Mr Burns with President Hu Jintao
Mr Burns & President Jiang
Mr Burns and Premier Zhu Rongji
Mr Burns and Mr Deng Xiaoping
Mr Burns and Mr Zhou Enlai
The Honourable Tom Burns
Chairman of Queensland China Council
The Honourable Tom Burns AO is an eminent figure in Australian political circles with outstanding achievements over thirty years of political life. His contribution to Australia/China relations has been recognised both National and International by a number of awards.
In January 2001, as part of Australian's national day celebrations, Australia
Government awarded Mr Burns one of Australia's most prestigious medals-AO-an
officer in the Order of Australia for his contribution to Australia China
relations over the past thirty years. In the same year, he received the
Gold Magnolia Honorary Award from the Shanghai Government for his contributions
to Chinese-Australian relations. He was the first Australian not of Chinese
heritage to win this honoured award. In 2003 the Queensland University
of Technology awarded Mr Burns an Honorary Doctorate for his work in China.
Mr Burns served for more than twenty years as a parliamentarian in the
Queensland State Parliament. He also held the post of Deputy Premier for
over six years and held many Ministries. In July 1999, the Queensland
Government appointed Tom Burns Chair of the Queensland-China Council.
For many years Mr Burns has been deeply involved in economic and cultural contacts between Australia and China. He has tirelessly promoted political, economic and trades exchanges between the two nations. Early in the 1970s, Mr Burns accompanied Gough Whitlam's Australian delegation on a first visit to China. This visit is extremely important in the history of Australian Chinese relations. In the following year, the Whitlam government officially recognised the People's Republic of China. Australia and China then began to build a formal friendly diplomatic relationship. The positive driving role played by Mr Burns was in building the Australian Chinese diplomatic relationship was an outstanding contribution.
For more than thirty years, Mr Burns in his role as Queensland Opposition leader, Deputy Premier, and Chairman of Queensland-China Council has led many Government/business delegations on visits to China in order to develop further the good foundations of the Queensland China relationship. Because of his long-standing association with China, Mr Burns has been fortunate in becoming one of the very few Australian political figures to have met four generations of Chinese leaders.
In addition to having met the late Premier Zhou Enlai and Mr Deng Xiaoping,
in 1970's Mr Burns has met the former Premier Mr Zhu Rongji on many occasions.
In September 1999 Mr Burns cordially hosted President Jiang Zemin, accompanying
him on a tour of Australia's great tourism destination, the Great Barrier
Reef.
On Mr Burns' birthday in October 2003, he met President Hu Jintao in
Cairns, North Queensland. This is another milestone in Mr Burns' long
association with China.