Former US president Bill Clinton gives speech on global affairs in Adelaide while launching Torrens University Australia
FORMER US President Bill Clinton has praised Adelaide and issued a call for global co-operation while officially launching Torrens University Australia at a packed function.
FORMER US President Bill Clinton has praised Adelaide and issued a call for global co-operation while officially launching Torrens University Australia at a packed function at the Adelaide Festival Centre.
A hushed crowd hung on every word uttered by the 42nd US president, who delivered his address with his trademark charm.
“I’m delighted to be back. It’s a wonderful city,” he said.
“The Lord Mayor (Stephen Yarwood) told me it’s one of the five most livable cities in the world. I said ‘Well, can I stay?’”
Mr Clinton’s address centred on the need for nations and individuals to stop treating politics as a “zero sum game” where “in order for me to win you have to lose”, using Russia’s fomenting of war in Ukraine as an example.
He said the world was more “interdependent” than ever, which posed great opportunities for co-operation to solve global problems as well as dangerous risks.
“Interdependence can be good, bad or both, and human nature being what it is, it’s both.
“We know that networks of co-operation work better than geniuses acting alone or groups bent on destroying each other.
“You respect and take advantage of differences while believing that your common humanity matters more.
“The future of the 21st century, despite all these problems, should be the most interesting and peaceful in history.”
Mr Clinton said it was the potential of powerful, positive international networks that led him to become Honorary Chancellor of the global Laureate Universities International, to which Torrens belongs.
On education, he said nations should invest in broadband networks, teach children foreign languages and encourage scientific thinking for social gains, pointing out that humans of all races and colours are genetically almost identical. The $3 billion the US spent on unlocking the human genome sequence was “the best money we ever spent”, he said.
Mr Clinton also bemoaned a slowing rate of social mobility in the US.
“What is not livable in a democracy is the conviction that every tomorrow is going to be just like yesterday,” he said.
Earlier in his speech Mr Clinton was in a jovial mood.
“The great thing about not being president anymore is I can say anything I want. Except if your wife is running for office. You still run the ‘don’t screw up’ (risk).
“I think it’s because of (wife and presidential hopeful) Hillary that I still get press coverage.”
Before Mr Clinton’s address, Premier Jay Weatherill revealed he had received a “very charming” phone call from the former president a couple of years ago when Laureate was facing regulatory hurdles to starting Torrens.
“After that call my staff had some very clear instructions to bring a Laureate university to this state,” Mr Weatherill said jokingly.
Before mingling with Torrens officials and dignitaries, Mr Clinton signed a plaque to commemorate the launch of Torrens, which accepted its first students this year.
Mr Clinton leaves for China tonight. His trip to Adelaide came after a keynote address to the global AIDS conference in Melbourne yesterday.
Today, it emerged that as his presidency wound to a close, Mr Clinton’s wife Hillary blamed his sex addiction on abuse suffered at the hands of his mother.