ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks very much for joining us. I've just come from the Medtech Luncheon and was honoured particularly to have Professor Barry Marshall here from the University of Western Australia, a Nobel Laureate who has done such important work with China and Australia, who is one of our best ever researchers, quite clearly, and is an example of where there is an interest of cooperation between Australia and China when it comes to research, when it comes to medical breakthroughs, and where there are commercial opportunities as well have arisen from it. After this, I will go to Cochlear. Of course, Cochlear is one of the great Australian companies that has made an incredible difference to literally tens of thousands -- or hundreds of thousands, now -- of lives. Giving people hearing for the first time is something, for those of us who are not hearing impaired, an extraordinary thing that has happened, and we as Australians should be really proud of our scientists and our medical breakthroughs as well as of course recognising that there are opportunities which are commercial, which flow from that. That's not the objective, of course. The objective is to make people's lives better, and that is what companies like that have certainly done. This has been a very successful visit, and the meetings that I had with the top three leaders in China, with President Xi, more than two and a half hours, including the luncheon that we had; with Premier Li, again hosting a banquet for us; but also, Chairman Zhao, who will visit Australia later this year. It was an opportunity to have constructive discussions across the range of issues; security, our relationship, including people-to-people, and importantly our trade. And being accompanied by so many senior business leaders here, led by the Business Council of Australia, shows how significant this economic relationship is. One in four of Australian jobs depends upon our trade, and our most important trading partner is China. We want to continue to work. We have worked very hard to stabilise the relationship. That has brought benefits, with over $20 billion of trade resuming and removal of impediments. During this trip as well, we signed agreements for further two-way trade resumption and in addition to that, we agreed on the promotion of two-way tourism as well. The tourism sector has an extraordinary potential to expand in Australia. What we see in a city such as this, is a growing middle class and growing wealth, and that will make a difference. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: On the subject of broader Australia-China relations, you've put a lot of stock in building personal rapport with world leaders to try and navigate any differences that might arise. How would you describe your relationship with President Xi, and do you consider President Xi a friend?
PRIME MINISTER: I regard the relationship with President Xi as warm and engaging. We have had four bilateral meetings, but have also engaged at other times as well on an informal basis. That's a positive thing. President Xi sent a very warm message of congratulations, as did other leaders after the May 3 election.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on stabilisation, there've been a number of references from Chinese leaders to the setbacks or the difficulties that were endured a few years ago. What's your sense from your discussions with President Xi, or with Premier Li, or others, about how they regard that period? Do they concede that China was at fault at all in its coercive trade measures, or do they place the blame largely, or entirely, on Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Overwhelmingly, what we discuss is moving forward, is issues of today and tomorrow rather than the past. And it's something that I very much have concentrated on. What I speak about is the potential that's there to grow the relationship, to develop further economic ties. We, of course, as I've said repeatedly, we cooperate where we can, we disagree where we must, but we don't want those disagreements to define our relationship either, so what we do is talk about how we can cooperate further in the future.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Opposition has been watching your travels very closely. James Paterson says this trip is indulgent. You've been accused of cozying up to the Chinese Communist Party while letting the US relationship languish. What is your response?
PRIME MINISTER: Oh, look, I think the Opposition have got some issues they need to sort out within themselves, including over the relationship with China. I think they should sort themselves out before they start going back to where they've been for the last three years, frankly. Sitting back, never having anything positive to contribute, always being critical, seeking to look for distinction, when what they should be doing is just supporting Australia's national interest. That's what I'll continue to do.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how would you sum up the goals of this trip to China and would you say it's been mission accomplished?
PRIME MINISTER: The goals are advancing Australia's national interests. And I'd say that you don't go from a position of where we were, into absolute agreement on everything. That's not the goal. We have different political systems, but it has been constructive and has been an important step in the developing of our relationship, which is important, not just for Australia and China, but I make this point as well. Around our region, particularly ASEAN nations, want to see the positive, constructive engagement, which is what you have seen during this visit.
JOURNALIST: The Coalition, Prime Minister, says that this has been an indulgent trip because of a lack of agreements, or assurances, or pacts. Can you explain why you think that there's a kind of deeper meaning to this trip, that these engagements over hours with key Chinese leaders means that there's another element to our relationship now? Can you explain what that tangibly means for Australia and our security?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, if you compare the difference of this visit with the failure of the Coalition during the last term, during the term in which I was Opposition Leader, they didn't have a phone conversation between a single minister in Australia and our major trading partner. So, we look at these things in perspective. What we've had is constructive engagement. We have continued to be able to put forward Australia's position. The businesses that were here, if you look at the issue of steel decarbonisation to name just one, steel is a major -- the production of steel is a major source of global emissions. The shift to green steel cannot happen without the involvement of China, which produces over 50 per cent of the world's steel. The fact that you have the four major Australian resource and iron ore exporters, BHP, Rio, Fortescue and Hancock, all sitting down with their Chinese purchasers of their products, that benefits Australia enormously in terms of our GDP and the revenue that comes through Australia from that, and talking about the transition and how that's important. That is what success looks like. You don't move from the existing production of steel to overnight having zero-emissions steel production. What you have had with this, though, is concrete discussions and agreements going forward between Australian companies and Chinese companies, which is not only in their interest but is in the interests of all those who agree that we need to reduce global emissions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I read James Paterson's criticism, the indulgent criticism, as being about two visits, I think in particular - yours to the Great Wall yesterday, and to the pandas today, both of which follow Labor Prime Ministers in a sense, Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke. How much were you thinking of Whitlam and Hawke as you did those two visits, and are those visits critical to what you are doing in China?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I was thinking more of them than I was of James Paterson, it's fair to say. But it's also the case that I was thinking of how worthwhile it is for Australia as well. Those pictures go to 27 million people potentially in Australia. They go to over a billion people in China, a billion people, and those billion people represent people who increasingly are rising up the income ladder and are potential tourists and therefore job creators in Australia. If James Paterson doesn't understand that, then he doesn't understand much. And quite frankly, I think the latter applies. The Coalition need to -- they've just had an election result because in part they themselves have characterised it as their constant negativity. They need to stop looking for reasons to say they're against and decide what they're for. And I would've thought that the Australian Prime Minister, I'm sure when Malcolm Fraser, as well as Gough Whitlam, visited the Great Wall of China, I would be very surprised if any Labor politician of the day criticised that visit. The Great Wall of China symbolises the extraordinary history and culture here in China, and showing a bit of respect to people never cost anything. But you know what it does? It gives you a reward.
JOURNALIST: You've sort of said that as well, obviously, this visit was a lot about soft diplomacy as we saw. Where to from here? You've said that there's been a lot of promising meetings with Chinese leaders and businesses. What happens now?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we'll have -- Chairman Zhao will lead a delegation to Australia in the last half of this year. That's another step in the bilateral relations. I will welcome Premier Li to Australia. One of the things about coming here to Chengdu, is that when Premier Li visited Australia following my visit here in China two years ago, I suggested to him and encouraged him to not just go to Canberra and the big cities of Sydney and Melbourne, but he went of course to Adelaide and to Perth. Western Australia is a driver of our national economy and South Australia has an important relationship, in particular, the wine industry in South Australia very much welcomed the changes that occurred. So because Premier Li went to three destinations, it was also suggested that I go on my return not just to Beijing and Shanghai. It's important to recognise that and one of the things that I find about giving countries respect, is that you get it back. So, when I went to Indonesia for example, on my -- very soon, within a couple of weeks of becoming Prime Minister -- I went not just to Jakarta, but I went to Makassar as well, that had an Australian link with Indonesia. It's really important. Just as we expect if people come to Australia from international destinations, I encourage them to go outside of the Sydney-Melbourne-Canberra Triangle, because that's not Australia. That's part of it, but Australia's much bigger. And I'll make this point: that President Xi has been to every state and territory in Australia, something he's really proud of and something that has built his understanding of what Australia is. Now, I've brought all of you here. If there's anyone who thinks that coming to Chengdu was a mistake, by all means put your hand up and your colleagues can have that discussion afterwards with you, but it was I think, the right thing to do and I'll continue to do the right thing when I visit. Just as in Canada, the G7 was held in Calgary as a conscious decision by the Canadian Government, and just as in the United States, the last time that we had a Quad meeting, of course, was in Philadelphia. So, we engage outside of the usual places. If you just do that, then you won't get that understanding that's required.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there have been reports today that Donald Trump has dialled down his own confrontational tone with China to secure a summit with President Xi and a trade deal. Are there any lessons that Australia can learn from that in terms of whether pushing back harder against the United States is the best policy to get an exemption on trade tariffs?
PRIME MINISTER: What we do is, we engage constructively and we'll continue to engage constructively with the United States.
JOURNALIST: PM, you say you have a warm relationship with Xi Jinping. You were asked last time we were in China, you were in China, whether you trusted Xi Jinping. Can you now say whether you trust the Chinese President?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, these are the sort of issues that come. I have no reason -- nothing that he has said to me, has he not fulfilled. So, I give the same answer that I gave last time.
JOURNALIST: So, you were talking just before about respect and the messaging here in China seems to be that they want more open, free trade and they're quite happy that there is tariff-free movement there between Australia and China. But one area that they don't really seem to be playing fair on is critical minerals. You're probably aware that Lynas Rare Earths has undergone a significant misinformation campaign for a number of years now around their operations, both in Australia and abroad. Are you at all concerned that China won't play fair in this critical space?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we support the general principle of free and fair trade. That's our starting point. We of course protect our national interest, as you would expect, and we deal with all these issues on a case-by-case basis.
JOURNALIST: Thanks, PM. In terms of the -- you've spoken, and your ministerial colleagues have spoken about being in a strategic competition as a sort defining theme of our times. Is that a competition that Australia can win and must win, and do you feel like a stabilised relationship with China is probably a worthy endpoint in itself given all the turmoil that's in the world at the moment?
PRIME MINISTER: I want a more stable and secure world because it has an impact not just on humanity -- as we see with death in Ukraine, with too many innocent lives being lost in Israel and Gaza, the conflict in parts of Africa as well -- but it also has an impact on people who aren't directly affected, on our economy. Conflict has an impact on the economy. Global inflation isn't solely because of the invasion of Russia, of Ukraine, of a sovereign state, but it did drive it much higher globally. The impact of what's occurring in the Red Sea with the actions of the Houthis, etc, is having an impact. We see global conflict effects the global economy, and that is why it is in all of our interests to promote peace and security in our region. It's something that we continue to support. We engage very much with our neighbours in the Pacific and in ASEAN, but we also of course want to see a more secure and peaceful world. We see that as investing in our capabilities, including with our alliance with the United States, and we see that in investing in our relationships.
JOURNALIST: When you talk about showing respect and getting respect back, do you expect now that that respect will translate to notification for naval exercises in our region?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've put forward our view there. But to put it in context, Australia has engaged in multiple exercises in this region. We do so, and so, it is just a fact that that has occurred. We exercise our right to act within international law, and we do so.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you've spoken at length about your government's approach to diplomacy being different from the megaphone diplomacy, as you call it, that a lot of your critics obviously want to see. It leads to demands for tangible outcomes out of every meeting, for example. Given you're at the start of a new term, what would you like to see looking back in three years' time in terms of where the China-Australia relationship is? Not just around notification of incidents, but a whole range of other areas that as you say, we disagree where we must.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I want to see a stronger relationship, I want to see more agreement and less disagreement. Will there be a circumstance when there is no disagreements? No, because we have different political systems, we have different cultures, we have different values, so we understand that. What I'd like to see is to be able to talk about those issues regularly, get as much agreement as possible, but understanding of where our nations are coming from. Out of understanding can come greater cooperation, and I see that as being really important. I see the way that I engage internationally as what I want to define my government domestically as well. We're a stable, orderly government that do what we -- say what we're going to do, and then undertake that action. That we're not engaged in looking for tomorrow's headline. That what we're worried about is, where do we look back in a few years' time? One of the things I've spoken about politically, I spoke about it before the last election, was that I was focused -- and some of that was criticised at the time -- not getting ahead of ourselves. To say that in 2019, I looked at where do we want to be in 2022? Where do we want to be positioned? What are our values? What are our achievements? How are we characterised, so the Australian people can have confidence going forward? This was after a period in which no Prime Minister had been re-elected since John Howard in 2004, and which Prime Ministers Rudd, Gillard, Abbott, and Turnbull were replaced without there being an election. I think people wanted to see that revolving door end. They wanted to see a government that understood what its direction is, that outlined it clearly. That's why I went after the election, not just before, after the election to the National Press Club and said, here is the direction in which we're headed. Obviously, things will occur over a period of time that you have to deal with, and whether it was COVID in the term before last, or last term, global inflation wasn't expected. But similarly, this time around I look at, okay, where are we in 2028? Where are we going? And last year, some of the commentary didn't anticipate the election result on 3 May. I was always very confident about an absolute majority. I dismissed the multiple questions that I received about minority government as essentially not being particularly relevant to where I thought we were going, because I was focused on that and we need to restore faith in politics. It is something I'm very passionate about. We talk about our differences in values. We're a great democracy. I'm passionate about democracies, and one of the ways that we restore faith in democracies is by doing what we said we would do, and by engaging in a pretty honest and upfront way and not being distracted by the latest tweet, or the latest blog. As I said the other day, I won't be distracted. I'm focused on making achievements, but I'm also focused on 2028; what does it look like and beyond, what do we do for the national interest?
JOURNALIST: China has changed a lot in the last decade. What's your read on China over the last six days? How would you describe how China sees itself as an ascending superpower and how would you describe the mood here?
PRIME MINISTER: China sees itself as confident going forward, and you come to this city -- I'm an urban policy nerd, I love architecture, I love urban economics -- and as you drove from the tennis centre to here yesterday afternoon, it struck me that there were more innovative architecture, more innovative architecture than in any city I have been to around the world. Quite clearly new, dynamic. It's creative. And one of the reasons why you come here as well, is so that you all send that message back. I've been in the past to places like Hangzhou and Chongqing and Shenzhen and a range of other cities in China, so that you send a message of China isn't just Beijing or Shanghai, any more than Australia is Sydney and Melbourne.
JOURNALIST: You're off to Cochlear after this. And that's a really interesting factory, Australian factory in China. It's really rare though actually, when I've been looking for examples of foreign direct investment, Australian foreign direct investment in China, that's at the top of the list and there's not a lot left on the list. I went through the ABS numbers before you arrived. This last year, Australian direct foreign investment into China fell 25 per cent. Since you've been doing the stabilisation process, which has worked diplomatically, we can see Australian foreign direct investments more than halved in China. It's fallen every year since 2019. Just what do you make of that trend as the Prime Minister? Are you concerned about it, and why do you think it's happening? Do you want it to change? Can you speak to that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I think you've identified in part by singling out the year in which it began to decline, 2019, and that obviously had an impact, both COVID, that had an impact on global economic investment, but also there were the specific issues during that term of the Morrison Government. I want to see more direct investment here. It's something that I've raised. Cochlear are a great example. This afternoon, we will be given, privately, for obviously privacy and health reasons, the turning on of a cochlear implant with a young person. The idea that an Australian invention gives someone who has never heard the voice of their mom or dad, brother, sister, never heard the sound of air conditioning that's here, sound of the river, the birds tweeting. It's amazing. It's amazing. We should be so proud of what we're doing, and it will be an incredibly proud moment for me this afternoon as Australian Prime Minister to be able to witness that, and I thank very much the family who have agreed and welcomed, wanted to show the difference that it makes. So, I'm very much looking forward to that. I'll catch up with you all a little bit later. Thank you.