Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will travel to Türkiye, the Philippines and China to advance Australia’s economic interests while advocating for peace, stability, and free trade.

Prime Minister Albanese will attend the COP31 World Leaders’ Summit in Antalya before travelling to Manila for the 6th ASEAN–Australian Summit and 21st East Asia Summit. The Prime Minister will then travel to China to attend the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Shenzhen and the Australia–China Annual Leaders’ Meeting in Beijing.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon. Thanks for joining us. I'm joined by the Deputy PM, Richard Marles, and the Home Affairs Minister, Tony Burke. When it comes to the generational opportunity that artificial intelligence offers Australia, I've been very clear. Our task is to make sure that we shape AI rather than AI shape us. It will have a drastic impact on the way that work occurs, on the way that we engage with each other, on the way that society functions.

The Albanese Government is today releasing the recommendations of the Rapid Review into the OpenAI agent infiltration of an Australian Government health website.

The Review was commissioned in September after OpenAI informed the Australian Government that a rogue AI agent had infiltrated government websites, including the Medicare Statistics Reporting Service Portal.

As we said at the time – and made clear to the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman – this incident was unacceptable, the disclosure was inadequate and it couldn’t be allowed to happen again.

The Albanese Government will enshrine world leading mandatory Artificial Intelligence safety and security protections in Australian AI Standards legislation.

Australia has the chance to secure and shape the generational opportunities of AI – in Australia’s national interest – while keeping Australians safe.

We want AI investors to come to Australia but first and foremost we want to keep Australians safe. That is why we are choosing to announce our approach to safety first and before a range of major international talks that will cover AI development and investment.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks so much for joining us in the National Situation Room here at NEMA, a proud creation of our government that is making an enormous difference. I'm joined by Kristy McBain, the Minister for Emergency Management, Pat Hetherington, the NEMA Interim Coordinator-General, and Simon Louis from the Bureau of Meteorology.

As the bushfire season and supercharged El Niño event begins to impact parts of Australia, the Australian Government is investing an additional $12 million to strengthen bushfire risk management and support the mental health and wellbeing of emergency first responders.

The investment will go towards improving the Australia Fire Danger Rating System (AFDRS) and extending three critical national services that provide bushfire and mental health support.

Included in the funding is: 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good afternoon. I'm very pleased to be joined by the Deputy Prime Minister and the Defence Minister Richard Marles here at this historic site of Victoria Barracks. And today, I can announce that Victoria Barracks will be free for all Sydneysiders to enjoy, and it will remain in public hands. This will give an assurance to the public that the heritage at this site is vital, that it be not just maintained, but indeed enhanced.

The Albanese Government is acting on the independent Defence Estate Audit, and progressing the most significant reform to Australia’s Defence estate in our nation’s history.

Keeping Australians safe is the Government’s priority, and as part of that we must ensure the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has access to facilities that are fit for purpose.

In response to the independent Audit, the Government agreed to divest or partially divest 67 sites that were underutilised by Defence, not fit-for-purpose, and costly for Defence to maintain.

The Governor-General has accepted my recommendation to appoint Senator the Hon Tim Ayres, Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science, to administer the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C).

This appointment reflects Minister Ayres’ role contributing to oversight of the Office of Artificial Intelligence, which is designing world-leading national AI standards to ensure Australians can share the benefits of this transformative technology, safely, and that AI works in Australia’s interests.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It's been a really productive day here at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. CHOGM, of course, brings together 56 nations, representing a third of the world's population and representing a significant portion of the world's GDP. It, of course, has been concentrating on the issue of the global economy and international trade. And I've taken the opportunity to advance Australia's national interests, which is why we engage with our interconnected world.