Muddled Trade Minister Don Farrell fails to Czech the facts, mixes up Slovakia and Slovenia at embassy opening

More than three decades after Czechoslovakia split and Slovakia was formed, Australia’s trade minister has struggled to properly name the country while helping to reopen its embassy and praising its role in backing a European free trade deal.

Senator Don Farrell this week joined visiting Slovakian Foreign Minister Juraj Blanar to cut the ribbon on a new diplomatic office in Canberra, while the senior Labor figure also continues to push for federal parliament to pass the long-awaited free trade agreement with the European Union.

According to attendees at Wednesday’s diplomatic formalities, Senator Farrell mistakenly referred to Slovakia as “the Slavic Republic” during his speech before later confusing the country with Slovenia in a social media post.

A video of the Slovak embassy opening shared on the minister’s Instagram account was set to Slovenian folk music performed by the artist “Mr Slovenia” but was removed shortly after The Nightly enquired about the error.

Another version of the video was then quickly published online but set to a new musical soundtrack titled “Slovakia Countryside”.

In his formal remarks on Wednesday evening, Senator Farrell singled out Slovakia’s ongoing support of the new Australian-EU trade agreement which was officially signed in March after years of negotiations.

“The significance of the EU Agreement is that it’s not one new agreement, it’s effectively 27 new agreements. So, Australia in one fell swoop, doubles the countries we have a trading relationship with,” he said.

“The world is dividing into two groups. You’re either protectionist and support tariffs or you support free and fair trade. Our government has nailed its colours to the mast. We’re in support of free and fair trade. It’s the reason we have the prosperity that we have in this country.” “We want partners who agree with us, and we very much appreciate that Slovakia is one of the countries that came out at the start and said we’re going to support this agreement.”

The trade minister also noted his “warm relationship” with Maroš Šefčovič, the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security (and his EU counterpart) who according to the text of his speech had become his “favourite Slovakian.” Senator Farrell also spoke about his former senior adviser Matej Stasak’s role in landing the landmark free deal saying: “we would not have got a free trade agreement with Europe without Mat’s effort. Every meeting, we started with Slovak because I knew that would warm up Maros!”

After Czechoslovakia split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia in 1993 both Central European countries established separate embassies in Canberra, but at the end of 2022 the government in Bratislava downgraded its diplomatic presence to a Consulate General in Sydney.

In his speech the visiting Slovakian foreign minister said the reopening of his country’s embassy in Canberra meant it now had its strongest-ever diplomatic presence in Australia at a time when the EU and Australia have concluded FTA negotiations.

“The embassy offers a tremendous opportunity to implement the government manifesto, in which we defined the Indo-Pacific region as an area in which we want to be much more active,” Minister Blanar said.

“This applies not only to political and diplomatic relations, but also to economic cooperation. It simply cannot be done without having an embassy here,” he added while standing with Minister Farrell.

Back in 2024 Czech president Petr Pavel flew to Australia where he formally opened his country’s new embassy building in Canberra, as part of an historic trip that also included a visit to New Zealand.

Pavel’s trip to Australia two years ago was the first presidential-level visit from the Czech Republic since the late Václav Havel came to Canberra in 1995 and who was hosted by then-prime minister Paul Keating.