Thank you all for coming today.

And thank you Ambassador Williams and Pak Arsjad for hosting this event.

It’s great to see so many leaders from our business communities here.

Since my government was elected in mid-2022, I have had the pleasure of regularly meeting leaders in government and business from across this region.

And a common thread through all my interactions has been a sense of energy and enthusiasm to work together in new ways.

On the security issues facing our region.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I was very pleased to meet with Premier Li today on the margins of the East Asia Summit. And I'm encouraged by the progress we've made since I met President Xi in Bali last year. We had a frank and constructive discussion, welcomed progress, and renewed engagement. I raised a range of bilateral and other issues including impediments to trade between our two countries, consular cases, as well as human rights. We also discussed regional and international security issues.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with leaders from across the Indo-Pacific today at the 3rd Annual ASEAN-Australia Summit and the 18th East Asia Summit in Jakarta.

At the East Asia Summit, the Prime Minister reaffirmed Australia’s commitment to deepening engagement with our Southeast Asia partners and working with them to address shared challenges such as the climate crisis. He discussed key strategic issues with regional counterparts – including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the crisis in Myanmar and the South China Sea.

HIS EXCELLENCY FERDINAND R MARCOS JR, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES: Well, allow me to once again welcome you, Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese of Australia, and your delegation, to Manila, to the palace and to the Philippines. And the so particularly, we are particularly happy to see the leader of Australia here, as it has been good, long, 20 years since the last visit from Australia, from the Australian leader here in the Philippines.

HIS EXCELLENCY FERDINAND R MARCOS JR, PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF THE PHILIPPINES: The honourable Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, the honoured members of the Australia and Philippine delegations, members of the press corps, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Prime Minister Albanese and I have engaged in comprehensive discussions during our bilateral meeting, which reaffirmed our shared commitment to peace, security and the development in our region.

When Australia became ASEAN’s first Dialogue Partner in 1974, my predecessor Prime Minister Gough Whitlam described ASEAN as “unquestionably the most important, [and] the most relevant” group in our region.

Half a century later, Australia and Southeast Asia have both changed profoundly.

We are both more diverse – and we are more engaged.

Our economies are more open, more modern – and more connected.

Our prosperity and security and stability more intertwined.

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

I am proud to lead a Government that will give every Australian the opportunity to vote Yes for Recognition, Listening and Better Results on the 14th of October.

And I thank the Minerals Council and so many of the firms here tonight for the positive and constructive role that you have played in the national conversation to date.

I acknowledge and welcome all my colleagues here tonight, from across the Parliament.

Sammy J, Host: Now, Melbourne and Prime Ministers haven't always gone hand in hand. The last Prime Minister from Melbourne was Julia Gillard. That was ten years ago, and after that, she went straight back to Adelaide. Twenty years before that, we had Bob Hawke, but he retired to Sydney. Before that, it was Malcolm Fraser. So, we're talking nearly half a century since a true Melbourne-ite inhabited The Lodge, which is why get a little bit suspicious when Prime Ministers start swanning around our laneways and sipping our coffees and riding our trams like they own the place.

I begin by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging.

I’m proud to lead a government that will give all Australians the chance to vote in a referendum to recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Constitution.

I know that Arnold Bloch Leibler has a longstanding and genuine commitment to reconciliation and recognition.

You put your values into action.

GED KEARNEY, ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGED CARE: Good afternoon everybody. I’m Ged Kearney, I’m the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care and it's really wonderful to be here with the Prime Minister to mark the opening of this amazingly beautiful building, the new global home of CSL. CSL has a long and wonderful rich history in this country. It serves our people so very well in the many areas of biomedicine that it works and it's a great honour to have been here at the opening. And with that, I'm going to hand over to the Prime Minister.