ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: It's been a really productive day here at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting. CHOGM, of course, brings together 56 nations, representing a third of the world's population and representing a significant portion of the world's GDP. It, of course, has been concentrating on the issue of the global economy and international trade. And I've taken the opportunity to advance Australia's national interests, which is why we engage with our interconnected world. My government shows up to forums like this because it is in Australia's national interests. One in four of Australian jobs relies upon trade.
And last night I had a very successful and positive meeting with Andy Burnham, followed by, we then got together afterwards as well with our partners. And Andy Burnham, of course, there's no closer relationship that Australia has than with the United Kingdom. The historical ties, of course, that we have are very important, but also the Free Trade Agreement that we have, the work that we're doing on AUKUS, which is progressing very well, and Prime Minister Burnham is very supportive of it. And we were able to talk about the progress that is being made at Barrow in the UK and the progress that's being made, particularly in Adelaide at Osborne, but also at Henderson. Osborne in South Australia is, of course, critical because the SSN-AUKUS will be built both in Barrow and in Adelaide. And that is important for Australia's jobs as well as our national security.
In addition to that, today I had a meeting with Prime Minister Carney to progress the work that we've done since his visit to Australia in March. We are doing further work on critical minerals. We're doing further work as well on defence, as people would be aware, Australia is providing over-the-horizon radar equipment for the Canadian economy and Canadian military, and that is going to be a very significant export for Australia. And we talked about other opportunities which are there. We also talked about the context of trade, what Canada is doing with Europe, what we're doing with Europe, with the Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement. That is so important for Australia, and that was also a subject of discussion with the head of the WTO, Dr. Ngozi, and also with Ajay Banga, the Head of the World Bank. The European Free Trade Agreement is seen as something that's very positive. And one of the things that it does is something that has been very much recommended by the WTO, which is to diversify our trade interests. About 28 per cent of Australia's exports go to China. It's a good thing that our exports go to China, but we want to make sure that we're not as dependent on just one economy. So that diversification, whether it be with Europe, whether it be the UAE Free Trade Agreement that we've put in place, the work that we're doing through ASEAN and the Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, the work that we're doing with Canada, as well as, of course, our Northern Asian partners, particularly South Korea and Japan, are all very important going forward. And of course, the emerging market of India is going to be so important as the years roll on and as that economy moves into being the third largest in the world. But the EU is particularly important.
With both Prime Minister Burnham and Prime Minister Carney, we discussed AI and its impact as well. That's going to be a focus of the G20, which the UK will host next year. They have a focus on AI, but also on the North-South Divide. They've appointed Gordon Brown, the former Prime Minister of the UK as a Special Envoy. And he spoke at lunch, and I sat next to him and had a good discussion as well as an informal discussion with him last night about his vision for moving issues forward, which enable the Global South to develop more freely and not be saddled with the debt burden, which is there.
In addition to that, we've had an opportunity to discuss with a range of leaders, including the bilaterals, but also the informal meetings that are held across the board with them about the impact of the war on Ukraine. Also about what is happening in the Middle East and the impact that the war and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz is having on not just the Australian economy, of course, but on global inflation, and that's something that the whole world is dealing with going forward. Tomorrow, I'll go to the CHOGM Leaders’ Retreat, which will be an opportunity for more one-on-one discussions with leaders. It has been an opportunity to renew relationships with people, but also to forge new ones as well. There are a range of people here who we've engaged with. Obviously, as part of this as well, I seek support for the UN Security Council bid. But primarily, the discussion here that is ongoing has focused very much on the global economic situation and pressures which are there.
Just finally, after the meeting today, the Australia and the UK have released a joint statement that we discussed last night, expressing our concern about the toxic online environment that is posing a threat to democracies like ours, including part of that threat being, of course, the violence against parliamentarians, but certainly not limited to that, as the statement has said. People are very interested, obviously, in the social media ban that we've put in place, and that is raised with me spontaneously by people who want to engage and discuss what has happened there. I've also been able to talk about our Digital Duty of Care legislation that's before the Parliament at the moment, and the importance of humans being in control of artificial intelligence as we go forward. Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Your meeting with Prime Minister Burnham yesterday, his statement on it conspicuously left out any discussions on changing rules for backpackers or agreeing to that. Is he a long way from being convinced on this? And Liz Truss, I know, has said that the government should not do that. She negotiated the deal with the Morrison Government. Said it was a key thing the UK did secure. Why would they give us this?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Liz Truss isn't the Prime Minister and wasn't the Prime Minister for a very long period of time. Andy Burnham is the Prime Minister, and he was very, he was very constructive about it. And we tasked our officials to do further work. There are options that we discussed. We'll discuss it diplomatically. That's how you get things done. And it was a positive reception from Prime Minister Burnham. But we'll work those issues through.
JOURNALIST: What were some of those options discussed? Was there some sort of reciprocal – without going into detail, but was there request for some sort of reciprocal agreement where Australia does something for the UK?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the UK has, it's around about 77,000, the latest figures were, have benefited from this. But they're also not benefiting from the experience of seeing the whole of Australia if they're just staying in Sydney and Melbourne. And so we understand the agreement, which is there. The agreement provides for, if there are good policy reasons for changes, for changes to be made. I advocated why I think change is necessary, and put forward a number of options, and we'll work those issues through over coming weeks.
JOURNALIST: What kind of timeline would you put on that? Weeks, months?
PRIME MINISTER: We’ll talk through options over coming weeks. I've had further discussions with his advisers, but we do that respectfully and diplomatically. There is a, the Free Trade Agreement with the UK overwhelmingly is positive for both of our countries. This is something though that has had consequences in regional Australia that need to be accounted for, and that is why I've engaged in that way.
JOURNALIST: You talk about global inflation. Michele Bullock made clear yesterday she was not raising interest rates because of the international oil price, but because of domestic issues. Have you been making too much of the impact of international conflicts on the pressures Australians are feeling, and do you accept that your policies have contributed to this rate rise?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I think that Michele Bullock's statements, which have been regular, stand. Regularly, she has spoken about international pressures as well as domestic demand, that's something that we don’t disagree with –
JOURNALIST: She said, ‘I want to make very clear – we're not tightening monetary policy because of the direct impact of oil prices on inflation’. She says that the tightening is to address domestic capacity pressures. She says they were evident before the rise of the oil price.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I take Michele Bullock, I will give a range of quotes back of Michele Bullock, where she acknowledged, and as I'm sure she did yesterday, with respect, Greg, I didn't see the press conference, but I'm sure that Michele Bullock would have acknowledged that oil prices have had an impact, as Jim Chalmers did yesterday.
JOURNALIST: You've got many factors that you're now confronting in the wake of that fifth interest rate rise yesterday. And when you balance all the factors on fiscal policy, what can you say now? This is our first opportunity to ask you about that rate rise. When you look at the Mid-Year Budget that's coming up, does the rate rise make you more inclined to look for more savings in the budget because that's what the economic conditions require?
PRIME MINISTER: It makes our decision that we were looking for savings, it confirms it, as we have done in each and every budget. I'll make this point – a range of savings that we have put forward have been rejected by the Coalition, and a range of expenditures have been called for as well. You can't oppose the private health insurance changes at the same time as you're calling for changes to fuel taxation, which would have an impact on inflation, and you can't oppose the European Free Trade Agreement. The European Free Trade Agreement will make goods to Australia cheaper. That has a downward impact on inflation. It is just one of the reasons why the European Free Trade Agreement should be supported by everyone across the board.
JOURNALIST: But are you willing to cut deeper next month because that's what the rate rises are telling you?
PRIME MINISTER: We were always going to be fiscally responsible because my government is a fiscally responsible government, and we will take appropriate action. We won't rip money out of health or schools. What we will do is take responsible action and take hard decisions. We've shown we've been prepared to do that. The NDIS, we’re the first government to take the decisions that we have on the NDIS. We're trying to find savings as well in order to fund aged care going forward. My government will continue to look for all of those measures because we understand that fiscal policy requires that. But that's something we did in our first budget when we came to office as well. The first budget we produced was back in 2022. Following a budget, they had zero savings in it, and they had a whole lot of expenditure, you might recall, that we responded to, and that is how we produced two budget surpluses in a row and lower deficits.
JOURNALIST: You just said that the other side are blocking you from doing what you want to do. What would be your top priority that you think that Angus Taylor has got to pass now?
PRIME MINISTER: I am not about to run that level of domestic policy at a CHOGM conference. What we'll do is, we work through things. I run a proper Cabinet government. We work things through at ERC and Cabinet level. We've been doing that for many months now. There's more work to do. We're continuing to do that. That's the way good government should operate.
JOURNALIST: You keep talking about savings your government has delivered, but in net terms, you've spent more than you've saved, by $100 billion. So, given the circumstances we're in –
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Greg, the figure that you use you said this yesterday – are you including in that increases to the pension?
JOURNALIST: It's all net policy decisions. It also includes –
PRIME MINISTER: You’re including indexation of pensions –
JOURNALIST: It also includes cost of living sugar hits, and all spending under your government.
PRIME MINISTER: But where are the, identify which ones, Greg, and I'm happy to respond.
JOURNALIST: Well, there have been calls for –
JOURNALIST: That includes electricity rebates and –
JOURNALIST: Household batteries –
JOURNALIST: Yeah, various things.
PRIME MINISTER: Providing support for –
JOURNALIST: But should those should those things be means tested?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we've provided support for people. When we came to office in terms of support, bear in mind because of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, we did a deal with New South Wales and with Queensland, we put caps on gas and coal prices in order to assist households. And as part of that process, we also provided support for people. That was a decision that we made. That was the right decision at that time.
JOURNALIST: But, but do, do we, do you need to now deliver net savings in this financial year, given the situation we're in? And we talk about these cost of living relief measures that you're avoiding this time. Do you acknowledge that they have, the, the temporary ones, the temporary, like fuel excise cuts and electricity rebates, which I've just mentioned, do they, do you accept that they were inflationary, given that you're not doing them this time?
PRIME MINISTER: They were put in for a period of time to provide assistance for people who needed it. I think, for example, that the $25 reduction of medicines, that helps people. Every measure that we did was aimed at, that's aimed at taking pressure off the health budget and making sure – it helps individuals because they don't go to the pharmacy and choose which medicine, which script they'll fill. They go, they get the medicine they need, that helps to take pressure off the health budget in the long term. What we'll do is we'll sit down, there'll be lots of times for you to examine the Mid-Year Economic Forecast Budget Statement that we make. It's not a full Budget. The Budget's in May. But we make statements, and in every one of them, we produce savings.
JOURNALIST: Just one more on the King's speech, if I can? On, on his comments on slavery were very strong. Andy Burnham, unlike his predecessor, has said the UK Government is open to a formal apology. Australia obviously did issue a formal apology to the Stolen Generation in 2008. Is that something you'd encourage Andy Burnham to commit to?
PRIME MINISTER: What I'd encourage is the commitment which has been reached, and the unanimous agreement in the communique, which is for respectful dialogue to continue on those issues. We understand slavery was a practice that is abhorrent. What is happening now in 2027 is an appropriate response, which is to have that respectful dialogue, and that's a good thing. At the last CHOGM meeting that was held two years ago, there was not a consensus there. It's good that a consensus has been reached. Thank you.