ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It's been a very productive morning at the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting here in Korea. The first APEC Meeting, of course, took place in Canberra 36 years ago. So, Australia has a real affinity with APEC. We have a sense of ownership as part of the reforms of how we engage in our own Pacific region in order to advance the economic growth of the region, with the focus, of course, on our desire to have jobs and economic activity in Australia. And that is very much my focus. We want to open up trade because we believe that trade is something that benefits everyone, both exporters and importers. Free and fair trade is good for Australians. We know one in four of Australia's jobs depends upon trade. And 75 per cent of our trading relationships are right here in APEC. So, today is an opportunity for me to put forward Australia's formal positions that I did this morning, but also to engage informally with our trading partners. So, it was an opportunity to greet President Xi and to have a short, informal discussion with him, to meet other leaders who are here, on top of, of course, the leaders who I spent some time with last night. We had an informal dinner between the leaders of Canada, New Zealand and Singapore. That was a very pleasant occasion, but also an opportunity for us to discuss what had taken place at ASEAN and global developments as well. Last night as well, I had my formal bilateral meeting with President Lee, our host here in Korea. Korea are of course, great friends of Australia. And it followed the meeting that I had with the executives at POSCO. POSCO, Australia's best commercial customer, bar none. $18.3 billion of exports coming from Australia to this one company. And it was a real opportunity to engage with them directly and also to engage about diversification, how this relationship can benefit in the future. The fact of the collaborative work we're doing on the production of green steel, the fact that I was able to hold zero emissions steel in my hand - real, not something in the future, something that has been developed right now. And we see real opportunities, as do, of course, POSCO, for that to grow in the future. As well as their investment that they want to diversify in Australia in areas such as lithium as well. So, this is a real opportunity for us. We discussed also with President Lee, the trade and investment, defence and defence industry, economic security, clean energy. The full bit. Later on in a short while, I'll be going to the APAC meeting. That is the region's business leaders, including from Australia. That will be an opportunity to engage with the private sector here as well, to engage about how we explore future economic growth and creation of jobs in Australia. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: Did you speak with President Xi about the incidents in the recent weeks in the South China Sea? And has the deployment of Australian vessels on a freedom of navigation mission. Did you speak with President Xi about the incident in the South China Sea? And has the movement of vessels on freedom of navigation missions over the last few weeks had anything to do with that flare incident?
PRIME MINISTER: At the risk of repeating myself, I don't go out of private discussions and come in here and discuss them because that way you won't have diplomatic advancement. It was an informal discussion with President Xi. I reported on the formal discussions that I had with Premier Li, where it was raised. With regard to our activity in the South China Sea and freedom of navigation - that's what we do. We do that on a regular basis. We do it in an orderly way and there's nothing special about that.
JOURNALIST: The timing of it, though, considering that you are here in the region with security in focus?
PRIME MINISTER: There's no implications for that. It's something we do regularly.
JOURNALIST: President Xi spoke to the group about the need to ensure supply chains are secured and that sort of thing. Is it a little ironic, given recent comments and threats of export controls on rare earths by the Chinese Government?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I welcome President Xi's comments that he made. They were in support of issues which Australia has advocated for as well, on supply chains, on freedom of trade, on the World Trade Organisation being central to dispute resolutions as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, could I ask you for your response to the tweet or the social media post yesterday by the United States President with regard to nuclear testing?
PRIME MINISTER: You can of course ask, but I'll repeat what I've said repeatedly as well, Tim, which is that I have no intention of responding to the tweets of any particular leaders. Australia's position, of course, is we have a long standing position of support for nuclear disarmament. Nothing has changed in that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I ask about the outcomes of yesterday's meeting between President Xi and President Trump, and whether you agree with the assessment of many experts that President Xi seemed to walk away with the upper hand purely because of Beijing's dominance over rare earths?
PRIME MINISTER: I think it was a very positive meeting and it's good that the meeting took place. That's the first thing. Dialogue is always good. and dialogue between the President of the United States and the President of China is something that we welcome.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you recently signed that critical minerals deal with the US. Over the past few days, speaking with other world leaders, have there been discussions about other deals that you could make?
PRIME MINISTER: We have continued to engage on trade. One is example is a commitment that I made just this morning of a Centre of Excellence for Paperless Trade. This is an agreement with Singapore. It will be based in Singapore. We'll be providing some financing for that. What that's about is capacity building throughout the OECD, making sure that we can have more efficient, more productive trade. One of the themes this morning, which was a theme of the Economic Summit hosted by Treasurer Jim Chalmers just a couple of months ago, was how do we remove unnecessary regulation? How do we facilitate that private sector activity? One way, of course, is paperless trade, and that is something that has been advanced through Australia's engagement with APEC. In particular, I pay tribute to the work that Dr. Craig Emerson has done in that area.
JOURNALIST: So, just specifically on critical minerals, though, has that been a focus of discussions you've had with other world leaders? Are there potential for more deals on critical minerals?
PRIME MINISTER: What we did with the United States was a framework for critical minerals. Scott Bessent, I had an opportunity to talk with him this morning as well, informally. One of the things, if you look at some of the agreements that have been made, they are essentially pretty similar to the framework that we've put in place. Australia has these products, critical minerals and rare earths that are in demand around the world. So, yes, we see this as an opportunity, not just an opportunity between Australia and the United States. This is an opportunity for Australian jobs and Australian economic growth.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Korean company Hanwha has an application pending to double its stake in Austal to 20 per cent. Do you have any concerns about a Korean company being the largest shareholder in Australia's only defence shipbuilder?
PRIME MINISTER: We have a Foreign Investment Review Board process, and one of the things that we do is we receive recommendations from them and then we make decisions based upon proper assessments.
JOURNALIST: You've met with Mark Carney a couple times - last night and the night before. I know he's having his own struggles with the United States President. Have you had any discussions about how you've managed that relationship? Any tips for the Canadian leader?
PRIME MINISTER: I think Mark Carney is a pretty experienced guy. He's a new Prime Minister, but certainly not new to global engagement. I have found Mark Carney's friendship and engagement very positive. We get on very well. Mark Carney was generous enough to invite me to the G7 meeting, as a friend of the G7. I'm not sure the exact title that they used in there. But going to Kananaskis was a privilege. It's something that we don't take for granted. And that said something about the relationship between Australia and Canada. We actually have a lot in common. We are, of course, both Commonwealth countries. We have some similar economies as well. There are some differences there, and in some areas we compete. But many of the companies, for example, like Rio Tinto, are involved in Canada as well as Australia.
JOURNALIST: There is a lot of interest back home about Prince Andrew or Andrew Mountbatten being stripped of his titles. Has the King made the right call?
PRIME MINISTER: That's all a matter for His Majesty. But I think His Majesty, King Charles can make decisions without the benefit of my advice I think is probably the correct answer to that. And they work through those things. We respect decisions that are made by the Royal Family.
JOURNALIST: Can I ask you to reflect as well on more broadly the trip and the way you've engaged, obviously, with world leaders? Six months ago, a couple of years ago, our relationship with President Xi was on the rocks. Six months ago, people were saying that we hadn't had enough talks in relationship with the United States. What's your reflection, given that –
PRIME MINISTER: I wasn't saying that at the time, you might have noticed that.
JOURNALIST: But, you know, given the way this week has played out and your ability to be in the room with both China and America, what does that say about Australia's position on the world stage now?
PRIME MINISTER: Australia's international engagement is in good shape. We are a reliable partner. We engage respectfully. We engage diplomatically. Our word counts. We don't discuss private conversations that we have. We do report appropriately on public conversations that we have. That's how you get things done. You get things done by being respected in the international community. We are respected and I think we punch above our weight in many ways because of where we are in the world. We care about global involvement. We want to see developing countries lifted up as well as, we are very consistent in our advocacy for free and fair trade. And that means that that reliability. But also the personal relationships that you are able to develop. I've had a number of bilateral meetings with President Xi. I've had seven bilateral meetings with Premier Li. I've had a range of engagements with President Trump. Before that, with President Biden. And we engage in global forums. And I think the consistency as well of having – Foreign Minister Wong was here yesterday, meeting with her counterparts. The fact that we've had consistency. For a while there, there was a bit of a revolving door in defence ministers, foreign ministers, indeed Prime Ministers from Australia. It takes time to develop trust and to build relationships. It’s no different from how I deal with people in this room. And that, I think, enables Australia to get outcomes which are in the interests of Australians. We live in a globalised world. We're not immune, even though we're an island continent, from the implications of what occurs. And that's why it is in our interest to engage in a respectful way.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, we had some words of worry from President Lee Jae Myung of South Korea, saying that global trade is at a critical inflection point, that economic uncertainty is deepening and momentum for free trade and investment is weakening. Do you agree with that rather pessimistic outlook? Do you agree with that assessment?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that is an observation based upon, I think, the assessment that Australia shares a concern about any winding back of free and fair trade. We think that the world benefits from free and fair trade. I'm someone who has advocated that very strongly. Sovereign states, of course, are up to them to make their own decisions, but Australia is very consistent about our view. That is one of the reasons why we were responsible for the first ever APEC meeting. We should be, as Australians, proud of what we do in the international community. The credit for that goes back, of course, to Bob Hawke and Paul Keating and their government. When we hosted the first meeting in Canberra, that wasn't a leaders meeting. It then grew into the first leaders meeting that was held in Seattle, in the United States, just a couple of years after that. But this is something of which Australia feels a sense of pride in.
JOURNALIST: PM, another part of your message on the international stage over the years you've been in the job has been on climate, and you've had that as part of your message in the Pacific. But more broadly, with the Liberal Party today, they're arguing about the Net Zero language. They believe if they get a united position that you're going to be vulnerable because support for Net Zero is waning. Do you think that that's true in a domestic sense? Is this at risk given high energy costs?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the world is getting on with the transition in Net Zero. A company like POSCO yesterday that has been importing, of course, Australian iron ore and metallurgical coal in order to create steel and to be a major producer in the world, is looking at how they transition to zero emissions, steel manufacturing. That's what we saw yesterday with that company. They're investing in new minerals, in rare earths and critical minerals they want to engage with in Australia as well. And overwhelmingly the world sees that the transition to Net Zero – that climate change is real. And I'm not going to comment on domestic matters back home. I'd leave people to watch that circus and make their own decisions. But what we're about is seizing the opportunity which is there. Change is always not smooth and not straightforward. It represents a challenge, but it represents an opportunity. And here in this region, we are speaking at APEC about the opportunity which is there from the transition with the economies which are here. And that has been a common element of both the public contributions, formal contributions which are made, but also the private discussions that have taken place, including last night.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, can I just ask one as you leave, you're here in South Korea. In the last day or so, have you managed to glean much more on South Korea's ambition to have nuclear submarines and how comfortable are you? That fits with our ambition to have them as well.
PRIME MINISTER: It certainly is for, I would assume, similar reasons. Because nuclear powered submarines – the reason why we're doing it – because the reason that we came to a decision which has bipartisan support, that that's the most effective way that we can increase our defence capability. That's just one of the things. There are other measures as well that we're undertaking, including unmanned undersea drones as well, that we're engaging in. The implications are for the Republic of Korea, it's up to them to make their decisions. There aren't any implications for us with AUKUS. There's a very separate arrangement done with our partners in the United States and the United Kingdom. Thank you very much. Have a good day.