AmCham Gala Dinner 2018
with The Honourable Joe Hockey


Joe Hockey's Gala Dinner Selection of Speech

 
“Americans are non-conformist…. When Americans talk about ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’, their starting point is freedom and liberty for themselves and their families… They fight for themselves first, as they did in the Revolutionary War, as they did in the U.S. Civil War…. America is a reluctant world super power. It is a nation that has always been reluctant to lead. Don’t forget this: the United States lost more of its own people in the U.S. Civil War than it lost in every other war combined. They lost of their own people than they lost in World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Afghanistan, Iraq combined. And they lost it at a time when their population was about the same size as Australia today. And so they had to be dragged into World War I even though they shared the values of the Western Alliance…. and they had to be dragged into World War II…

…. The last non-conformist president of the United States was, in my view, John F. Kennedy. He broke many of the established rules. Some even suggested that he was a little bit ahead of his time. Now, in what would have been the middle of Kennedy’s second term, in 1967, America was very different to what it is today. In 1967, America had a non-white population of 12%; today it’s 38%. They had 5% foreign-born citizen, today it’s three times that. Interestingly, eight and a half per cent of children were born out of wedlock in 1967; today it’s 40%. And, of course, the gap between rich and poor has grown: in 1967, 27% of America’s wealth was in the hands of the top 1%. Today that’s 42%.... So Donald Trump inherited an America that is very different to what it was in the past. And people are nostalgic for the past. But they have reached out for a non-conformist president.  And why? Because since 2003, Americans have said repeatedly -- in what, in political terms, is the most powerful poll, “Do you think the country is heading in the right direction?” – since 2003, Americans have said no. Even before the GFC. So that’s why in five of the last six [presidential] elections in the United States, the American people voted for change. They weren’t happy; they weren’t satisfied. And in fact, if you look at the numbers at the time of the US presidential election, Americans had household wealth that was on average less than what they had in 1990. A vast percentage of American households had less than $1000 in savings. And they were fed up. They were fed up fighting wars for which they couldn’t see an outcome. They were fed up with job insecurity. They were fed up about change. Along comes Donald Trump. And in perception terms – and I want to emphasize this:  in perception terms – he challenged the orthodox view. He became an agent of change. Hilary Clinton was the incumbent. Donald Trump was the man who was going to be the non-conformist for an essentially non-conformist population. And the view of politicians – in many ways like Australia – was they don’t keep their promises. And as soon as they get into the White House, they are going to fall victim to the influence of others. So along comes Donald Trump and in his first two years:

He promised to increase military spending. He increased military spending.

He promised to cut taxes. Donald Trump cut taxes.

He promised faster economic growth. He has delivered faster economic growth.

He promised less regulation. He has smashed the amount of regulation in America and is well-recorded as having the lowest level of new regulations of any president in memory.

He promised that he would change the court system to have more conservatives and he has delivered that in a more significant way than any previous president.

He said he would pull out of TPP. He pulled out of TPP.

He said he would pull out of Paris. He pulled out of Paris.

He said he would tear up the Iran deal. He tore up the Iran deal.

He said he would re-write NAFTA. He is renegotiating NAFTA.

He said he would move the embassy to Jerusalem. He moved the embassy to Jerusalem.

And when he couldn’t delivery on the repeal of Obamacare or building the great wall with Mexico, he had a legitimate reason to blame others.

So in the view of the American people, actually, here is a guy who comes along and says he’s going to disrupt, and he has kept his promises.

Why do I say that? It’s not my job to defend Donald Trump. That’s Jim’s job [US Chargé d’Affaires, a.i. James Carouso]. But the reason why I say that is for you to get a flavour of what a large number of Americans are thinking. Too many of us in Australia fly to Los Angeles or San Francisco or New York or occasionally visit Washington and say, “We have been to America, we understand America.” But you don’t. Because all the American states are very different to each other. And therefore, if we don’t work really hard to understand the values and aspirations of the everyday American, then we will never understand the country.”