Well, thank you very much for joining us, and it is wonderful to welcome 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 longstanding partners. And today in our bilateral, we've discussed the Indo-Pacific, developments in the Middle East, the war in Ukraine, cooperation in economic security, the critical importance of the clean energy transition, as well as defense cooperation. With the international system under increasing pressure, we want to work together and with our partners to uphold and defend peace, security, and prosperity. Today, we can announce that we've agreed to deepen our relationship across several areas. Building on our joint declaration of intent on critical minerals that we signed last year, we have agreed to increase collaboration on critical minerals through a range of measures: pursuing common positions on key critical minerals issues, increasing alignment between Australia's critical mineral strategic reserve and Canada's defense stockpiling regime, working together to shape emerging markets, as well as Australia joining Canada's G7 critical minerals production alliance. We're advancing our shared economic security through new annual economic ministers meetings, new formal talks between our industry ministers, a new clean energy partnership, and a commitment by ministers to advance cooperation through Australian and Canadian AI safety institutes. We will strengthen our defense and security cooperation through a new bi-annual defense ministers meeting, continuing our collaboration on the development of the Arctic over-the-horizon radar system, Australia's largest ever defense export. We're expanding our institutional connections through a joint declaration of intent between our National Emergency Management Agency and the Public Safety Canada organization to boost what has been a long-standing cooperation over many years, and a new annual emergency ministers meeting as well. And in addition to that, the reinvigoration of the Canada-Australia Public Policy Initiative, development within the Canada-Australia Polar Science Partnership, and greater cooperation between the Canadian Space Agency and the Australian Space Agency on Canada's WildfireSAT mission. Mr. Prime Minister, all Australians are forever grateful for the brave contribution that Canadian firefighters have made each year, but in particular some of our darkest moments were the Black Summer of 2019-2020. As long-standing partners and friends, we have so much to build on in our relationship. And as middle powers in what is a complex world, we recognize that we can work together and with all partners to shape it for the better. So I thank you and Mrs. Diana Carney as well as your delegation for your visit here to Australia. I look forward to the further dialogue that we'll have this afternoon. Myself and Jodie look forward to hosting you this evening for dinner, and Toto will be there as well, our little dog. So I hope that's okay. She will hunt down who the weakest is in your pack to beg for food. I assure you she is not starving. We have a great relationship. It's been made even stronger by your presence here, and I'd welcome some remarks.
Thank you very much. Well, I too am not starving after even 24 hours in Australia. And Prime Minister, I want to thank you, Jodie, thank your colleagues for your graciousness in hosting myself and my colleagues here. You have more than reciprocated for the hospitality we extended as part of the G7, and to repay the debt, our door is always open to you and anyone from Australia to visit Canada. I'll remind you on June the 13th, the Socceroos are playing in Vancouver. So I'll be there. Welcome you off the plane for having seen them in action in the fall. A great victory at that point. In seriousness, it was a deep honor to address the Australian Parliament, and thank you very much for extending that. Canada and Australia are close partners. Our forces train together, exchange intelligence. We have trade exchanges that exceed $6 billion, and this number is constantly increasing. And we are parliamentary democracies with federal structures, things in common. As I said, a common heritage. But what distinguishes our partnership, our friendship, is how we have built on those foundations. And now in a more uncertain, more divided world, Canada and Australia are middle powers charting our own course with confidence, ambition, and partnership. We're doing that together because we've grown up together. And with an ocean between us, we may not see each other quite as much as we'd like. But whenever we do, like family, it feels like no time has passed. In times of need, we've looked out for each other in the exchange of firefighters, also as I said in the chamber, on the battlefield. It's on these foundations we're building. Canada is building partnerships abroad. In the past just under one year, we've signed 20 new economic and security partnerships across four continents. But in that mission, all those partnerships are not created equal. We turn to our most trusted allies, Australia first and foremost amongst them, those who share our values of democracy, freedom, and sovereignty. In my very first week as Prime Minister, we announced our partnership on the world-leading over-the-horizon radar system developed by Australia that will detect, deter, and defend threats in Canada's Arctic. Since then, our governments have worked on several key initiatives. As the Prime Minister just referenced, Australia helped launch the G7 critical minerals alliance, a group we're reinforcing today. In November, we launched a trilateral partnership with India on AI and innovation, a partnership we accelerated this past week in India. So whether it's in trade, security, critical minerals, getting Vegemite back on the shelves, Canada and Australia are getting big things done together. And now here in Canberra for the first bilateral visit by a Canadian Prime Minister to Australia in nearly two decades, elevating our partnership across energy, critical minerals, defense, AI, and also in investment. We know that middle powers must work together to build up our sovereignty in these key strategic sectors. We're also building our defense capabilities across the next generation of drone, surveillance aircraft, cyber, AI. We're developing sovereign AI capabilities so we're not caught between the hyperscalers and the hegemons. And in a world where access to capital is increasingly weaponized, we're leveraging our pension funds and our supers to be a force multiplier. Yesterday when I was in Sydney, I had the opportunity to meet with some of Australia's largest institutional investors, including the IFM, who announced their intention to invest up to 10 billion dollars in Canada. Two sovereign nations, two proud democracies. Prime Minister Albanese, as you said in the chamber, we may look to different skies: North Star in our hemisphere, the Southern Cross in yours. I'm glad to see the Canadian connection there with the flag. But as you said, today we are at our very best when we look over our wide horizons. For when we do, we find a partner who shares our history, our values, and our ambitions to build. Thank you very much, my friend. Merci. Look forward to the questions.
Thank you. We have a number of questions. Australia first.
Thanks, Prime Minister. Can I ask both leaders, as you're aware, the war in the Middle East appears to be widening with Iran launching missiles towards Turkey, and we saw, of course, it now spreading to our region with the US Navy sinking an Iranian ship off the Sri Lankan coast. Can I ask both leaders, are you troubled by the expansion of the conflict? Do you have any comment most particularly on the recent actions of the US Navy, particularly given Prime Minister Carney your call recently for a rapid de-escalation in the conflict?
Well, we both of course, Prime Minister can speak for himself, but I think the world wants to see a de-escalation and wants to see Iran cease to spread the destinations of its attacks. We're seeing Gulf states that have not been involved attacked across the board including the attacks on civilian and tourist areas as well. We also want to see the objectives achieved. I want to see the possibility of Iran getting a nuclear weapon removed once and for all. And I also want to see a removal of the ongoing threat that has been there for such a long period of time of Iran endangering peace and security and stability not just in its own region but here in Australia. Of course, we saw at least two events linked to the IRGC, to acts of terrorism here funded, sourced, motivated and driven by the Iranian regime, and we want to see that end.
Yes, thank you Prime Minister. I associate myself entirely with that response. First let's recognize the regime we're talking about. It's a regime that first and foremost in its own country for almost five decades has repressed its people, repressed women, killed its people in large numbers. Even in recent weeks up to 15,000 peaceful demonstrators murdered by this regime. It's a regime that's exported terrorism for decades across the Middle East. It's reached the shores here. It's a regime that's killed scores of Canadians, including in the disaster, the tragedy rather in 2020, PS752, where scores of Canadians died and that aircraft was shot down. As the Prime Minister just said, it is a regime that reacts to this by attacking civilians and civilian infrastructure in other countries. And so while we want to see a broader de-escalation of these hostilities with a broader group of countries than just the direct belligerents involved, we recognize, we stress that that cannot be achieved unless we're in a position that Iran's ability to acquire a nuclear weapon, develop a nuclear weapon and to export terrorism is ended. So that process must lead to those outcomes.
Canada. Question for Prime Minister Carney. You've said that Canada will not participate in US military action in Iran. So can you definitively say that's going to remain the case even if hostilities broaden, escalate, or are prolonged?
You've asked a fundamental hypothetical in a conflict that can spread very broadly. Today's events or recent events point to that. So one can never categorically rule out participation. We will stand by our allies when it makes sense. There's a distinction between the offensive actions that were taken and are being taken by the United States and Israel that were taken by them without consultation with Canada, with other allies. And we're not party to those actions, but we will always defend Canadians. We will always stand by and defend our allies when called upon.
Australia. Prime Minister Carney, given your skepticism about the United States foreign and defense policy and the old world institutions that you've discussed a few times now, is the Five Eyes Alliance still a viable operating model? Does it need modernizing?
I would say that there are many challenges, but there are many things that continue to function very well. And the Five Eyes would be top of that list.
Canada. We are ceasing on Iran. Defense minister called for a ceasefire in Iran. Do you also call for an immediate ceasefire?
Well, we need to see first a de-escalation. We need to see a situation where all the parties in this conflict must recognize the necessity to avoid attacks on citizens, on civilians and on civil infrastructure. That is not given at this stage. So we need to see a process to achieve that aim. Yes, ceasefire is an objective. Yes, we aspire to it. But that's not the time. Australia.
