ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's great to be at APEC and join leaders for official APEC meetings today and again tomorrow. The global economy is facing a worldwide surge in inflation, but Australia has weathered the storm better than most of our peers. One of the things that stood out from the sessions that were held this morning was the consistency of what leaders of APEC had to say. They all spoke about the global inflation challenge, they spoke about the challenge but also the opportunity of dealing with climate change. They spoke about the need to make sure that we address issues including cost of living pressures and the need to cooperate. They also spoke about the importance of free and fair trade between our economies to lift up the living standards of people throughout this region. This is a region that represents some 75 per cent of the global economy, so it's pretty important, and it's important for Australia. 75 per cent of our trade is with APEC partners, one in four of Australian jobs is dependent upon trade. So the engagement with APEC leaders here is important. It is about jobs and living standards back home in Australia, which is my priority. Our work is here to secure jobs and to create more Australian jobs. We have more work to do to protect Australians from those global impacts, but we are making strong progress. It's important as well to be proud of Australia's record in the international community. Australia was a founding member of APEC, and Bob Hawke hosted the first APEC Minister's Meeting there in Canberra in 1989. Australian Prime Ministers have attended every APEC Leaders Meeting since then, and indeed, I think four of the APEC leaders mentioned the Canberra meeting and mentioned the history that is there, but going back now for 35 years. APEC is also a gathering of the business community, and at lunch and afterwards, I met with the APEC Business Advisory Council representatives, speaking about inclusive trade and investment, the opportunities that can be seized from the transition to net zero. By working closely with international partners in forums like APEC, we're part of conversations and can shape solutions directly benefiting the people of Australia. Today also I had a formal bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Wong of Singapore. Lawrence Wong is a great friend of Australia, and it was good, next year we'll celebrate 10 years of our comprehensive partnership, but also 60 years of formal relations between Australia and Singapore. And we discussed having our bilateral meetings next year in both Singapore and in Australia to commemorate that. We are very close neighbours, of course, to Singapore. We cooperate in defence. Singapore has agreed for nuclear powered conventionally armed submarines to be able to visit Singapore. We train much of the Singapore Defence Force in Australia. Singapore is a nation of great assets, but they don't have one particular asset, which is land. So Australia is in a position to provide support there. Australia and Singapore have a long standing, deep relationship. It goes back, of course, to our shared history, but also to our shared democratic values. So on top of that, I had discussions both in the leaders room before the formal Summit began, and then during and after the Summit. I look forward to the engagement tonight. I'll attend the function for leaders, and I look forward to informal discussions there as well. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you spoke with President Biden at the meeting. Can you give us an idea what his mood is like, and if he had any advice for Australia, given the changes about to happen in his country?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, President Biden was in good form, and we had discussion, I don't talk about the detail of private discussions, as you'd be aware, but it was friendly. I regard him as a good friend personally, but also a good friend of Australia. But he was upbeat, he was pleased to be here at APEC. He is, of course, continuing to work in the interests of the United States, and he'll be attending the G20 meeting as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned climate change is an issue here, it's a big issue on the agenda at APEC and probably G20 as well. Now your friend in London, Keir Starmer, has gone above you to commit to cut emissions by 81 per cent by 2025. He's gone further and been more ambitious on climate change. Is that the message that you will take to this APEC Summit, that you're willing to be more ambitious on the Australian targets and go further in 2035?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I note that Keir Starmer has just been elected, and he's come up with the new target. When we just got elected, we came up with a new target, and that's 43 per cent by 2030.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you commit to setting your 2035 target before the next election?
PRIME MINISTER: We commit to delivering on our 2030 target.
JOURNALIST: The 2035 target has to be handed down next year. Will you commit to giving Australians an idea of what you want that target to be like?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're committing to our 2030 target. It's legislated. 2030 comes before 2035 and we're very focused on delivering and we're on track to delivering that target.
JOURNALIST: Did President Xi come to any of the closed Summits and did you speak to him at all?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there's been an editorial published in the China Daily that's described you as essentially the model that other leaders should emulate between balancing relations with Beijing and the US, going so far as to say that you stepped away from the US and engaged with China. What do you make of that assessment of your approach to China? It could be perceived that it looks like you’ve leaned too far one way or the other. What's your response?
PRIME MINISTER: Well I'm not a commentator, I'll leave that to you and the commentators. But what I've done with China is work in the way that we said we would before the election. We said we would cooperate where we can, we would disagree where we must, and we would engage in our national interests. I've done that without compromising any of Australia's national interests. We have not changed our position on any of the key differences that we have. We've said both privately and publicly, the same things, and we voted the same way in forums as well.
JOURNALIST: On that, did you think China's point it's trying to make would have more credibility if it practiced what it preached? I mean, given its own recent history, what it did to us with tariffs?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've been in the forum -
JOURNALIST: You’ve not read the piece?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't subscribe to the China Daily - I can confirm that. I've seen some of the reports of it. But we stand up for Australia's national interest. And can I make this point as well, that the improvement in trade between Australia and China is about Australian jobs. To take just one industry, the lobster industry in in Australia is 3000 jobs in Western Australia alone. So whether it's coal, barley, wine, other products, including seafood and others, people are in employment in Australia today because of our trade. We're a trading nation. China is our major trading partner, with 25 per cent of our exports. And I am pleased, and I would have thought that all Australians would be pleased that there's an increase in our export to China. We've done that without compromising any of Australia's values, by being clear about what our views are, and we've continued to do that. And I look forward to continuing to pursue Australia's national interest, because that's my job.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, did you think that President Xi not turning up to some forums today was disrespectful given everyone else is there?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't know. I don't know why he's not there. That's a matter for President Xi.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, given the uncertainty during this transition period in the US, we've seen the Chinese leader stepping up the diplomatic effort with Asia-Pacific countries seeking to sign multiple bilateral agreements. Are you concerned that there is a vulnerability here, geopolitically speaking, during this transition that Beijing is trying to take advantage of?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're in a period of strategic competition. I've spoken about that at many times, in different conferences. I spoke today with Prime Minister Wong about my address to the Shangri-la Dialogue where I spoke about strategic competition, I spoke about the need to have peace and security in the region and indeed throughout the globe. That is an issue that Australia will continue to pursue. It's a position that we've put, we know that that is occurring. But one of the things that my government has been able to achieve, if you look at the relationship with China, yes, there has been some improvements. If you look at the relationship with ASEAN, I hosted every ASEAN leader in Melbourne in March, and the relationship with ASEAN has improved considerably. The relationship with President Prabowo could not be stronger, and we'll have more to say in coming months about that relationship and the benefits of it. The relationship with our traditional partners, like Japan and Korea is as strong, or stronger than it has ever been. Our relationship with the Pacific has never been stronger. When at CHOGM myself and Prime Minister Teo of Tuvalu were the two speakers on behalf of the Pacific. That would not have occurred under the previous government, where relations were not good with our Pacific neighbours, and certainly the current Leader of the Opposition's comments about the Pacific would suggest that it would be difficult to see relations being positive with him as well, because they all recall those comments that were made. So whether it's ASEAN, the Pacific, relations with our trading partners, relationships with our historic partners, through AUKUS through the United States and the United Kingdom, my government has a proud record of engaging in international affairs so as to defend Australia's national interest so as to create Australian jobs and to create Australian prosperity.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, with Donald Trump not here and President Xi not attending today, were you able to assess the mood of the other world leaders about this uncertain period that we could be entering into?
PRIME MINISTER: People were very positive today about the APEC agenda, about working together across the Asia Pacific region. This is the fastest growing region in the world in human history. That represents an enormous opportunity for everyone, and everyone understands that greater cooperation, greater trade, greater economic activity is good for the nation states and the economies that make up APEC.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned strategic competition. Is Australia in strategic competition with China, along with the US or are you, as China Daily claimed in their editorial, not with the US in their strategic competition?
PRIME MINISTER: We have an alliance with the United States. That's an important relationship for us. It's one that was forged under a great Labor Prime Minister in John Curtin laid the groundwork for that during World War Two. At times of national crisis, Australians have turned to the Australian Labor Party because it is Labor that has been able to see what the national interest is at any particular time in particular historical context. So our relationship with the United States is very different from our relationship with China who have a different political system and have different values. Now we will point that out where it's appropriate, but we will also try to cooperate where we can. That's what my government has put in place, very clearly, very unequivocally, consistently, so that people know where we're coming from. And I must say that is in Australia's national interests. It's in Australia's national interest to support and continue to engage with our allies in the United States. I am a strong supporter of AUKUS. I have engaged with my party to ensure that that support is ongoing. I've been prepared to have the debate and have the arguments and to succeed in ensuring that we go forward with that. At the same time, I believe as a trading nation we have an interest in trade, and we have an interest in Australian jobs being created and boosting Australian prosperity by engaging in our region, including with our major trading partner, the major destination for our exports, which is China. And I am pleased that there are now more exports going to China, because that means more jobs being created in Australia. Thanks very much.