ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It has indeed been an honour to host leaders from ASEAN and Timor-Leste here in Melbourne. I note that the Prime Minister of New Zealand also participated in the forum. This was to commemorate 50 years of partnership so that we can shape the future that Australia wants to see.
Working with our neighbours and friends is delivering for Australians. It delivers jobs, opportunities and security. We live in the region of the world with the fastest growth in human history. That presents an opportunity from that proximity going forward.
We have today adopted the ASEAN-Australia Joint Leaders' Vision Statement and the Melbourne Declaration, reaffirming our commitment to securing peace, stability, prosperity and a sustainable future for the region. We've announced more ways in which my Government is deepening ties with Southeast Asia.
This includes establishing a $2 billion Southeast Asia Investment Financing Facility to increase Australian investment in the region in key sectors such as infrastructure and the clean energy transition. An energy cooperation package to support the ASEAN Centre for Energy and establish an ASEAN centre for climate change. Appointing ten Business Champions to facilitate greater commercial links between Australia and the economies of ASEAN. And I thank each of those ten business leaders who've agreed to be volunteers in this process to contribute to our national interest. Improving visa access for Southeast Asia. The establishment of an ASEAN-Australia centre in Canberra. More than 75 Australia for ASEAN scholarships with world class Australian universities. Our relationship with ASEAN is strong, but we can and we are doing more. Australia has so much to offer the region. ASEAN nations combined are the fourth largest economy in the world by 2040. Our two-way trade with ASEAN is now greater than our two-way trade with either Japan or the United States.
Deepening our ties is about more jobs here. It's about more opportunities for Australians. It's about a more secure region as well. Which is why we are invested in our relationships. When I've said, spoken about our international engagement, I consistently speak about those two themes, investing in our capability, but investing in our relationships, both of them are important. And the opportunity that we've had with our neighbours over the last few days has been important in promoting Australia's national interest. And I thank all those who've participated, whether it be our visitors from ASEAN nations, or whether it be the Australian business leaders, those CEOs who participated in the forum over Monday and Tuesday. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: In your bilateral yesterday with the Thai Prime Minister, did he raise the vehicle efficiency standards?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Just picking up on that, the Thai PM on the Government website has expressed concerns about the pace of Labor's proposed standard. Are you willing to take on board that request from Thailand? It is Australia's second biggest source of cars, to make the emissions cap more gradual than it's currently proposed?
PRIME MINISTER: There was no request. I had a bilateral meeting. I had a bilateral meeting. What we have is a consultation paper out there. We've had a big scare campaign in the lead up to the Dunkley by-election, talking about all cars you would think would be taken off the road by now. It's now Wednesday, I had to think, it's now Wednesday. I can see there are still big vehicles out there on the road, including some that we've used in some of the traffic around Melbourne.
JOURNALIST: Is it your expectation now, in the wake of this Summit, that we'll see a range of major Australian companies make investment commitments into the region?
PRIME MINISTER: It certainly is. And I think that Nicholas Moore's work is quite extraordinary. One of the things about our country that makes it great is people who've made a contribution and been successful, who want to put something back. My thoughts go to Sir Rod Eddington, when I asked him to chair Infrastructure Australia when it was first established, he refused any remuneration for that. He made an outstanding contribution. Nicholas Moore has been very successful in Macquarie, a recognised brand in Southeast Asia. The report wasn't something that he just sat at home and did. He went to each one of the ASEAN countries. And the most significant thing about the report is that it isn't just homogeneous in pointing a way forward, it identifies the comparative advantages that particular investments will have with particular nations. So, in some it's clean energy, in some it's manufacturing, in some it's value adding in resources, in some it's educational transfer as well. So, I would expect that when I look through the list of major businesses who were here at the CEO level over the couple of days, you had CEOs of banks and financial institutions, you had resources companies, you had manufacturing, you had energy companies, all wanting to participate. And I believe very firmly that this will lead to further Australian investment in our region, but it will also lead to further investment here as well. One of the things we shouldn't underestimate is the investment of some of the ASEAN nations and serious companies here. For example, Melbourne Port is owned out of the Philippines, a major Port here that has invested more than a billion dollars.
JOURNALIST: As this summit's been happening, there's been a collision between a boat from the Philippines and China happening. There was a bit of, did you reach a consensus on the approach to South China Sea with the ASEAN leaders?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we in ASEAN, one of the themes that was very much there is sovereignty. And all of the ASEAN nations emphasise their sovereign nations and that includes maritime cooperation as well. I am very concerned and Australia is concerned about any unsafe and destabilising behaviour in the South China Sea. It is dangerous and it creates risks of miscalculation which can then lead to escalation. So, we would call upon, a number of nations emphasised in their statements, the foundation document is UNCLOS, the UN Convention of the Law of the Sea. That is something that should be the guide for all nations' participation.
JOURNALIST: Malaysia have said they would be open to Australia actually becoming a fully fledged member of ASEAN. Would you ever want that to happen for Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: That hasn't been on our agenda at this summit. What's been on the agenda is though, Australia being that strategic partner, we have of course a trading relationship and a comprehensive strategic partnership with ASEAN. I think that today's or the Summit this week has elevated the relationship between Australia and ASEAN to a higher level. At the moment, Timor-Leste is an applicant for full ASEAN membership and that is something that Australia has supported.
JOURNALIST: We just had news coming through that Canada is going to reinstate its UNRWA funding. That it's looked at an interim report and decided to put that money back in place. Have you had advice on that report? And what steps will Australia take?
JOURNALIST: You just told me. You just answered your question in that you just said, news has just come through. Look, we will make an assessment at an appropriate time. But we have, important when it comes to UNRWA, we doubled the funding and we've provided more than $20 million going forward has been provided for UNRWA. We have expressed our deep concern about the humanitarian crisis that we see ongoing in Gaza. We remain concerned about that. We want, as we have said on numerous occasions, we want humanitarian assistance to be able to be delivered to the people of Gaza. This is a dire and catastrophic circumstance that we see. And we want people to have access to appropriate support and just the essentials of life.
JOURNALIST: Do you feel that Mr Keating's contribution yesterday detracted from the work that you were doing here? And what do you say to his criticism of Penny Wong and Mike Burgess and Andrew Shearer?
PRIME MINISTER: No, in a word. And Penny Wong will be regarded as one of Australia's finest Foreign Ministers since Federation. Penny Wong is someone who brings Australia enormous respect, enormous respect. She's someone who's diligent, she's someone who's engaging, she's someone who's across all of her briefs and she's someone who represents Australia in a way in which every Australian can be proud. Penny Wong, as of today, I think someone was telling me, that Amanda Vanstone has declared that Penny Wong is now our longest-serving female Cabinet Minister. I've had the privilege of serving with Penny Wong as a Minister throughout the Rudd and Gillard Governments. I have the privilege now of having Penny Wong not only as Foreign Minister, but as our Senate Leader. And she is someone who I think brings a great deal of credit to Australia and she will be a fantastic Foreign Minister. I'm told it's more than two and a half thousand days. I'm not sure of the exact number, but I look forward to Penny Wong serving for three thousand, three and a half thousand, four thousand days on because we will not get a better Foreign Minister.
JOURNALIST: Would you urge Paul Keating to stop the personalised language he uses against Penny Wong?
PRIME MINISTER: I think that anyone who knows Paul and I know Paul and respect him. Paul, I think, doesn't need advice of myself, it's up to him. But people are accountable for what they say. Paul's accountable for what he says. He knows that. On Penny Wong, I think quite clearly, he's wrong.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, back to the region. You've mentioned a couple of times how it's the fastest growing region. Other nations must recognise that as well. Who are our biggest rivals here and where do we stand in that race at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: I think our biggest rival is ourselves. If we're not optimistic, if we don't seize the opportunities which are there, if we shrink in on ourselves through, not just through our economic actions, but, frankly, some of our rhetoric in recent times of some people who are involved in politics, are ones that do not give confidence for our Southeast Asian neighbours to engage with us. Now, that's very different from, to praise Mr Keating where appropriate, Mr Keating saw when Prime Minister, that our future was with Asia, not from Asia. It's an important distinction and I think that we have incredible opportunities in clean energy in so many areas to expand. And one way that you do that is just by building relationships. We should not underestimate some of the commentary sometimes about international engagement. We live in a globalised world. One in four of our jobs depends upon trade. It's important we be engaged.
JOURNALIST: Just going back to your earlier comments, should Thailand make a submission to the consultation paper and do you think that the Thai Government has been hoodwinked by a scare campaign?
PRIME MINISTER: No. Look, I met with the Thai Prime Minister. All I can do is report that it wasn't raised. So, I know that some in the media might think it's a big issue. He obviously didn't think it was a big enough issue for him to raise. Australia will look after Australia's national interest. And I remind everyone that there are only two countries, two industrialised countries that don't have emission standards. One of them's Australia, the other is Vladimir Putin's Russia. I don't want to be on the same page as Russia on this or any other issue.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why was Melbourne a great backdrop for this Summit? And just what is your reaction to the allegations about Sam Kerr?
PRIME MINISTER: Melbourne's a great city. Melbourne's a global city. It's a multicultural city as well. So, one of the things that has occurred here with the ASEAN leaders is that they've had meetings with their diaspora. That's a good thing. One of the things I've been determined to do is to not be the Prime Minister just from the city where I'm from, Sydney. So, I hosted Prime Minister Kishida in Perth. We had this ASEAN summit here in Melbourne. I do a range of national events and receptions in Canberra, including visitors here as well. I will welcome for our state visit tomorrow Prime Minister Chinh of Vietnam in Canberra. I think that's important. So, I think that Melbourne has been a great venue. I thank the Victorian Government for their assistance in hosting the event. This is a great facility here at the convention centre, the Victorian Government House that was made available for the Leaders' Retreat, was a terrific venue as well. With regard to Sam Kerr, that matter is, of course, a legal matter. I don't comment on legal matters before Australian courts, let alone other ones. I will say this about my contact with Sam Kerr, who was our flag bearer at the Coronation. I think my contact with her was exemplary. She did Australia proud at that time. And I think that my contact with her has been nothing but delightful.
JOURNALIST: Just on your Business Champions program, you've chosen ten very high profile, very top of the line Australians, but they're also all very busy people in their regular jobs. How will this program work?
PRIME MINISTER: It'll work because of the capacity of the people that we have. They bring with them because they have a history of success in business. They bring with them a track record of engagement. It is different from, they will work, of course, with our embassies and our high commissions in the different locations. They'll work with the landing pads that we've established. They'll work with our deal making teams that are also part of the recommendation of Nicholas Moore. So, I think they will be very successful. It's one of the recommendations of Mr Moore, all of them, to preempt things, they're not being paid at all. It's them giving back to the community, and I think that's a great thing.
JOURNALIST: The original zero draft of the Melbourne Declaration that Australia put forward had a specific reference to the 2016 arbitral ruling, which basically dismissed much of Beijing's claims to the South China Sea. Were you successful in convincing ASEAN leaders to keep that specific reference in the final declaration? And what was their response to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, you will see, these declarations are worked out by a whole team, Foreign Ministers and others. Can I say this, that we were able to reach a consensus across a full range of issues. So, people have to compromise, because in order to get a statement from Australia and ASEAN, it isn't the same endpoint that any one country would have if they went away and wrote a statement. But it was very clear the position that was put very clearly by, you won't be surprised by President Marcos, but others as well, the South China Sea is an important issue. And there is a general recognition that we need to make sure that activity in the South China Sea alleviates, any tension, doesn't add to it. And that's an important thing going forward. Thanks very much, everyone. Travel safely.