ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Good morning. Look it is a great honour to be with my very good friend Prime Minister Marape here today and return the hospitality that I received when I visited Port Moresby and Wewak earlier this year and had the great honour of being the first person from outside Papua New Guinea to address the Parliament in Port Moresby. Australia and Papua New Guinea share a very special relationship. It is 50 years since the decision was made in December 1973 by the Whitlam Labor Government to grant independence to Papua New Guinea.

Today we signed a Bilateral Security Agreement.

The Agreement is a legally-binding framework to deepen our security cooperation – in traditional areas of defence, policing, border and maritime security, and also non-traditional areas of cyber security, climate change, gender-based violence and critical infrastructure.

It will elevate our security relationship to advance shared security interests while contributing to our region’s security.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks very much for joining us. And I do want to acknowledge that the debate is ongoing in the House of Representatives on the condolence motion for Peta Murphy. And so it is a very difficult day for the Labor family in particular, but I think, across this Parliament. Peta Murphy is someone who was very broadly respected as a woman of courage, intellect, integrity and character. And so, there is a sadness across this Parliament.

National Cabinet met in Canberra today and made important progress on key reforms that will strengthen our health system, secure the future of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) and keep Australians safe.

Today we see the Commonwealth acting with common purpose, in the common interests of all Australians. The Federation is working for Australia.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I want to thank you all for gathering for our final National Cabinet meeting for 2023. I do want to acknowledge that for members of my team in particular, today's a difficult day. We've just had the condolence motion moved for Peta Murphy, who is very much a beloved colleague lost to cancer at the very young age of 50. So it's been quite a difficult day.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will welcome Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea, Hon James Marape MP, to Australia on 7 December 2023 for an official visit.

Connected through our shared maritime border and joined through our rich cultures and history, Australia and Papua New Guinea have a close and longstanding partnership underpinned by mutual respect and trust.

The Prime Ministers will meet in Canberra to discuss the enduring security partnership and broader issues impacting on Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Pacific.

Every one of us in the Labor family is broken hearted by the death of our beloved Peta Murphy. 

At this saddest of times we offer our deepest sympathies to her loving husband Rod and all her family.

Peta Murphy was the strongest of local members, the most inspiring of colleagues and the very best kind of friend.

To attend a community event with Peta was to bask in her glow. Like all of us who served alongside her, the people Peta represented admired her determination, they respected her passion, and they responded – above all – to her authenticity.

NEIL MITCHELL, HOST: The Prime Minister, Mr Albanese, before we're nice to each other. Mr Albanese, good morning.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Neil.

MITCHELL: I actually played that for both of us. The polls are bad, the Government's stumbling. You look tired. You could be chopped liver as well. What are you doing wrong?

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

Parliamentary colleagues, distinguished guests.

Catherine Dovey, Nick and Tony Whitlam

Men and women of the Whitlam Institute and Western Sydney University.  

It’s a great honour to follow the many distinguished Australians who have delivered this Oration, beginning with Prime Minister Gillard in 2011.  

Gough famously warned us against assuming he was immortal.

The Albanese Government and the Australian Parliament, on behalf of the people of Australia has today offered a full, unreserved and overdue apology to all thalidomide survivors, their families, loved ones and carers.

The Government’s Australian Thalidomide Survivors Support Program will be re-opened to ensure that anyone who may have missed the previous opportunity to apply for support does not miss out on the support they need and deserve.