ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, it's good to be joined here at the B20, prior to the G20 commencing tomorrow. And I'm joined by the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, who's been here since Saturday, participating in the economic discussions in the lead-up to the G20, and Jennifer Westacott, the Head of the Business Council of Australia. Earlier today, I had a constructive bilateral meeting with President Widodo. I thank him for hosting us at the G20. And I congratulated him on the efforts that Indonesia is making to bring countries together with the common themes of growing together and growing stronger out of the pandemic at this G20 Conference. Just a little bit earlier as well, I got to speak at the B20. It was a great honour. And I thank President Widodo for extending that invitation to myself as the Australian Prime Minister. The B20 has been an important part of G20 processes, given the role that businesses from the 20 largest economies in the world play. And in terms of inclusive growth, it will be particularly important going forward. And it was an opportunity to put Australia's view of the economic challenges which we're facing globally, but also the opportunities, in particular, the opportunities for greater collaboration between Australia and Indonesia. We also attended, earlier on, the signing of the agreement between the BCA and Kadin. This Memorandum of Understanding between the peak business organisations in Australia and Indonesia is a direct result of my visit here in June, where upon my election, I made this my first bilateral visit. We had an event in Jakarta, attended by 400 people, including leading businesses, including the Business Council of Australia. And there, arising out of that, it was agreed that there would be further collaboration and we'd work on that. This MoU is very important. It was signed by Jennifer Westacott as the CEO, but also by Rasyid Fajrin, the Chairman of Kadin, and the host of the B20. All about facilitating an increase in two-way trade and investment between Australia and Indonesia. I'm really looking forward to the coming days, where not only will I be participating in the G20, but also having important bilateral meetings. I'll ask Jim to make some comments. And then ask Jennifer Westacott, as the head of the BCA, to talk about the importance of this MoU.
JIM CHALMERS, TREASURER: Thanks very much, Prime Minister. This is such a crucial opportunity for Australia to be at the G20 table with more than 80 per cent of global GDP, three quarters of world trade, and around 60 per cent of the world's population represented. I have been here for a couple of days, engaging with economic ministers and other heads of global economic institutions to make sure that our policies and plans in Australia are designed for the particular combination, complex combination, of challenges that we confront in the global economy. All of my counterparts are expecting a bumpy ride in the global economy over the next 12 months or so. And that's why it's so important that we've handed down a responsible Budget. We're taking steps to make our economy more resilient. And we're building our buffers against this global economic uncertainty as well. The defining challenge in the global economy and in our own economy is inflation. What we're seeing as a consequence of the war in Ukraine is chaos in energy markets, which is pushing up the price of energy, particularly gas, and has consequences for our own industries and for Australians around the country as well. And so, we are looking to respond to this combination of economic condition. Responsible Budget, more resilient economy, rebuild our buffers, and intervene meaningfully, temporarily, sensibly and responsibly in our own energy markets to try and take the sting out of what we're seeing as a consequence of the war in Ukraine. So, I wanted to congratulate the Prime Minister for his leadership, the Indonesian President, this has been a difficult year for the G20. It's been under extraordinary pressure because of the geopolitical tensions. And our hosts here in Indonesia have done a terrific job navigating those tensions, to make sure that we can make progress together. The best way to deal with this global economic uncertainty is by working together with partners around the world, but also between our business communities, our investor communities as well. And so, with that, I really wanted to congratulate Jennifer Westacott. We have, as I understand it, the biggest business delegation here in Bali for the B20. That is an indication of the interests that Australian businesses, employers and investors have shown and are showing in Indonesia. Jennifer Westacott has been a really important leader in all of that. And I hand it over to her now.
JENNIFER WESTACOTT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF THE BUSINESS COUNCIL OF AUSTRALIA: Well, thanks, Treasurer. Look, it's great to be here with the Prime Minister and the Treasurer at the B20, where world business leaders have spent the last two days talking about how we deliver sustainable and inclusive growth, how we unleash the power of the private sector through innovation and technology to the benefit of all countries and all people. Today, as the Prime Minister said, I had the great honour of signing a Memorandum of Understanding with Kadin, the peak business organisation here in Indonesia. And that MoU is designed to unleash greater cooperation, to identify practical projects, to encourage greater investment between the two countries, and to actually mutually cooperate in those crucial areas - energy transformation, healthcare - where both of our nations can be huge beneficiaries. But the Prime Minister's presence here at the B20 and the G20 I think reflects the huge reset that the Prime Minister is doing on foreign policy. The big reset in Indonesia, a country that is reinventing itself and will be of huge benefit to Australians living standards. Our reinvention, our reset, with the Pacific. Our tremendous reset announced today with China. This creates an opportunity for business to come in behind that reset that the Prime Minister has done to start building those business-to-business relationships, to start driving investment, to start driving job creation, to start driving new industry formation. This is a win for Australia. The thing that I have been most proud of over the last two days is the esteem with which Australia is held. The pride that we have in Australia. The way we are seen in the global community as leading. Leading on climate change, leading on economic resilience, leading on inclusion. I was very proud to be representing Australia in here for the last few days.
JOURNALIST: As we are meeting here this evening, President Biden is meeting Chinese President Xi. Going into that conversation this evening, it was characterised that as an exercise in discovering red lines, various red lines. Is that how you would characterise your approach going into the conversation tomorrow? And if it's not about establishing red lines, what is it about establishing?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I use my own language, rather than anybody else's. And what I've said is that we need to cooperate with China, where we can. We will disagree where we must. But we will act and have dialogue in our national interest. Dialogue is always constructive. And we need to work towards our mutual interest. It is in Australia and China's mutual interest for us to have an improvement in the relationship. And that is what my objective is.
JOURNALIST: Is it a reset as Jennifer Westacott just described it?
PRIME MINISTER: I use my own language is what I use. I use my own language. And it is positive, though, I've got to say, that the business community have certainly encouraged the change in our international relations across the board. Across the board, Australia was locked out while we were seen as being in the naughty corner on climate change. Australia is now engaged with Indonesia, we're engaged with ASEAN, we're engaged with the Pacific, we're engaged with our allies such as the United States. But we also are open to dialogue.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when was the meeting locked in?
PRIME MINISTER: It was locked in when it was locked in.
JOURNALIST: We have been coming here for a lot of years. Several Prime Ministers have been on these trips. It was always about (inaudible) business relations with Indonesia. (Inaudible).
WESTACOTT: No, I think it is different. And we got that when we were here with the Prime Minister earlier in the year. The Indonesian Government has done tremendous work to basically reinvent Indonesia. They talk about the new Indonesia. And that opens up tremendous opportunities. Just think about lithium and nickel, which the President was talking about this afternoon, that this will be the kind of powerhouse of battery technology. We have this mutual opportunity that we can come together. I think it's a much more sophisticated relationship. I think the business-to-business contacts are much stronger. And I think there's a much more mature way of going about it. And certainly, we're working hard now, since the Prime Minister's visit earlier in the year, to start to build those practical opportunities. And the Memorandum that I signed today is a way of actually saying, 'Here are the things where we've got mutual dependency, here are the things where we've got mutual opportunity, here's how we bring them to life'.
JOURNALIST: Given it has been six years since there were formal talks between President Xi and an Australian Prime Minister, what does a successful meeting look like to you tomorrow? What outcomes are in Australia's national interest?
PRIME MINISTER: Having the meeting is a successful outcome. Because for six years, we have not had any dialogue. And it is not in Australia's interest to not have dialogue with our major trading partners. So, having the meeting, there are no preconditions for the meeting. I was asked before about when the meeting was set. We agreed there would be an announcement mutually by Australia and China today that the announcement would take place tomorrow.
JOURNALIST: We just heard Joko Widodo urge you, 'Please, only send Australian lithium' here to Indonesia. What role is there for Government, do you think, in getting those critical mineral partnerships? Or is it purely more business-to-business?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, quite clearly, the private sector drives growth. But what governments can do, or good governments, can facilitate private sector involvement and private sector engagement. And that's what occurred in June this year, where on very short notice, I led a very significant delegation of the business community, including Jennifer, here to Indonesia. That sent a really positive message. I think it would have been two days’ notice. We had 400 people at a dinner hosted by the Indonesian Australian Chamber of Commerce. People want that engagement. Indonesia will grow, along with India, next year's host of the G20, to be in the top four economies in the world over coming decades. There's enormous opportunity for Australia. There's enormous goodwill. And the fact that Australia has the largest business delegation here at the B20 is a sign of that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, will you be raising the (inaudible) when you meet with the President tomorrow?
PRIME MINISTER: I will be reporting on everything that is raised tomorrow. I'm not going to foreshadow all the things we're going to raise prior to the meeting. You wouldn't expect me to. We will have a constructive dialogue. I will put Australia's position on a range of issues. And of course, Australia's positions on most of those is very well-known.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, there is plenty designed by Australia to take the heat out of the relationship that's built up with China. Other than having the meeting tomorrow, can you point to anything else that you've seen or heard from China that indicates they also are keen to take heat out of this relationship?
PRIME MINISTER: The fact that you have had Defence Ministers meeting. You've had Foreign Ministers meeting. You've had dialogue. I had discussion at the dinner the other evening with the Chinese Premier. I think they are all signs, as well as the public commentary that has been made. The positive response to the business community, as well, I think has been very well-received. And we will continue to engage in Australia's national interest.
JOURNALIST: How do you see the meeting tomorrow between the Prime Minister and President Xi? And what does it mean for the business community? We hear a lot about the need to diversify, but it sounds like business is very keen to dive straight back into that relationship?
WESTACOTT: Well, I think we have to remember, this is our largest trading partner. And we have to approach this relationship from a principle of realism. And the Government, I think, has been very strong in its focus. We've obviously had a set of difficulties in the relationship. But you can't fix those if you don't have a dialogue. And so, the importance tomorrow is actually getting that dialogue going again. And then business will come in behind that and continue to deepen its relationships. But in the case of China, it's never about not doing things in China, it's doing things in addition to China.
PRIME MINISTER: Thanks very much. See you tomorrow.