COMMANDER ASHLEIGH PAYNE, CSC, RAN, COMMANDING OFFICER HMAS STALWART: Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. I'm Commander Ashleigh Payne, Commanding Officer of HMAS Stalwart, and it's our privilege to host you here today. I'd now like to introduce the Honourable Anthony Albanese MP, Prime Minister of Australia.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thank you so much, Commander, and I regard it as an incredible honour in my time as Prime Minister to be able to engage directly with the men and women of the Australian Defence Force. Each and every one of them deserve our thanks each and every day. And the men and women who I've met here have been delightful and really proud to be representing Australia and making a difference here in our region to advance a secure, prosperous, and safe region.
It is great to be here on HMAS Stalwart. This is the 80th anniversary of our diplomatic relations between Australia and the Philippines. And our partnership underpins our long-standing bilateral ties, but also our shared vision for the region. I look forward to further discussions with President Marcos tomorrow at our bilateral meeting, but as well, participating in ASEAN and the East Asia Summit over the coming days.
Today, I can announce that Australia is strengthening our partnership further with a new Defence Cooperation Agreement, which we've just witnessed the signing of. There are three main elements to this agreement. Firstly, it'll guide our priority areas of cooperation. Secondly, to enhance our maritime awareness activities and information sharing. And thirdly, to increase our strategic dialogue, planning, training, interoperability, and defence infrastructure development. Further, today, I can announce that Australia will be making an additional investment here in maritime domain awareness and capabilities, such as drone technology, improved detection for maritime and cyber security threats, for equipment as well and training. Today's announcement reflects the maturity of our defence relationship. These activities will contribute to making our region more safe, more secure, and more prosperous.
Australia and the Philippines, of course, share a deep military history. Over 1,000 Australians made the ultimate sacrifice in the Philippines and the waters near here during World War II. And indeed, that history has continued. Australians and Filipinos served together in the Korean War and in International Force Timor-Leste. Australia's defence cooperation with the Philippines involves undertaking up to 200 separate activities. Some of the people who we've met here this morning have been participating in those activities. Some 200 activities involving between 2,500 and 3,000 Australian Defence Force personnel participate in these activities. Australia's defence cooperation is highly valued by the Philippines, including our largest ever contribution to Exercise Balikatan in, this year, in 2026. This is the Philippines' premier military exercise and involves seven participating nations. Together with the Philippines and our regional partners, we are strengthening maritime resilience and security that helps underpin a peaceful, stable, and prosperous region. Australia's interests lie in a region where sovereignty is respected, territorial integrity is acknowledged and protected, and where we make sure that countries are able to make their own choices in their own sovereign world.
Tomorrow, I will attend the ASEAN Summit. That comes at a really important time. We know that there are more conflicts in the world today than at any time since World War II. And the conflicts, the land war in Ukraine, continues far beyond what was expected, but of course the conflict in the Middle East is having a massive impact on global inflation. That's something that's impacting everyone who will be at the ASEAN Summit tomorrow. Inflation had a 2 in front of it in the Philippines at the beginning of this year. It now has a 7 in front of it. That's the sort of thing that we've seen occur around our region. So, we'll be discussing how we can work together to mitigate the impacts of the war, but also we want to see a de-escalation. And the coming days will be really important. Happy to take a couple of questions.
JOURNALIST: This defence deal was quite clearly aimed at countering China's influence in the South China Sea. How does that set the scene for ASEAN and your meeting with President Xi in the coming days?
PRIME MINISTER: This isn't aimed at any one country. This is about supporting sovereignty of every country. It's also, we very strongly support the international law of the sea. ITLOS is really important, freedom of navigation. The majority of our trade goes through the South China Sea. That is important. This is about, not about any one country. It's about peace and security in our region.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, how significant do you think the three-way summit between Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump, and Xi Jinping is? Is it possible that that, those talks will divide up spheres of influence in a way that your government has warned against?
PRIME MINISTER: We think that dialogue is a good thing, and we await the outcome of that dialogue. It’s obviously quite significant. The fact that President Trump will be at ASEAN as well as at APEC, and that we'll have a Quad Leaders’ Meeting as well. So, there'll be lots of engagement with the President of the United States. Obviously, that's our most important ally. But we want to see something constructive come out of that, including we want to see a de-escalation in the conflicts that are around the world.
JOURNALIST: When you see the US President, will you put to him directly that you would like the war in Iran to come to an end because of that economic consequences?
PRIME MINISTER: We’ll engage diplomatically with the President. I have a good relationship with President Trump. He's aware of Australia's very strong views that we want to see a de-escalation, because it's having an impact on the region, obviously where the conflict is occurring, where people who aren't protagonists in the conflict are being impacted, in the UAE, in Saudi Arabia, in Bahrain, in the countries of the Gulf. But it's also having an impact on supermarket shelves in the United States, in Australia, in the Philippines, right around the world, and we want to see a de-escalation.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the wife of an Australian man here, Hiep Tran, who is detained in Vietnam on alleged terrorism charges is calling for you to take a strong stance and get her husband home. What will you say to the Vietnamese Prime Minister when you meet with him today? And do you regret the comments that you made during the hot mic?
PRIME MINISTER: On the first matter, I'm having a bilateral meeting with the Prime Minister of Vietnam this afternoon. I look forward to that meeting. We welcomed the President of Vietnam in Australia recently, and that was a very positive meeting. I'll engage diplomatically on behalf of Mr Tran. That is what Australians do, and we've been quite successful. If you look around the world, whether it is the Bali Five, whether it is Julian Assange, whether it be the pharmacist from Cabramatta who was released from Vietnam, and other Australians who have found themselves in difficult situations overseas, Australia engages respectfully and diplomatically, and we will do the same.
JOURNALIST: And the hot mic?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I of course regret that. I apologise. This was a private conversation, we thought, between two friends, having been a light-hearted banter. You know, that happens, and no one was hurt or harmed. We weren't having private banter which criticised anyone.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, could I ask when you do meet your host in China, President Xi, specifically, what would you say about this agreement, and specifically, what would you say about China's behaviour in the South China Sea?
PRIME MINISTER: I'll engage diplomatically with President Xi. That's what we do. We have a good relationship with the President, and I'm very pleased that not only will I attend APEC, but I will attend the Annual Leaders' Meeting as well with Premier Li, who's my counterpart, the Prime Minister. We'll engage diplomatically.
JOURNALIST: Will you raise this?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll engage diplomatically rather than have media engage through the media. What we do is, we have discussions directly. We will do that, and it will be constructive, I'm sure, as the other discussions that we have. What I say is that with regard to the relationship with China, we cooperate where we can, we disagree where we must, and we engage in our national interests.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, every time Australia is involved in an incident with China in the South China Sea, China blames us and accuses Australia of ratcheting up the tensions in that. So, can I get your view on that, and whether we will continue to do those freedom of operations exercises in the South, freedom of navigation exercises in the South China Sea, and further, your friend Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called the three-way summit between Putin, Trump, and Xi as a Yalta 2.0 moment, and suggesting that it's like the post-war sort of carving up of the world into spheres of influence. This runs directly against the middle power diplomacy agenda, does it not?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll continue to engage with like-minded countries in middle power diplomacy, but we'll also engage with the – there are two superpowers in the world. Our position on –
JOURNALIST: Not three?
PRIME MINISTER: Our position on Russia is very clear. We stand with the people of Ukraine. We stand against Russia's illegal and immoral invasion of Ukraine. We stand for the territorial integrity. And what's important about the struggle of the people of Ukraine is that they're not just standing up for their own sovereignty; they're standing up for the international rule of law.
JOURNALIST: And on freedom of navigation –
PRIME MINISTER: We continue to – freedom of navigation is important. It's an important principle. We continue to engage in freedom of navigation. We've put that view not just about the South China Sea, but about the Strait of Hormuz as well. International trade is important. One of the reasons why Australia has to engage internationally is that one in four Australian jobs depend on our trade. Now we have in this region, the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy for 2040. We'll have further announcements about that. The work that we've done through Nicholas Moore, who did an outstanding job identifying what the opportunities were.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, when the US is here, President Trump is going to be asking Southeast Asian nations to adopt his AI Pax Silica, an initiative where you adopt US AI over Chinese AI. Australia is a member of the Pax Silica. Is that something that you think is a good idea for the region?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we're working through our own national interest and AI national standards. It's only been days ago, we released our safety and security measures that we're taking with regard to AI. I think when it comes to AI, what I want to see is national governments take action, but also I've been a party to statements calling for international appropriate regulation as well. AI has the potential to transform our economy, to boost productivity, to provide breakthroughs in healthcare that aren't even thought of yet. But there are also risks, and they need to be mitigated.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, are you willing to appear in the APEC family photo with Vladimir Putin?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, I will respect and, of course, take into consideration the wishes of our host country. That's what you do when you're in another country. But our views on Russia, we will make very clear our views about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. I've done it just a minute ago. We'll continue to do it. We'll do it consistently. We'll take into view, into account –
JOURNALIST: You're not ruling it out.
PRIME MINISTER: We'll take into account the views of our host country because that is what good manners, means that we have to at least –
JOURNALIST: Penny Wong refused to be in the photo though.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, there wasn't a photo.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you welcome dialogue between the US and Russia. If you were offered the opportunity to put forward Australia's interests, would you take a meeting with Vladimir Putin?
PRIME MINISTER: I don't envisage there'll be a meeting with Vladimir Putin. But if he's in a room where I am, I'm sure they will hear my contribution during the ASEAN Summit, which is exactly consistent with everything I've said today, and yesterday, and last week, and last month, and ever since the conflict was resolved. This is an illegal and an immoral invasion. This is a bigger country being a bully, in contravention of international law, and I have every respect for President Zelenskyy and for the people of Ukraine.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, just back to Ben's question on freedom of navigation. China in recent months have argued that Australia's activities in the South China Sea are inciting confrontation. So, in terms of what changes after this Agreement, does it mean that we have more resources in those freedom of navigation missions? Does it mean that we increase the frequency, what changes?
PRIME MINISTER: We support freedom of navigation, and we have exercises that are important. We have no intention of changing that, of making clear, our views are clear. There are areas where Australia and China have disagreed. What's important is that you say, we disagree with you, openly, and China disagrees with our own position. They pursue their national interest. That's understandable. What diplomacy is about is engaging respectfully, and that is something that I will do with my counterparts from China. China is our most important trading partner. There are a range of issues that we'll discuss, and some of those we will agree on, some of those we won't.
JOURNALIST: Did Australia give them a heads up about this agreement?
PRIME MINISTER: We engage diplomatically, and this is an agreement between Australia and the Philippines, two sovereign nations. Thank you.