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| Mr. John Sullivan, Ambassador of Australia |
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| The National Day in Australia is celebrated on the day when the first British colony was founded in Sydney. That was when the development of the modern Australia began. Nowadays, in the Australia composed by immigrants from all over the world, the date is a day of celebration and reflection, when the Australian people remember their values and the benefits they share as australian citizens, specially their democratic system and the respect for diversity. |
| On this day, the people remember their heroes in sports, in war and in science and those who volunteered to serve the community throught the History, like the rural firefighters. It is also the day when the Australians welcome those who join their community and thousands of immigrants make the oath to the flag and become Australian citizens. It is a day of fun! There are fairs, concerts and parades and many families enjoy a barbecue at home. |
| The Australian National Day brings the past and the future together, the land and the people. |
| THE GUIDE How long have you been in Brazil? |
| Ambassador Sullivan I have been in Brazil just over three years. I like it very much, it is a beautiful country. It is very large so it is difficult to know Brazil because of the distances, but it is a great country of contrasts and I find that fascinating. |
| THE GUIDE What do you think of Brasília? |
| Ambassador Sullivan I already knew Brasília because I had served here in 1973 and 1974, and Brasília has improved a lot in 30 years. There are a lot more shops, there are a lot more restaurants, a lot more cinemas... The facilities are much better now than they used to be when I first lived here. And my wife came to Brasília 30 years ago as well because her father used to be consul in Rio de Janeiro. She came to visit him on holidays, and then she came to Brasília just to have a look and that's when I met her, here in Brazil! So Brasília has a very good feeling for me, a special sentimental place for me. |
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| The Ambassador John Sullivan and Mr. Pedro Paulo Moreira, Director of THE GUIDE and Director of the Association of Diplomats in Brasília - ASDIBRA |
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| THE GUIDE What does your family think of Brasília? |
| Ambassador Sullivan I am here with my wife and my children live in Melbourne but they visit us from time to time. In fact they've just left, back to Australia, they were here for the holidays. They just love it here. |
| THE GUIDE Have you been to other places in Brazil? |
| Ambassador Sullivan Well, I travel to São Paulo regularly because most of our trade is down in São Paulo, I have been to Rio de Janeiro in several occasions, I studied Portuguese in Salvador and I've been to Natal, Recife, Fortaleza, Manaus and also to Minas Gerais, many times, to Belo Horizonte, Ouro Preto, the "Cidades Históricas" (historical cities). I've been to Parané, Foz do Iguaçu... I have been to Pantanal twice. So, I've seen quite a few states in Brazil. |
| THE GUIDE Do you see many differences between Australia and Brazil? |
| Ambassador Sullivan Well, I rather like to think more of the similarities between Brazilians and Australians. Brazil and Australia have a lot in common because we're both very large countries, we both have very big agricultural sectors, we both have important services sectors, we both have important industries and we have a life style, I think, that is a little more laid back than some other countries, we like to work but we like to play. I know Brazilians like to play a lot, especially partying. Coming up now, of course, Brazil will have the carnival. Australia doesn't have anything quite as grand as "Carnaval", but we also have street parades and similars and we enjoy our pleasure time as well, especially in sports. Sports is another area in which Brazilians and Australians are similar, we play a lot of sports. We don't play football as well as Brazil, but in tennis, for example, we are having the Australian Open right now and there are some Brazilians playing in it. In fact, I'm sure that soon there will be a Brazilian champion of the Australian Open. |
| THE GUIDE How are the bilateral affairs between Australia and Brazil? |
| Ambassador Sullivan The relations are good between Australia and Brazil. The Embassy of Australia in Brazil was the first in all the countries in Latin America, still in 1945, so this year is the 60th anniversary of the beginning of the relations between Brazil and Australia. And during that time we've had a lot of business going backwards and forwards between our two countries, which slowly built up our trade. Our trade now, altogether, amounts to about a billion dollars, in both directions. It is not huge compared to some countries, but it's starting to develop very well, right now there are about 35 Australian companies investing in Brazil. Another thing is that we have a lot of educational facilites that the Brazilians are learning about, we have something like around three thousand Brazilian students in Australia, at the time, many of them studying English and I think studying surfing as well... Cities like Sidney have very good surfing beaches and the young people like to enjoy them on holidays, of course, and that's very good. I am hoping, though, we also get some more Brazilians doing graduate and post graduate work. |
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| THE GUIDE Are there many Australians living in Brazil? |
| Ambassador Sullivan There are a few Australian that come here through exchange programs. There is also a community of Australian business men but nor very many, I think about 300 or 400 of them. |
| THE GUIDE How is the National Day celebrated in your country? |
| Ambassador Sullivan In Australia there are usually a number of official cerimonies, for example, the Australian National Day is usually the day when immigrants to Australia become Australian citizens in a special ceremony, Australia receives about One Hundred Thousand immigrants each year and after they've been to Australia for two or three years and provided they have suficient English and knowledge of Australia they can, then, really become Australian citizens. On a less formal note, usually there are parades on the streets of the cities. Not a military parade like there is in Brazil, but usually a parade of community organizations. Youth organizations, the scouts, ambulances, firebrigade, the communities of immigrants... |
| THE GUIDE What is the government regime in your country? |
| Ambassador Sullivan Australia is a monarchy. The Head of State is the Queen Elizabeth the Second, Queen of Australia. She also happens to be Queen of England and several other countries. She is represented in Australia by a Governor General, but we have a parliamentary democracy and the head of the government is the Prime Minister, very similar to the British and the Canadian systems. |
| THE GUIDE What is the foreign policy of your country? |
| Ambassador Sullivan It is to try to be friends with everyone that we can. We have a closer bond to the United States of America since the World War II, when the United States helped to prevent the Japanese invasion of Australia. We also have closer bonds with New Zealand, which is very close and have similar pholosophies to Australia, and we have very strong presence in Asia for countries like Japan, Korea, China, are very important to us as markets and in the last forty years we have been developing relationships with them. And also, of course, with Indonesia, one of the countries affected by the Tsunami, to which our government announced a very large donation to help reconstruct the villages that were destroyed. So we have very good relations in Asia, in Europe, we are trying to improve our relations with Latin America... So, generally speaking, we try to be good friends with everybody. |
| THE GUIDE congratulates the Embassy of Australia for its National Day! |
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