Opening Canada Bilateral Remarks | Prime Minister of Australia
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, great to catch up, again, Justin and great to have an informal chat last night. We have economies that are so similar. We have a bit in common as well about our histories and our culture and our values, I think are very similar. We appreciate the fact that you’re big investors in Australia as well through your pension funds, big investors in our infrastructure, and there’s a huge opportunity as our economies transition. Historically, we’ve both been very, very much benefited our growth from fossil fuels. But we’re in a global transition to clean energy economies and Australia and Canada both have great resources and critical minerals and the things that will drive the economies in in this century. We can talk as well about how that cooperation can occur as we go forward. And tragically, just as we’re working on the transition and the response to climate change, we’re also talking occasionally about the cooperation that we have about the reality of climate change with the wildfires you’ve just had and the fact that Australians, I’m very proud that Australians were there once again to help Canada, just as Canadians have been in Australia. We are very worried about our upcoming summer. We have all the conditions that were there prior to 2019-20. And indeed, the fact that that period has gone means you’ve got the growth that just about the right size, elements, conditions to really be concerned with very dry, hot period coming up for us. But many of the companies that are engaged in our countries are the same ones, of course, Rio Tinto and companies like that dealing with the same issues going forward. And of course we meet at a time where we continue to have uncertainty in the world. I know that your foreign minister and my foreign minister have a great relationship, talking about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the impact that that’s had on inflation and the global economy, but also now in the Middle East as well. The concern that we have from the terrorist attack by Hamas and then our concern about the humanitarian impact that is occurring in Gaza as well and how we find that long term solution, clearly the international community have to play a role in providing a lasting peace in that troubled part of the world so we have a lot to talk about today. And it’s always great to be able to catch up.