Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will welcome the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, to Australia from Monday, 23 March to Wednesday 25 March 2026.

The Prime Minister will meet with President von der Leyen in Canberra on Tuesday, 24 March 2026.

This will be President von der Leyen’s first visit to Australia as President of the European Commission, and the 7th meeting between the leaders.

President von der Leyen will be accompanied by EU Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Maroš Šefčovič.

ANNE URQUHART, MEMBER FOR BRADDON: Thanks for being here. It's fantastic to be in Burnie, at Burnie TAFE with the Prime Minister this morning. It's always a pleasure to have him in Braddon. I love having you here to show off what we've got in this beautiful part of the country.

Thank you to your CEO James Voortman for the invitation to join you for breakfast this morning.

And thank you to all of you for the contribution you make to our nation.

This room represents:

Over 3,800 dealerships.

64,000 jobs - including 7,500 apprenticeships. 

Tens of billions of dollars of economic activity.

And behind all of it, people with the aspiration to build a business.

The courage to invest in themselves.

And the countless hours of hard work required to make that investment pay.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: I want to welcome Your Majesty the King on your first visit to Australia since your ascension. It's a pleasure as well to welcome Her Majesty the Queen, who has of course a very special relationship with our country. Australians have a great affection for both of you, and we also have a great affection for Denmark. Many of us have travelled there. We understand each other, our countries share very similar values about human rights and democracy.

Prior to Question Time today, David Littleproud did me the courtesy of informing me that he would be stepping down as Leader of the Nationals.

As has always been the case, we were able to have that genuine and personal conversation with total confidence. I have always valued that and I thank him for it.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning, thanks for joining us. Can I just begin by giving a shout out to the communities, particularly in the Northern Territory, but as well in Queensland? A large monsoon trough remains over the top end of the Northern Territory and it's impacting communities across the Big Rivers region. Heavy rain as well is there in South East Queensland as the tropical low continues to track south. South East Queensland is expected to experience large rainfall totals today.

Iran’s reprisal attacks continue to escalate, already at a scale and depth we have not seen before; 12 countries in the region are continuing to be targeted.

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) alone has been forced to shoot down over 1,500 rockets and drones. This growing wave of dangerous and destabilising attacks from Iran puts civilian lives at risk, including Australian lives.  

In responding to requests, Australia will deploy an E-7A Wedgetail to the Gulf to help protect and defend Australians and other civilians.  

KIERAN GILBERT, HOST: Prime Minister Albanese, thanks for your time, I know you've been meeting with the National Security Committee again. It's a week into this conflict. Reports that some Australian submariners were on board a US sub that sank an Iranian ship. Can you confirm that for us?

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Thank you very much for joining us. And it is wonderful to have welcomed my friend, Mark Carney, the Prime Minister of Canada to Australia. And to be able to reciprocate the generous hospitality that I received at last year's G7 Summit. Canada is one of Australia's closest and long standing partners.

1. The Prime Minister of Australia, the Honourable Anthony Albanese MP, welcomed the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Mark Carney, to Canberra for his first official visit to Australia as Prime Minster.