My final visit to Perth. It’s actually the Australian city I knew best before I moved here, as it’s just a short hop from my previous post in Singapore (closer than Canberra, 2000 miles and 3 time zones away), and because my Aunt – a “ten pound Pom” – had settled here.
I’ve usually got here three times a year during my posting. For much of my time, Australia’s foreign or defence ministers have come from WA (Julie Bishop, David Johnston, Stephen Smith) and so Perth ended up hosting a number of international meetings. The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in 2011 was very memorable, with the Queen and 54 heads of state or government, including PM Cameron, in town. We also had our AUKMIN annual foreign and defence ministers meeting here in 2013.
I’ve also visited British-linked companies like Rio, BHP and Shell in the resources sector here and the BAE shipyard. Travelling to a remote iron-ore mine in the Pilbara, and a gold mine in Kalgoorlie were amazing experiences. A few months ago I was in Albany in the south of WA for the WW1 ANZAC commemorations. It’s a vast state, into which you could fit much of Western Europe, and it produces half of Australia’s exports. And proportionately it has the highest number of British residents, reflecting its historic role as an immigration arrival point. They were out in force to cheer on England at the historic WACA ground during the last Ashes series. Sadly to little avail.
Today I met up with Christian Porter who last year left a career in state politics, where he seemed headed for the Premiership, to stand for national office and has just been appointed Parliamentary Secretary to PM Tony Abbott. A former Chevening scholar at the LSE in London, Christian had recently returned from a leadership study tour in the UK, organized by the FCO. We also called on Governor Kerry Sanderson, formerly WA’s Agent General in London, to say farewell. And we hosted a reception to say goodbye to a range of contacts from government, business and community organisations.
Frustratingly, people often have the misapprehension that we no longer have an office in Perth. It is true that for several years now we haven’t had a British diplomat as Consul, getting out and about with a high public profile. But we do have a Consulate with 8 staff – one of the largest in Perth – who are very busy supporting business and British citizens. They are located at 251 Adelaide Terrace. And the separate UK Visa Application Centre in Perth is on St George’s Terrace.