Press Conference – Canberra | Prime Minister of Australia
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon. This afternoon, I’ll travel to the United States, as a result of President Biden’s invitation for an official State Visit. This will be the ninth occasion in which President Biden and I have had meetings since I was elected Prime Minister, some 16 months ago. And it will be an important visit. The alliance between Australia and the United States is central to Australia’s foreign policy. It’s an alliance based upon our common values, our view of the world, our support as great democratic nations, and of course the important position that we also have on issues like climate change and how economic growth will occur going forward. This will be, as well, about building an alliance for the future. Our AUKUS pact is absolutely critical, and I’ll be having important meetings with members of Congress and Senate about the legislation that’s required to ensure that AUKUS can continue to forge ahead. But also, so that Australia can benefit from the Inflation Reduction Act as well. As we move to a clean energy global economy, Australia is in a strong position to benefit because of the critical minerals that we have and we’ll have discussions based upon that, after the signing earlier this year of our Climate Critical Minerals and Clean Energy Transformation Compact. So, that will be important, as well as discussing with Australian business who will be travelling with me, how we benefit from that engagement on technology and innovation going forward. At a time of global uncertainty, working with Australia’s partners is absolutely vital and this will be an important visit. I look forward to the discussions with President Biden, with Vice President Harris, with Secretary Blinken, and others as well, while I am in the United States.
Can I also say that overnight, or late last night, we concluded a very important agreement with China. The issue of impediments to our trading relationship is one that’s an important one. One in four of Australia’s jobs depend upon trade and our most significant trading partner, in terms of our exports, is China, which is larger than our next three partners – South Korea, Japan and the United States – combined. So, this is an important relationship. We have agreed, on the issue of wine, for there to be a review of China’s position on wine tariffs to be conducted over the next months, similar to the way that barley was developed. We will suspend our action before the WTO, but we’re very confident that this will result in, once again, Australian wine, a great product being able to go to China, free of the tariffs which have been imposed by China. This is a decision that will be worth more than a billion dollars in Australia’s exports. This is a very significant decision, because unlike some of the other products, the wine industry have indicated they were having difficulty finding other markets to fill the gap that was created by the breakdown in the trade with China. So, this is critical.
I will travel to China from the 4th to the 7th of November. I will visit Beijing, have meetings with President Xi, and I’ve also accepted Prime Minister Li’s invitation to attend the International Import Expo that will take place in Shanghai over that weekend, beginning the 4th of November. This will be an important visit. It will mark 50 years, almost to the day, when Gough Whitlam made his important visit to China, the first visit by an Australian Prime Minister to the People’s Republic of China. It is important that we stabilise our relationship with China, that is in the interests of Australia and China, and it is indeed in the interests of the world, that we have stable relations, and that is what this visit will represent. A win-win. Australia gets to export our wine. Importantly, China gets to receive this amazing product. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you be urging members of Congress to urgently pass Joe Biden’s military aid bill, which does include the funding for the submarine program?
PRIME MINISTER: We certainly, will be very supportive of the President’s agenda. It’s very important that foreign politicians don’t intervene directly, in terms of legislation. But this is important, President Biden’s agenda is one that we support, and we will be urging support for all of the legislation that is required for AUKUS. I’ve been very heartened, when I’ve met with members of Congress and Senate, as I did at the NATO Summit, as I have on a range of occasions, including here, where I hosted a range of Congress and Senators at The Lodge, just around about a month ago. There is great deal of support across the spectrum for this arrangement. This is in the interests of Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. And it is one of the reasons why it’s very important that I visit the United States to advance Australia’s interests.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when you do speak with President Biden, what message will we be taking from Australia’s point of view in terms of the necessity that the US remains focused on this region, even as it is distracted somewhat by the obviously pressing situation in Middle East?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it’s very important that we remain focused on the Indo Pacific region. This is the fastest growing region of the world, in human history. We do have strategic competition in this region. I hosted, just this week, the Prime Minister of Fiji here. And we will certainly be urging the United States to continue what they have done, which is to step up in the region. President Biden has hosted the Pacific leaders in the White House now on a couple of occasions. That’s been very important. And indeed, with the cooperation that we have, through the meetings that President Biden and I have had, have been in Indonesia, in Japan, in India, here in the region as well. Of course, in November as well, the Pacific Island Forum meeting to be held in the Cook Islands will be very important. So, we certainly support the President’s agenda, which has spoken about the role that the United States plays in the world. It is critical. It’s critical that we continue to provide support to the people of Ukraine. And my message will be that we support and have the same resolve, as President Biden has indicated, to support the people of Ukraine in their struggle against Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion. This is critical. And that is why as well, the discussion about this region will be important. Because this region as well, is very concerned about climate change. It’s something that was front and centre of the discussions that I had with the Fijian Prime Minister, which matches the discussions I’ve had with other leaders from this region. And so, the lead up to the Pacific Island Forum, the work we’re doing together on the transition to clean energy, making sure we provide support in this region, is critical.
JOURNALIST: In return for the movement on the wine issue, did we have to agree to lift any of our tariffs on Chinese goods? They’re concerned about steel and wind turbines.
PRIME MINISTER: No, this has not been transactional. We’ve engaged and put our case on a range of issues with China. We’ve been determined to get outcomes, whether it is on trade issues, or on the issue of Cheng Lei being able to return to her daughters. I thought it was a beautiful story yesterday, I think it was, on the front page of the Australian about Cheng Lei being able to enjoy freedom back in Australia with her loved ones. And we’ll continue to put our case, on matters that are in Australia’s national interest. I’ve said very consistently, we’ll cooperate with China where we can, we’ll disagree where we must, and we’ll engage in our national interests and that’s precisely what we’re doing.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a statement from Indigenous leaders on the Yes campaign has been aired today that said ‘only the shameless could say there’s no shame in the referendum outcome’. Is that true? Do you agree?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, nothing has been released, to be clear, nothing has been released by Indigenous leaders. I made my comments last Saturday night. I stand by them. I accept the result of the referendum. I think overwhelmingly, Australians do want to see the gap closed between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. When it comes to moving forward, I think it’s up to all of us to come together and find a different way to get to the same reconciled destination. And I’m very optimistic that we can do this. There is a new national awareness of the need to Close the Gap. We can’t continue to have an eight year life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. We need to address issues of education, health, housing and other areas of disadvantage. We need to address the justice issues, which are there for all to see. This week, when we announced our National Skills Agreement, something that’s been developed over many months, a part of that, over $200 million as a specific program to support a skills uplift for Indigenous Australians, so they can get apprenticeships, so they can get training and skills, so they can get a good, secure job. Measures like that we will continue to roll out and we’ll continue to engage with First Nations people.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Australian citizen and former US Marine Daniel Duggan has been held is solidarity confinement for twelve months, wanted by the FBI for allegedly training Chinese fighter pilots. His legal team has been in the dark about the totality of those allegations, will you be discussing this case with President Biden?
PRIME MINISTER: You’ve answered your question. I don’t discuss things that are legal matters on the run. Nor should I. One of the things we have in this country is a separation of the legal system from the political system.
JOURNALIST: INAUDIBLE. And by suspending the WTO dispute, are you helping China to avoid a potentially embarrassing ruling?
PRIME MINISTER: Not at all. We have been working towards a positive outcome and this is a positive outcome, that will be welcomed very much by the wine industry.
JOURNALIST: Are you hopeful that in the coming months or years, that President Xi will reciprocate and visit Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we’ll have discussions about that. President Xi of course has visited Australia many times. Indeed, one of the things at the first meeting that I had with President Xi, was he would be one of the few world leaders who was proudly saying that he has visited every state and territory here in Australia. We’re focused on putting together the arrangements for the visit in November. I think it will be a very positive visit and I look forward to it taking place and it achieving further positive outcomes. It’s in Australia’s interest to have good relations with China. And certainly though, my focus in coming days will be very much on the visit to the United States, with Australia’s closest partner, talking about the future of our alliance. A future, which has been upgraded by the AUKUS arrangements, a future based upon our common values, our commitment to democracy, and our commitment to the international rule of law and stable order throughout the globe. That is what we want to see. Thank you very much.