Thank you so much, my friend, Prime Minister James Marape. 

To John, to guests, to the extraordinary fellow award winners who I share the stage with tonight, to Alex, to Stefano and to Cynthia. 

I want to thank my brother - a very special man - the Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea. 

For those who may not know, there are hundreds of languages in Papua New Guinea - more than any other place on earth. 

It is such a diverse country, and James has brought that nation together and has shown incredible leadership. 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks for joining me. I want to update Australians on an incident in which an artificial intelligence agent has infiltrated an Australian Government website. This incident occurred in June of this year and involved an OpenAI agent gaining unauthorised access into the public-facing Medicare statistics reporting service portal, which is administered by Services Australia. The AI agent accessed both public and non-public files.

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: I’m very thankful to Anthony personally, and we have very good relations. Thank you to your people, the people of Australia, and your team. Thank you for such great support from the very beginning of this war. Australian people have always been on the side of Ukraine. Thank you very much for real support, specific one, military support, energy support, which was absolutely crucial, humanitarian. Thank you very much for the benefit and for your support, and that you [are] politically and geopolitically, always with us.

Thanks, Shemara, for the introduction.

And thanks to Macquarie Group for the invitation to say a few words today. – 

It’s been a great week of recognition for Australia here at the UN.

On Monday I was invited to open Climate Group’s Climate Week NYC 2026 program – in acknowledgement of Australia’s leadership in renewable energy and our work with our Pacific partners, drawing attention to their vulnerability to climate change.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Today it's been a very good day in New York. This afternoon, I, together with the President of France, Emmanuel Macron, the Prime Minister of Kenya, the Prime Minister of Spain, we launched the Coalition for Children's Rights and Protection in the Age of Artificial Intelligence. And this is just one of the aspects that the world now is debating. There's recognition that a year ago, when we came to New York following our legislation in 2024, we were leading the world, and indeed now more than 20 nations have joined in.

Coalition for Children's rights and protections in the age of AI
United Nations
New York

Colleagues,

Australia is an acknowledged first mover and world leader in digital safety.

Our journey to creating a safer digital world started in 2024 with the world’s first social media ban for children – now adopted by some 20 countries.

Colleagues, Australia has always been one of the world’s strongest supporters of the United Nations. 

Our position on its future and the future of global relations is clear – global challenges cannot be solved by countries acting alone. 

Especially right now, when we are facing one of the toughest periods in modern history. 

The war in the Middle East, an ongoing land war in Europe, the global inflation crisis, the fuel crisis and the rise of AI are incredibly serious challenges.

Today Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy signed the Australia–Ukraine Bilateral Security Agreement. 

The Agreement provides a framework for defence and security cooperation and affirms Australia’s enduring commitment to Ukraine.

After more than four years of defending itself against Russia’s unprovoked and unjustified invasion, Ukraine has developed one of the world’s most innovative and agile fighting forces. 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Artificial intelligence has the potential to improve lives, to strengthen our economy and productivity, and to massively advance science and medical breakthroughs. But humans need to be in control of it. If it’s going to be successful, then we need to make sure that humans are at the centre of everything that occurs.

The President of the European Council, Antonio Costa, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen and the Prime Minister of Australia, Anthony Albanese met on 21 September in the margins of the United Nations General Assembly.

Presidents Costa and von der Leyen and Prime Minister Albanese reviewed the progress made in deepening cooperation across many fields since President von der Leyen’s visit to Australia in March 2026: