告别演说令人动容! 艾伯特: 愿上帝保佑澳洲

今日悉尼讯 澳洲东部时间9月15日 澳洲前总理艾伯特于今天中午12点40分在国会大厦发表了告别演说，他承认过去的一天是艰难的一天。他由衷地希望澳洲与新一届政府能够一切顺利，愿上帝保佑澳洲！

（图片来源：先驱太阳报）

告别演说译文如下：

谢谢大家能够到此听我发表这份声明。对于国会大厦里的许多人来说，今天是个不太轻松的日子。对于一个国家而言，领导层的换届永远都是极其艰难的。但我承诺，我会尽可能的让这件事情变得简单一些，我绝对不会在此中伤任何人。

我希望，澳洲政府能够让这个国家变得更好。当上总理并不是目的，更好的服务这个国家的人民才是这个职位的意义所在。

能够当上澳洲总理让我感到非常的荣幸，感谢澳洲民众给了我这个机会。的确，今天是个非常艰难的日子。但这就是政治，你必须遵守它的游戏规则。

在过去的2年间，我们取得了许多令人感到自豪的成就。30多万人获得了工作，不良税种都已消失。我们还与日本、韩国以及中国签订了自贸协定，澳洲历史上最大的基础设施项目也正在建设当中。

人们的目光已经照进了工会的阴暗角落，腐败的现象开始为人所知。对于恐怖分子的威胁，我们做出了自己的回应，去往世界的另一端将亲人接回家。难民船已经被要求停止靠岸，这样一来，我们才能更好的对待那些难民。

尽管工党一再反对，我们依然削减了500亿澳元的政府预算。当然，我想做的事情还有很多。例如在宪法上承认土著人的地位，让更多的孩子接受教育，创造更多的就业岗位，让社区变得更加安全。此前我曾承诺过，每年会花上一周的时间待在偏远的土著社区内。这也是澳洲历史上首次有总理做出类似承诺，希望我不会是最后一位这样做的总理。

此外，家庭暴力和毒品问题仍未没有得到解决。澳洲应该在国际事务中承担起更多的责任，中东问题，南海问题都需要我们去解决。我担心澳洲政局的持续动荡会对此产生影响。

但是，我依然对这届政府所取得的成就感到自豪。当然，我们所作的一切并不完美。毕竟政府职员都是普通的澳洲民众，而不是高高在上的神灵。只有极少数人完全达到了民众的预期。而澳洲的政治环境已经在过去10年间发生了极大的改变。

与以往相比，民众可以更多的通过评论和投票来表达自己的观点。澳洲总理甚至可能会因为一两次的投票而下台，这对一个国家来说并非是件好事。而新闻媒体也在怂恿政坛中的背叛事件。在此，我想给新闻媒体一个忠告：如果一个曝料人拒绝透露自己的姓名，请不要刊登他所说的话。新闻媒体不应成为政治刺客手中的那把刀。

首先，我要感谢我的家人。在任职总理期间，我没能履行好一个丈夫和父亲的义务。感谢我的妻子Margie，她的风度和付出让我非常感动。感谢自由党的信任，给了我领导这个政党的机会。

感谢澳洲的军人们，正是他们的付出与牺牲，保卫了我们的家园，维护了我们的信念，给了我们畅所欲言的自由。

感谢这届政府的工作人员，从始至终，他们一直在效忠自由党和这个国家。尤其要感谢我的幕僚长，她时常遭到恶意中伤。最后，我还要感谢澳洲，能够为它服务我感到万分自豪。

输掉票选并不是一件光彩的事情，但是与领导这个国家的荣耀相比，这算不了什么。当我第一次在国会大厦发表演说时，引用了澳洲第一位牧师Richard Johnson的话，我拿什么报答耶和华向我所赐的一切厚恩？

当我作为澳洲总理最后一次发表演说时，我答道：我已付出了我的一切，对此我感到万分自豪。我对这个国家的爱从未改变，愿上帝保佑这个伟大的国家。

谢谢你们！

（图片来源：先驱太阳报）

告别演说原文如下：

Quite a crowd today. Thank you for being here. This is not an easy day for many people in this building. Leadership changes are never easy for our country. My pledge today is to make this change as easy as I can. There will be no wrecking, no undermining, and no sniping. I've never leaked or backgrounded against anyone. 

And I certainly won't start now. 

Our country deserves better than that. I want our government and our country to succeed. I always have and I always will. I've consistently said in opposition and in government that being the Prime Minister is not an end in itself; it's about the people you serve. 

The great privilege that I have had is to see the wonder of this country like few others. And I want to thank the Australian people for giving me the honour to serve. Yes, this is a tough day, but when you join the game, you accept the rules.

I've held true to what I've believed and I'm proud of what we've achieved over the past two years. 300,000 more people are in jobs. Labor's bad taxes are gone. We've signed Free Trade Agreements with our largest trading partners, with Japan, with Korea and with China. The biggest infrastructure program in our country's history is under way.

A spotlight is being shone into the dark and corrupt corners of the union movement and Labor's party union business model. We've responded to the threats of terror and we've deployed to the other side of the world to bring our loved ones home. The boats have stopped and with the boats stopped, we've been better able to display our compassion to refugees. 

And despite hysterical and unprincipled opposition, we've made $50 billion of repairs to the budget. Of course, there's much that I had still wanted to do. Constitutional recognition of Indigenous people. Getting the kids to school, the adults to work and communities safe. I was the first Prime Minister to spend a week a year in remote Indigenous Australia.

And I hope I'm not the last. 

Then there's the challenge of ice and domestic violence, yet to be addressed. Australia has a role to play in the struggles of the wider world. The cauldron of the Middle East. And security in the South China Sea and elsewhere. I fear that none of this will be helped if the leadership instability that's plagued other countries continues to taint us.

But yes, I am proud of what the Abbott Government has achieved. We stayed focused despite the white-anting. Of course, the government wasn't perfect. We have been a government of men and women, not a government of Gods walking upon the earth. Few of us, after all, entirely measure up to expectations. The nature of politics has changed in the past decade.

We have more polls and more commentary than ever before. Mostly sour, bitter, character assassination. Poll driven panic has produced a revolving door Prime Ministership which can't be good for our country. And a febrile media culture has developed that rewards treachery. And if there's one piece of advice I can give to the media, it's this: refuse to print self-serving claims that the person making them won't put his or her name to. Refuse to connive at dishonour by acting as the assassin's knife. 

First and foremost, I thank my family for allowing me to be the absentee spouse and parent that politics entails. I thank Margie for her grace and dignity throughout my public life. I thank my party for the privilege of leading it. I thank the armed forces who are serving our country and defending our values, even as we speak. I think my staff, who have been absolutely unceasing in their devotion to our party and our country, especially my Chief of Staff, who has been unfairly maligned by people who should've known better. Finally, I thank my country for the privilege of service.

It is humbling to lose, but that does not compare to the honour of being asked to lead. In my maiden speech here in this Parliament, I quoted from the first Christian service ever preached here in Australia. The reverend Richard Johnson took as his text what shall I render unto the Lord for all his blessings to me? 

At this, my final statement as Prime Minister, I say: I have rendered all and I am proud of my service. My love for this country is as strong as ever, and may God bless this great Commonwealth.

Thank you.

（David）