National Cabinet met in Brisbane today to agree a national approach to a range of priorities for Australians, including making healthcare more accessible and affordable and better planning to ensure communities thrive as they grow.

A Better Future for the Federation takes as its starting point that Australia can be more than the sum of its parts. That by co-operating more closely on everything from planning and housing to skills and services we can generate a multiplier effect for productivity gains and economic growth.

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. 

I am proud to lead a Government that is offering all Australians the opportunity to vote to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Islander people in our Constitution. 

Prime Minister Hipkins, distinguished guests.

My fellow Australians, and soon-to-be fellow Australians - any minute now. 

Every citizenship ceremony is a proud and joyous occasion. 

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Before I talk about today's events with Prime Minister Hipkins, can I just pay tribute to Barry Humphries, a great Australian, a comic genius, someone who entertained us through a galaxy of personas. Dame Edna, Sandy Stone, Sir Les Patterson, who can forget. Barry Humphries, through his 89 years, made an enormous contribution to Australia. And he also showcased that uniquely Australian sense of humour to the world. He will be missed by so many of his family, loved ones, and indeed he is one of the most loved of Australians.

KYLE SANDILANDS, HOST: Good morning, Prime Minister. How are you, sir?

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning from the Lodge in Canberra.

JACQUELINE LAST, HOST: Canberra, hey. What's on the agenda today?

PRIME MINISTER: We've got a big defence announcement today, the Defence Strategic Review. That's basically, what are the assets we need to defend Australia and where do we need to place them? So, that’s the announcement today.

Today the Albanese Government has released the public version of the Defence Strategic Review (the Review), the Government’s response to the Review, and the National Defence Statement 2023.

Commissioned in the first 100 days of Government, the Review sets the agenda for ambitious, but necessary, reform to Defence’s posture and structure.

The Government’s response to the Review sets out a blueprint for Australia’s strategic policy, defence planning and resourcing over the coming decades.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much for joining us. We're here today to launch the Defence Strategic Review which we'll be releasing an unclassified version of here today. And I'm joined today of course by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence, the Minister for Defence Industry and Minister for International Development and the Pacific, our Chief of the Defence Force, and the Secretary of the Department of Defence. National security is the most solemn responsibility of any Australian Government.

We gather before the dawn because they did.
 
Picture those first Anzacs. Far from home, huddled in their boats, waiting, wondering.
 
Lance Corporal James Bell of the 9th Battalion would later recall sailors lined up on one of the battleships and giving a muted cheer, waving their caps in a circle and “uttering a subdued whisper, barely audible to those in the boats”.
 

On 24 May Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will host the 2023 Quad Leaders’ Summit in Sydney.

It will be the first time Australia has hosted the Quad Leaders’ Summit, and follows the Prime Minister’s attendance at the Quad Leaders’ Summit in Tokyo in May 2022. It will be the third in-person Quad Leaders’ Summit.

The Prime Minister looks forward to welcoming his Quad counterparts to Australia for the Summit. These visits build on the meetings the Prime Minister has already had with Prime Minister Modi, Prime Minister Kishida, and President Biden.

ANDREW CLENNELL, HOST: Well joining me live now from his office in Parliament House is the Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese. Prime Minister, thanks so much for your time. So, we heard today from Bill Shorten that he’s going to reform the NDIS. When we see the Budget in three weeks from today, will the estimated cost of that scheme have reduced or increased?

RICHARD KING, HOST: Good morning, Prime Minister.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, Richard. Good to be with you.