HRC was in Australia on 11/11/2012

2009-2017.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2012/11/200374.htm

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will travel to Perth and Adelaide, Australia; Singapore; Bangkok, Thailand; Rangoon, Burma; and Phnom Penh, Cambodia November 11-20, 2012.

On November 11, Secretary Clinton will travel to Perth, Australia to join U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, Australian Foreign Minister Bob Carr, and Australian Defense Minister Stephen Smith for the annual Australia-United States Ministerial Consultations (AUSMIN) to discuss security cooperation and other regional and global issues. In Perth, Secretary Clinton will meet with Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Foreign Minister Bob Carr. She will also visit the new Western Australia – United States & Asia Centre (USAC). She will then travel to Adelaide where she will meet with Australian business leaders as well as visit Techport Australia, Australia’s largest and most advanced shipbuilding facility.

Secretary Clinton will travel to Singapore on November 16-17 to meet with senior government officials, including Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister Kasiviswanathan Shanmugam, on a wide range of issues.

On November 17, Secretary Clinton will travel to Bangkok, Thailand. She will join President Obama and his delegation on November 18 for meetings with Prime Minister Yingluck and other senior Thai officials to underscore our strong alliance and discuss shared priorities and regional issues in advance of the ASEAN East Asia Summit.

Secretary Clinton will accompany President Obama to Burma on November 19, and join his meetings with Burmese President Thein Sein and Chair of the National League for Democracy and Member of Parliament Aung San Suu Kyi.

Secretary Clinton will also accompany President Obama on his travel to Phnom Penh, Cambodia November 19-20 to attend the U.S.-ASEAN Leaders Meeting and the East Asia Summit.

HRC was at APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) on Nov 11 2011. see HRC's public schedule below

from wikipedia (https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/APEC_United_States_2011)

"The U.S.-led initiatives will engage with current and potential future members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement to shape a broad-based, comprehensive, and high-standard platform to successfully integrate the economies of the Asia-Pacific. APEC leaders announced their commitment to accelerate economic integration and, to that end, endorsed a U.S.-Australia initiative in APEC to promote cross-border services trade in the region."

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SECRETARY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON: Public Schedule for November 11, 2011

still4hill.com/2011/11/11/secretary-hillary-rodham-clinton-public-schedule-for-november-11-2011/

SECRETARY HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON

Secretary Clinton participates in the APEC USA 2011 Leaders Week, in Honolulu, Hawaii (ET + 5 hours). She is accompanied by Under Secretary Hormats, Under Secretary Otero, Assistant Secretary Campbell and Director Sullivan.

Click here for more information.

8:30 a.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton meets with the foreign ministers participating in APEC USA 2011 Leaders Week, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

9:30 a.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton delivers opening remarks at the APEC Ministerial Meeting Opening Session, at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

10:30 a.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton participates in the APEC High-Level Policy Dialogue on Disaster Resiliency, at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

(CLOSED PRESS COVERAGE)

12:30 p.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton participates in the APEC High-Level Policy Dialogue on Governance and Economic Growth, at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

(POOLED CAMERA SPRAY)

2:30 p.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton holds a bilateral meeting with Indonesian Foreign Minister Natalegawa, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

(POOLED CAMERA SPRAY)

3:15 p.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton participates in a special session of the APEC 2011 CEO Summit, a conversation on women and the economy, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

Click here for more information.

4:20 p.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton holds a press availability, at the Hawaii Convention Center in Honolulu, Hawaii.

(OPEN PRESS COVERAGE)

6:30 p.m. LOCAL Secretary Clinton holds a bilateral meeting with Chinese State Councilor Dai Bingguo, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

(POOLED CAMERA SPRAY)

"Gillard pushes the right buttons as she woos the US"

smh.com.au/politics/federal/gillard-pushes-the-right-buttons-as-she-woos-the-us-20110310-1bob4.html

By Phillip Coorey

10 March 2011 — 6:57am

"You were indispensable in the Cold War and you are indispensable in the new world too," she said.

Ms Gillard received six standing ovations and 10 seated rounds of applause. She herself choked back tears as she neared the end of the speech and urged the US to be bold in order to get back on its feet.

"I firmly believe you are the same people who amazed me when I was a small girl by landing on the moon," she stammered.

There were tears in the audience as well. The hardline Republican Speaker, John Boehner, welled up when Ms Gillard told the story of the New York firefighter, Kevin Dowdell, who died a decade ago on September 11. Like so many who died in the twin towers, no trace of his body was ever found.

Three years before, Mr Dowdell had helped train Australians in preparation for a terrorist attack on the Sydney Olympics.

He gave a battered FDNY helmet to one of the Australian firefighters, Rob Frey. When Mr Dowdell was killed, Mr Frey tracked down his two sons, Patrick, a solider in Afghanistan, and James, a New York fireman, and gave them their father's helmet.

James Dowdell and Mr Frey were in the gallery this morning and rose, Mr Dowdell clutching the helmet, to an ovation that almost lifted the roof.

It was a magnificent piece of symbolism that surpassed words.

While the prime aim of the speech was to reinforce the alliance into the future, it was not all praise and effusion.

Ms Gillard cautioned the US lawmakers against reverting to protectionism in a bid to lift its economy out of the slump.

Free trade equalled jobs and growth, she said.

She also sought to soothe fears about China, saying there was room for everyone to benefit economically.

"My guiding principle is that prosperity can be shared," she said. "The global economy is not a zero-sum game."

This provoked spontaneous applause.

Underlying it all, however, was the observation that, with China and India on the rise, the Asia-Pacific would become the world's most important region in economic and military terms.

And Australia wanted American leadership in the region, both global and economic.

Former prime minister John Howard used to warn those who constantly criticised US dominance to be careful what they wished for. Ms Gillard's message was essentially the same.

Former prime minister Kevin Rudd was pilloried for his 2008 suggestion of an Asia-Pacific Community, a regional body in which member nations could discuss security and economics, unlike APEC, which is confined to economics and does not include India.

Now Mr Rudd's vision has been vindicated by the US and India joining the East Asia Summit.

Ms Gillard all but said this was now the premier forum in the region to "manage the frictions of a growing and changing Asia Pacific" and that Australia would be in lock-step with the US as an ally, just as Australia would stay with the US to the death in Afghanistan.

Standing in the cradle of democracy, supporting a war and free trade, Ms Gillard has come a long way since her allegedly socialist left leanings as a student.