ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good evening. Tonight, I want to update Australians on a serious incident that has occurred in Victoria. This afternoon, Helen Haines, the Member for Indi, was attacked outside her electorate office in Wangaratta. All of our thoughts are with Helen, her family, her friends, her team, and her community at this extremely difficult time. We are praying for her full recovery. I want to thank the first responders for their extraordinary work. There is a major police investigation underway, and I can confirm that a suspect is in custody.

It is wonderful to be back here again at Telethon.

I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we're meeting, and pay my respect to Elders, past, present, and emerging.

I acknowledge too, the most important people who are involved in tonight's event and the events over the next 36 hours  – the kids we're helping, represented by the fabulous little stars that we saw before in the video, Aidan, Olivia, and Paige.

The Albanese Government has committed $6 million to the Channel 7 Telethon Trust for 2026 to help improve the health and wellbeing of Australian babies and children.

Telethon is an annual televised fundraising appeal in Western Australia and is broadcast live for 26 hours.

For almost six decades, Telethon has raised more than $778 million for sick and disadvantaged children in Western Australia.

To mark 100 years since our national parliament first met in Canberra, the 48th Australian Parliament will sit for a day at Old Parliament House in April next year.

The special sitting day will see Question Time, legislation and other statements return to the Chambers of Old Parliament House for the first time in decades.

In 1927, the “Provisional Parliament” was opened in Canberra and our national parliamentarians continued to meet in that building until 1988.

Learning from our democratic history and institutions is more important than ever. 

Thank you so much, JP.

I also join in acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the Land on which we meet, and I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging, as well as to all First Nations people with us here this evening.

To the Governor-General, Your Excellency, it is wonderful to be with you as well.

And I think you are doing an extraordinary job, and I say, more than fulfilling the confidence that I had in you.

Thank you so much to Prerana and to Peter for giving us a powerful beginning for this morning's events and discussions. And thank you to Auntie Serena and her niece and nephew for once again giving us a wonderful Welcome to Country. And I join with her in acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we're meeting, past, present and emerging. I acknowledge Dr Anne Aly, our fantastic Minister for Multicultural Affairs, and I acknowledge other Members of Parliament, Senators who are here, and I thank all the sponsors who are here as well, who of course make this possible.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Your Majesty, it is an absolute honour to welcome you to Australia. We had a very good meeting last year in New York, where we discussed the full range of issues confronting not just our nations, but confronting the world and humanity. Unfortunately, some of those are of course, still going because we do live in a time of increasing global uncertainty, particularly with the escalating conflict in the Middle East. We share your condemnation of the Houthi attacks against the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Prime Minister of Australia, the Hon Anthony Albanese MP, and His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan met in Canberra on 14 October 2026 and reaffirmed the enduring friendship between Australia and Jordan built on mutual respect and a shared commitment to peace, security and prosperity. 

Leaders welcomed the opportunity to set a forward-looking agenda for strengthened cooperation, building on the 2016 Joint Declaration on Enhanced Cooperation, and reflecting the growing breadth of the bilateral relationship. 

PATRICIA KARVELAS, HOST: The Prime Minister is my lead guest this afternoon, Anthony Albanese, Welcome to the program.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Goood afternoon. Good to be with you.

KARVELAS: In the last couple of weeks, some Labor MPs have been feeling a little bit nervous. Today you told your Caucus you would be kicking with the wind in the fourth quarter. It's a term you used before the last election I recall –

PRIME MINISTER: And the one before.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will welcome His Majesty King Abdullah II ibn Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan to Australia from 13 to 14 October 2026.

Australia and Jordan share a warm relationship, underpinned by defence and security cooperation.

Our countries are working together to advance peace and regional security, support humanitarian efforts, to counter terrorism and violent extremism, to grow trade and to strengthen cooperation on resources, energy, and the environment.