Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (17:53): I move: That the House record its deep regret at the death on 8 July 2022 of the Honourable Mr Abe Shinzo, former Prime Minister of Japan; place on record its acknowledgement of his significant contribution to regional and global affairs and to the Australia-Japan partnership; and tender its profound sympathy to his family in their bereavement. Our shock at the death of Abe Shinzo was acute, and I welcome today the ambassador and his wife and our friends from the Japanese Embassy here in Canberra. It is especially poignant to share our grief here in the very chamber where he addressed us only a handful of years ago. I attended the Embassy of Japan with Ambassador Yamagami just days after Mr Abe's assassination, with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, to sign the book of condolence on behalf of the Australian parliament and on behalf of the Australian people. As I said on the morning after Mr Abe's assassination, it is hard to believe that we are talking about him in the past tense. On that terrible day, Japan lost a true patriot and true leader, and Australia lost a true friend and ally. Indeed, the friendship that Mr Abe gave Australia was warm in sentiment and profound in consequence. His commitment to furthering relations between our two nations saw him come to Australia no fewer than five times as Prime Minister. Mr Abe was instrumental in delivering several historical developments between Japan and Australia. Among them we can count the ratification of the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement, which created new opportunities for Australian businesses in Japan. He was an unflagging champion for the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership. He elevated our bilateral relationship to a special strategic partnership. Under his longstanding advocacy for closer links between our two nations, we have also increased defence cooperation, including through the recently signed reciprocal access agreement. Mr Abe understood instinctively that our two nations share values of democracy and human rights, and a common interest in bolstering the global rules-based order. As befits a true statesman, his vision rose above the often self-defeating brevity of the modern political cycle, and, because of that, he was able to make a lasting difference. Not least was his vision of a free and open Indo-Pacific—which has had a profound effect on regional and global security—and his role in forming the Quad. In a world of change and unpredictability, Mr Abe was a reassuring figure of certainty. Our friendship with Japan is one of the central elements of Australia's international relations. There is warmth at the heart of our friendship, there is respect and there is trust. Mr Abe embodied them all. The friendship between our two nations is all the more remarkable when we consider the terrible enmity it grew out of. Mr Abe was very much conscious of that. Standing here, he spoke about the horrors of the Second World War and conveyed his condolences for those who lost their lives and to the many left to carry the scars in body and mind. But he also gave his thanks for the slow, warm dawning of friendship and for the country that had made the improbable possible. He stated: … my great and whole-hearted gratitude for the spirit of tolerance and for the friendship that Australia has shown to Japan … we will never forget your open-minded spirit nor the past history between us. Four years later, in 2018, he was the first Japanese leader to visit Darwin and to lay a memorial wreath while he was there. He was certainly not destined to be Prime Minister in easy times, but he faced challenges with resolve. It is a bleak paradox that someone of such courage and strength of character could be taken away in an act of such utter cowardice. I say again to our friends in Japan: the precious democracy that you have built is stronger than this. The values that we share and that hold our societies together are stronger than this. A hand raised in violence can never be allowed to overpower what so many hands have built in peace. And this low act of cruelty cannot be allowed to overshadow a life that was lived with such high purpose. To Mr Abe's family and to his loving wife, Abe Akie, I extend the sincerest condolences of the Australian people. To the broader Japanese family: your Australian friends share in your great sorrow. Yet even in sadness we must also celebrate his life. It was a life of such consequence. Mr Abe changed things for the better—in Japan, in our region and, indeed, around the world. And that, by any measure, is a life well lived. May he rest in peace.