Succession to remove discrimination against women, and to remove the prohibition on the monarch marrying a Catholic. He also joined a number of leaders at a meeting supporting a campaign to eradicate polio from the last few countries in the world where it persists. The CHOGM leaders meeting produced some good outcomes, which will enable the Commonwealth to speak up more actively in defence of its core values.
I sat in on David Cameron’s excellent meetings with Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Opposition Leader Tony Abbott. Both sessions were warm and friendly and demonstrated a very similar approach to many global issues between our two countries. He also had a fascinating round table meeting with a small group of senior Australian business leaders. They described the enormous opportunities in Australia’s resources sector. They also discussed the continuing attractions of the UK for Australian investors – we are the second most popular destination for Australian investment. Participants told me afterwards they were impressed with the PM’s energy and enthusiasm for business.
We were thrown into a flurry of activity on Saturday when the national airline Qantas, who had been involved in a dispute with its workforce, announced a complete shutdown of its network. We mobilised quickly to amend the travel advice on the FCO’s popular website, and to stand ready to help British travellers. In the event service was restored within a couple of days, so we did not get a significant number of stranded passengers requiring our support. But our delegation had to make a number of adjustments to our own travel plans to rearrange our departures from Perth.
I am sure that all the international visitors will go home with very favourable impressions of Perth. The city looked fantastic – I congratulated the recently re-elected Lord Mayor Lisa Scaffidi when she joined Lord Green for lunch. And the local people put on a great welcome, nowhere more so than at the Great Aussie Barbie, where 100,000 people turned out to greet the Queen and enjoy a sausage sizzle. All together this was a fantastic week which will be one of the highlights of my year.