PRIME MINISTER:
Thank you very much Gladys. Aren’t we so lucky to have Gladys as our Premier here in New South Wales?
(Applause)
We are indeed.
It is a great honour to be here tonight. Gerard and Anne, thank you very much for inviting me. We are with Her Excellency Menna Rawlings, the British High Commissioner. And of course so many State and Federal parliamentary colleagues.
We look forward to welcoming the Vice President of the United States, Mike Pence, to Australia on April 22.
The Vice President’s visit, so early in the term of the new Administration, underlines the strength of our alliance.
Vice President Pence will also visit the Republic of Korea, Japan and Indonesia. The Australian Government believes that United States engagement in the Asia Pacific remains absolutely crucial to the region’s stability and prosperity.
NEIL MITCHELL:
The Prime Minister, Mr Turnbull, good morning.
PRIME MINISTER:
Good morning.
NEIL MITCHELL:
If we go to Syria in a moment, which is clearly a massive international significant event - couple of domestic issues first – is the Federal Government looking at helping finance an airport rail link for Melbourne?
PRIME MINISTER:
PRIME MINISTER: As you know, on the 4th of April, the Syrian regime of Bashar al-Assad committed a shocking war crime against the people of Syria with a chemical attack at Khan Sheikhoun in Idlib Province.
More than 70 people were killed in horrific circumstances. Civilians, women, children, babies.
It was a crime that called out for a swift response.
PRIME MINISTER OF PAPUA NEW GUINEA:
Thank you very much for joining us here this afternoon. And firstly let me extend our appreciation to the Prime of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, for his first official visit in his capacity as Prime Minister to Papua New Guinea on this occasion. I hope you have a pleasant stay here and of course we look forward to many more discussions over the course of today and tomorrow.
PRIME MINISTER:
PRIME MINISTER:
We're coming to the end of our visit here in Papua New Guinea. It’s been a very successful one. We’ve reflected on the extraordinary sacrifice of Australians and Papua New Guineans 75 years ago, a sacrifice that secured for us freedoms that we enjoy today. We honour that and thank those men and women for the work they did and the sacrifices they made, of the mateship, endurance, courage and sacrifice that they showed in those dark years.
PRIME MINISTER:
Morning. Well this morning in Isurava we stood on what was in 1942 the hinge of faith. Australia’s freedom dependent on the courage, endurance, mateship and the sacrifice of those few Australians and Papua New Guineans who stood together and held back the Japanese advance. Three times the Japanese sought to take Port Moresby, rebuffed in the Battle of the Coral Sea, held back on the Kokoda Track, rebuffed again and defeated at the Battle of Milne Bay.
PRIME MINISTER:
Our ties are strong and will be stronger because of this visit.
Prime Minister Modi is leading this most remarkable nation on an extraordinary journey of growth and development.
The achievements of India are the admiration of the world.
We in Australia look forward to working even more closely than we have done in the past.
We are bound together, ties of history, our values but above all of people.
So many people over so many years – half a million Australians of Indian background.
PRIME MINISTER:
I’ll be meeting again with Prime Minister Modi in a moment, as we take the Australia-India relationship to new and higher levels. It is growing all the time, strengthening cooperation across so many fields.
I talked at the Press Club about opportunity and security, and the opportunities here for Australian exporters including, of course, exporters of raw materials, coal, energy products, but also education.
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