: I’m very pleased to welcome the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Prime Minister Manele to Canberra. You are very welcome here with your delegation, Prime Minister. Australia and the Solomon Islands are close friends with connected futures. And I am so pleased that you have chosen Australia as the first place you have visited as Prime Minister, following your election. We share a region, we share an ocean, and we share a history of cooperation. As Prime Minister Manele has said, Australia is Solomon Islands partner of choice and we do not take this for granted. Today we discussed how we can keep working together to further strengthen our bilateral relationship and I thank you for the invitation for me to visit the Solomon Islands. We are clear and open with one another and this is the key to our enduring partnership. Australia is open to a stronger and deeper partnership with the Solomon Islands in accordance with their priorities. We know economic growth is a priority for the Solomon’s, which Australia has long supported. We have invested more in infrastructure in Solomon Islands in the last five years than any other partner, creating jobs and delivering quality projects. And around 6500 Solomon Islanders have participated in the Pacific-Australia Labour Mobility Scheme, bringing substantial benefit both to the Solomon Islands workers, and their families, and of course to Australian employers. Australia has a longstanding commitment to peace and stability in the Solomons, which continues through our ongoing policing and defence cooperation programs. Prime Minister Manele has raised with me his proposal to grow the size of the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force to 3000 officers as a first step to strengthening security and stability in the Solomon Islands. And we have tasked ministers and officials to continue discussions on how this request could further strengthen sovereignty and regional stability and to work together on next steps. Australia and Pacific nations are well placed to meet the security needs of our region. We regard security as the job of our Pacific family, as we demonstrated during the Solomon Islands historic joint elections in April, when Australia worked with Papua New Guinea, New Zealand and Fiji to assist the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force with election related security and logistics. And Prime Minister, can I say that I very much look forward to working closely with you in the future. This has been an important visit for you. It’s been a visit in which you will go to the State of Origin tonight in Melbourne to experience some Australian culture, and then before visiting Brisbane as well. You and your delegation are welcome here, you are very familiar with Australia, having been here, as we discussed in our one on one meeting, as part of the public service engagement and cooperation that we have with exchanges. Those people to people relations are so important and I see today as an important next step in a personal partnership, but also a partnership between our two nations that I want to see grow into the future. Prime Minister.
JEREMIAH MANELE, PRIME MINISTER OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS: Thank you. Let me first of all pay tribute to the traditional owners and custodians of the land we currently stand on. And to pay my respect to their leaders past, present and emerging. Let me also thank Prime Minister Albanese for inviting me to come to Australia as Solomon Islands Prime Minister shortly after my election to the Prime Minister’s role. This is my first international trip as Prime Minister of Solomon Islands and I’m extremely honoured to be here in Australia. And let me also on that note, on behalf of my delegation, take the opportunity to sincerely thank Prime Minister Albanese, your government and people, for the wonderful hospitality and warm reception that you have rendered to my delegation. Solomon Islands and Australia have enjoyed a durable and fruitful relationship that developed over many decades. Bound together by one ocean, our rich culture and people, to people connections and guided by our mutual respect for each other’s sovereignty. We are family and there is not much we can do about the fact that we are very close neighbours because the Almighty God has put us close together. This visit is very important for Solomon Islands and for me as the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands. The principal objective of my visit, one, to thank the Australian government and people, to the Prime Minister for all the assistance Australia has rendered to my country over the past many years, and secondly, to also discuss with Prime Minister Albanese and his government, and we’ve done that this morning up until now, we had very frank discussions and dialogue. And look at ways to lift the current Solomon Islands-Australia relationship to another level through transformational partnership. During this visit, we discussed many areas of mutually important strategic partnerships, ranging from the highly successful and mutually beneficial Pacific Australia Labour Mobility Scheme, as the Prime Minister has alluded to, to investments in infrastructure, police training and security, climate change, health and the new Pacific Engagement Visa, to mention a few. I am committed to ensure our relationship with Australia goes from strength to strength. I am also committed to finding amicable and win-win solutions to any area of our partnerships that may require the attention of my Cabinet. And on that note, as I’ve said, we had very frank discussions this morning. I’ve taken on board Australia’s concerns in some of these areas and will report back to Cabinet on the way forward. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Thank you so much, Prime Minister. We’ll now take a couple of questions. First, is Daniel Hurst.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister Manele, under your predecessor, Solomon Islands forged a bit of a reputation for drawing closer to China. Can you explain what, if any, changes your government will take when it comes to the broad security foreign affairs settings of Solomon Islands? Particularly when it comes to China and Australia and responding to your security and policing needs. And Prime Minister Albanese, you mentioned earlier the desire to increase the size of the Royal Solomons Police Force. What role does the AFP, do you see AFP playing in supporting that move?
PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Thank you, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS: Thank you. Thank you for that very important question. Our security partnerships, including with China, is domestically focused. We are trying to address internal security challenges. Of course, we do acknowledge and appreciate that our partners, China and Australia, they have security strategic interests as well. In our case, we see security through a development lens. As a country, we have wider and deeper development interests, that it is important for us to work with all our partners to address these development challenges going forward.
PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Thanks, Prime Minister. With regard to Australia’s role, we had Police Commissioner Kershaw as part of the meeting that we had in the cabinet room, and that’s not by accident, because Australia has historically played a role in training, in delivering support for the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force, which is there. What we’ve had is discussions that will continue. We’ll deliver very soon as well two vessels for the Solomon Islands. Importantly, they are purpose built for the Solomons, they’ll be able to be repaired in the Solomons, some of the lessons of the past have been learned in order to improve when we provide infrastructure to make sure it’s sustainable and to make sure we’re providing training and skills to maximise the benefit for the Solomon Islands going forward. Pablo?
JOURNALIST: Prime Mister Manele, you’ve spoken about some of the significant fiscal issues Solomon Islands is facing and the support that you would like. Would you like to see that in the form of direct support or a loan? You’re headed to Beijing next. Is this something you intend to discuss with your Chinese counterpart? And Prime Minister Albanese, is this something Australia is open to? And Julian Assange is expected to arrive in Australia this evening. Is that something –
PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Seamless segue. You’re probably getting away with it because of that coat.
JOURNALIST: Are you relieved this is coming to an end?
PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA: Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS: Thank you. As a government our focus, of course, is on recovering the economy, creating jobs, unemployment and income for Solomon Islanders. And on that note, we are keen to work with all our partners. As I’ve said earlier, as a small country, our focus and our interest is developing interest. We are keen to work with all partners with Australia and China, how we can partner together to create transformational projects and programs in Solomon Islands that create jobs. We appreciate the Labour Mobility PALM Scheme as well as the RSE Scheme with New Zealand, of course with Australia. But going forward, I believe creating permanent jobs in country in Solomon Islands is critical. And as a government, our focus is on the productive sector – forestry, fisheries, tourism, mining. Those sectors are critical for us that we would like to partner with countries like Australia and other partners going forward.
PRIME MINISTER OF AUSTRALIA
