As I said, Paris is no longer the centre of the French-speaking world; its epicentre now seems to lie somewhere between the Congo basin and Ouagadougou, and this trend is only set to continue. Alors que l’Église australienne traverse une profonde crise, liée à la révélation ces dernières années de plusieurs affaires d’abus sexuels mettant en cause des membres du clergé – y compris au plus haut niveau –, Mgr Mark Coleridge, archevêque de Brisbane, à l’est du pays, a été élu vendredi 4 mai président de la Conférence des évêques d’Australie. And we cannot be the guardians of the international order and multilateralism, we cannot be the founders and members of the United Nations Security Council and forget that we must comply with signed agreements. The European innovation agency and the European intelligence academy are both projects that will make progress in the coming months. And every time democracy wanes, whenever obscurantism waxes, whenever populations slide, it is because education has lost ground and especially that of girls. So combating the spread of terrorist ideas over the Internet, in liaison with web platforms, has become an essential aspect of our fight. As you have understood, this European commitment will continue to nurture our diplomatic activity, insofar as it is inextricable from that activity and from our daily work at national level. > French Diplomacy > President sets out foreign policy goals for 2018. In a few days, I will have an opportunity to discuss this issue with the Chinese President, because I think that China has a specific role to play in defusing this situation, and I know that the Chinese President is fully aware of the issue, which is no longer simply regional, but has taken on global significance. This diplomatic line, as I have reiterated several times, is also underpinned by a method, just as you mentioned before, Your Excellency. I would also like to wish a Happy New Year to you, Ambassadors, your families and your countries. In contrast to this vision I want to propose an international policy that is determined, open, engaged and based on partnership. Naturally, this raises concerns among all neighbouring powers and would be in breach of its commitments. The prime minister of Australia is Malcolm Turnbull, the head of the Liberal Party of Australia. Having appointed a new personal representative, Leïla Slimani, I will pay great attention to preparing the International Organization of La Francophonie summit planned to take place in Yerevan in November 2018, and I will also have the opportunity to meet with the Armenian President on this issue in the next few days. The President of the Senate is the presiding officer of the Australian Senate, the upper house of the Parliament of Australia. What power do we want to give it? It shows, if there were any need, that we were right to think that in Iran’s case, change would not come from the outside. We must also step up the deployment of the G5 Sahel Joint Force, which acts as a crucial bridge between the Barkhane forces and MINUSMA, and which enables African States present in the region to fully assume their responsibilities with support and backing and to take action on the ground to fight the terrorist groups destabilizing their countries. We have never managed to build peace in another country by replacing one population with another! Otherwise, what credibility would we have when telling a given power which has forgotten its duties that it must get back on track? We will also continue the work in partnership with the African Union that was decided in Abidjan. In our haste to conclude agreements, we never examined the issue of reciprocity. But let’s not be under any illusions. We fully support this, as I recalled during the United Nations General Assembly in September last year. Let a few of us dare! It was to avert this ill-fortune that the League of Nations was created in 1919, before failing and being reborn in a new form which we must now protect and cherish more than anything else. We must therefore accept and encourage the peoples, intellectuals, scientists, free women and men, consciences, journalists and political leaders to fully embrace Francophony, its inventiveness, to support it with us, sometimes for us. That said, however, I cannot forget the ongoing fight against Islamist terrorism in the Sahel and Sahara. The vitality of our democratic debates has taken a different course, and here too it is essential for consultation to take place. That is the course I want to set for our diplomacy: to build peace by combating the causes of insecurity and instability. President's Day Top Events and Things to Do. We know this challenge well in France, as it concerns first and foremost our schools, our national education system, that we have undertaken to reform in order to ensure genuine equal opportunities. On 11 November in Paris, I will invite nearly 80 heads of state and government representing all the countries that fought. Most recently, Mr Morrison was the Treasurer from 21 September 2015 to 24 August 2018. Recent history has taught us that we sometimes think that victory against a given power will resolve all of our problems. We must also achieve peace in Syria and this will require intensive work from some of us. The Senate shall, before proceeding to the despatch of any other business, choose a senator to be the President of the Senate; and as often as the office of President becomes vacant the Senate shall again choose a senator to be the President. That is also why we have decided to prioritize development and cooperation policies in the regions concerned. The Hon Scott Morrison MP was sworn in as the 30th Prime Minister of Australia on 24 August 2018. In such barbaric times I refer once again to the words of Péguy: writing on paper, expressing diverse opinions is not a luxury. The Governor-General is the representative of the Queen of Australia, who is Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom, and acts in her stead. But first of all there is Franco-German dialogue! The President's principal duty is to preside over the Senate, to maintain order in the Senate, uphold the Standing Orders (rules of procedure) and protect the rights of backbench Senators. The first Paris Forum, to which you will be invited, will be held on 11 November this year and will be an opportunity to reflect on the global order on the sidelines of commemorations for the end of the First World War. There are not, on one side, the Euro Area states, irreconcilable with states outside the Euro Area, on the other. The nation does have a prime minister. In the coming months, we must see the situation in Iraq gradually return to normal, militias that are not recognized by the official Iraqi army and government must be demilitarized and the Iraqi government must ensure stability with the help of all international powers. Le Premier ministre est nommé par le gouverneur général d'Australie selon l'article 64 de la Constitution australienne.Cet article permet au gouverneur général de nommer les ministres qui doivent être membres d'une des deux chambres du Parlement d'Australie ou, s'ils ne le sont pas, en devenir membre dans les trois mois qui suivent leur nomination. And also to have balanced dialogue when we have trade discussions, which must not be concluded by sacrificing a specific economic sector! This applies internally, where we will continue to work to bolster our country, its ability to innovate, create jobs, create momentum, give our citizens the possibility to act once again by removing the barriers that have hindered us for too long. The current convention is that presidents are elected from the party or coalition which forms government. France has clearly indicated its commitment to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and its reservations as to any international initiative that could weaken it. Le samedi 7 avril 2018, à Douma, des dizaines d’hommes, de femmes et d’enfants ont été massacrés à l’arme chimique, en totale violation du droit international et des résolutions du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies. All senate presidents have been members of major parties, though not necessarily the governing party. At the very least, it gives a diplomatic road map for all the conflicts in which we are involved. On this, our determination and action will be clear: a development, cooperation and partnership policy with all countries of origin, precisely to help them retain their young people and population. And so we must, through our official development assistance and our commitment, carry out concrete activities in the field to strengthen our education efforts. I will continue this work during 2018 with the entire government, France’s remarkable diplomatic and consular network throughout the world and, of course, all of our European partners who contribute fully to these efforts. No other world power has had the same approach as Europe in terms of trade. I hope we will manage to expand these legislations further, it is our responsibility. It is now essential that we use gradual pressure to reopen all discussion channels with North Korea and that we return to the normalized and supervised process which has been defined. In the next two months we are going to draw up the financial trajectory which will provide credibility and detail for this commitment but also the method which I want us to reconsider, which will enable this commitment to be more effective. Indeed, these deep-rooted changes are also happening on an international level, where France will play a full role in this new year, in a world whose references and benchmarks have changed significantly and where we must consistently question our diplomatic certainties. The second battleground for successfully developing and consolidating this multilateralism is justice, and I would like to take the opportunity to pay tribute to international justice at a time when the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has just finished its mission. In fact, I have five points to make about Iran. The President is also the spokesperson for the Senate, who represents the Senate in dealings with the Governor-General, the executive government, the House of Representatives and persons outside the Parliament. The second change of approach is that I fully take on board the idea of an open vanguard. It also enables us to avoid conflicts as far as is possible. The first is that, on 14 July 2015, we concluded a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) which governs Iran’s nuclear activity until 2025. Just look at modern history! And overcoming a kind of binary relationship with Europe, whereby people ask whether it is yes or no through technocratic channels and ultra-technical debates! Dialogue is the key to diplomacy itself speaking, negotiating, innovating, searching tirelessly for political solutions without complacency and with mutual respect, with all parties, to drive peace and stability. If we are to attack the root causes of the problem, it is essential to support education and economic development in all these regions. View the 2018 election exit polls for Senate, House and Governor races, including information on how different races, genders and age groups voted. That said, I believe that we must move away from the moral stances which sometimes make us powerless, but we must also step away from the concessions we have made to certain powers that some believe, by recognizing a foreign-appointed opposition party, could resolve the situation in Syria in a stable and sustainable fashion. Will 5G Impact Our Cell Phone Plans (or Our Health?! Of those who have served as the nation's prime minister, three died in office (Joseph Lyons, John Curtin and Harold Holt), one was dismissed (Gough Whitlam) and six resigned following leadership spills (John Gorton, Bob Hawke, Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull). That alone can settle the issue of migration that I was talking about. They should enable common protection of borders, harmonization of our asylum laws, common management, and improvement of the defects of the so-called “Dublin system” that are now clearly visible and identified. Let us create coalitions of goodwill that are ready to go further! A strong and sovereign Europe is one of the best ways to ensure this, and one of the prerequisites if we are to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Today we are witnessing a crisis of globalization; that is what we are currently experiencing, a crisis of contemporary capitalism, which has been unable to regulate its own excesses and which is creating intolerable economic and social inequalities and intolerable inequalities in terms of the climate. La charge s’annonce lourde pour restaurer la confiance perdue, dans ce climat de décrédibilisation de l’institution. And so we have a merciless battle to fight on each of these issues, which force us, first of all, to fight for our security: there is no democracy, no defence of the rule of law and multilateralism if we are weak. Les faits et la responsabilité du régime syrien ne font aucun doute. Progress was made in several areas during 2017, especially as regards a protective Europe, which is the basis upon which we can rebuild the trust which is essential for the European project. It is a way, before the European election, of asking our peoples about the European project they want, and involving them more effectively! This will require intense diplomatic work, firstly in Iraq, to organize free elections in May this year. Every year we will monitor the commitments made at this summit to ensure that they are followed through and we must have several working methods and lines that fit together on this issue. Europe is simple in this regard: if France and Germany do not reach agreement, it does not move forward. Although the President does not have the same degree of disciplinary power as the Speaker does, the Senate is not as rowdy as most Australian legislative chambers, and thus his or her disciplinary powers are seldom exercised. It is an important moment in the mobilization of the coming months, in which I will ceaselessly invest myself, and which is involving several ministers of my government.