ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I was very pleased this morning to meet with President Zelenskyy, our latest meeting after we met briefly at the G7 meeting a couple of months ago in Hiroshima. I conveyed to him the ongoing support of the Australian Government, and indeed the Australian people, for the struggle of the people and Government of Ukraine to defend their national sovereignty, to defend the international rule of law, and to condemn once again Russia's atrocities that have been committed in this illegal and immoral war. Australia will continue to stand with Ukraine for as long as is necessary, and we will continue to provide support for Ukraine because we understand that in today's interconnected world, Ukraine is not just fighting for its own national sovereignty it is fighting for the international rule of law to be applied, and this is a struggle that has implications for the entire world. We've seen the Russian invasion have an impact on the global economy with rising inflation, but also on issues such as food security, and that is why it is so important that Ukraine prevails at this incredibly difficult time. President Zelenskyy and I also had a discussion about the support that the Australian Government had provided up to now, but also requests for further support. On top of the announcement that I made on the 26th of June of a $110 million package including ammunition, heavy vehicles, and also $10 million in humanitarian assistance, as well as just a day ago we announced the provision of the Wedgetail aircraft in Germany which will be important in securing the corridor so that important supplies can be got to Ukraine with the deployment of 100 Australian Defence Force personnel into Berlin. Today I'm announcing an additional 30 Bushmasters will be provided for Ukraine, this brings the total number of Bushmasters which will have been provided to 120. The Bushmasters are a symbol of Australia's support for Ukraine. They are valued very much by Ukrainian Defence personnel, and have saved their lives just as in the past they have been responsible for saving Australian lives. This is a piece of equipment that is the best in the world for what it does, produced in Bendigo, Australia, and it will make an enormous difference. And we will provide those additional 30 Bushmasters at a cost of some $100 million of additional support for Ukraine. We'll continue to work with the Ukrainian leadership, including President Zelenskyy and the Defence Minister on what further support we can give, as we need to continue to stand with the people of Ukraine.
JOURNALIST: Is there any additional requests made by President Zelenskyy at all?
PRIME MINISTER: President Zelenskyy is very grateful for the support that Australia has given. The Ukrainian struggle is a difficult one, they would like as much support as possible and they made that very clear across a range of assets that they require that they're requesting from the world. This announcement though is a very positive one of Bushmasters because we know that it makes a difference.
JOURNALIST: Are they still requesting Hawkei's?
PRIME MINISTER: No we've explained, as the Defence Minister did when our Defence Ministers met in Singapore, what the issues were. We want to make sure that we provide equipment that maximises the positive difference that it will make, and that's why Bushmasters we know do that. There will be issues because of supply chain issues with Hawkei's and we want to make sure that we maximise the effectiveness of what we provide to Ukraine.