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: 

Thank you for the invitation to officially open Climate Group’s Climate Week NYC 2026.

It’s great to be here with so many champions of climate action.

Your CEO – Helen Clarkson.

Your Chair – my friend Mike Rann.

And of course, Ed Milliband.

Last year my Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, addressed this gathering with a message of hope about the vast global move towards renewables now underway.

Climate Group and Australia have a long and strong relationship, going back to the organisation’s early days.

At a time of global uncertainty and major challenges, Australia is an untiring advocate for peace and security. We understand that this is best achieved through international cooperation, which is why we are launching our campaign for a seat on the United Nations Security Council, to serve a two-year term from 2029 to 2030.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I'm very proud today to be launching Australia’s campaign for a non-permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council for 2029 and 2030. Australia is the best country on earth, and I firmly believe that our best days are ahead of us. And we have an opportunity through this potential seat on the UN Security Council to play a key role in shaping the global issues that really matter to Australians. We’ve been reminded in recent times of how important the interconnectedness in today’s globalised world is.

DAVID SPEERS, HOST: Prime Minister, thanks for talking to us here in Silicon Valley.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good to be with you and what a fantastic venue to be at.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It’s fantastic to be here at Apple headquarters in California, and I do want to thank Tim Cook for the invite, firstly, after we spoke in June, but also for getting together the entire executive team. It was a very fruitful discussion that we had, and then to be able to see the latest products is very important as well.

The Albanese Government is proud to lead the world in efforts to keep children safe online, and today the Prime Minister welcomed the opportunity to meet the Executive Chairman of Apple’s Board, Mr Tim Cook at Apple Park in Cupertino, United States. 

As an industry leader, Apple has worked to support Australia’s online safety laws and taken additional steps to help protect kids online.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It’s great to be back in the United States, and I’m looking forward tomorrow to taking up the invitation of Tim Cook, the Executive Chair of Apple, looking particularly at the issue of child safety and new technology. Australia is, of course, a world leader when it comes to dealing with the issues of safety, when it comes to new technology and the digital economy.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will travel to the United States from Friday 18 September to Thursday 24 September 2026 to visit Apple Headquarters in California and lead Australia’s delegation at the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Week in New York.

The Prime Minister will visit Apple Park and meet the Executive Chairman of Apple’s Board of Directors, Tim Cook, to discuss Apple’s new parental-controls for children, in part inspired by Australia’s groundbreaking reform.  

Australia has ranked 8th in the World Economic Forum’s 2026 Global Gender Gap Report, breaking into to the top ten and achieving its highest ever ranking for gender equality, out of 148 countries.

This result reflects the Albanese Government’s sustained action to improve the lives of women and girls, including lifting wages in female-dominated industries, expanding Paid Parental Leave to six months with superannuation, and making significant investments in women’s health.