When the businesswoman and lawyer, who is the first female AFL commissioner and former President of Chief Executive Women, Sam Mostyn was sworn in as Australia's 28th Governor General, with a 43% pay rise to $700,000 a year, she identified "care" as one of her key aspirations for the country and a force that can uplift Australians.
With the Australian aged care sector in the midst of unprecedented reforms and facing an uncertain future, the Governor General listed care organisations among those at the "heart of our community". She said they "encapsulate the best of Australian values".
"Across my career, and particularly in the past decade, I've seen how care can be an uplifting force," she said.
"I've seen it in our renewed focus on the roles of teachers, nurses, care workers, volunteers and all front line workers, not just during the crises of bushfires, floods and Covid 19, although very much amplified by those times."
Care is the focus of "our aged and disability sectors, where respect and dignity will define that care," she said.
"Care is that gentle thought and the outstretched hand that Australians have always been ready to share when great challenges present themselves."
To read the 28th Governor General's swearing-in speech in full, click here
