: We know that part of the backdrop of this G20 meeting has been the impact of global inflation, the impact it’s having on domestic audiences right around advanced economies in particular. It’s a global challenge, and a global challenge requires global action. The inflation problem won’t be solved by one nation alone, which is why we must work together. That’s why having a seat at the G20 is really important. It represents some 85 per cent of global GDP and 80 per cent of the world’s population. So, we have engaged once again in Australia’s national interest, because the outcomes here will support jobs at home and economic activity in Australia. That’s why our engagement is important. One in four of Australian jobs is trade dependent and therefore our engagement here has been very much focused on what is in Australia’s national interest. How does our contribution and participation here at this summit, following on from the APEC summit, assist Australians. This morning, I was very pleased to join our host, Brazil’s President Lula, at the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, and made a contribution to the Plenary Debate that occurred here this morning. The global economy, as people mentioned as well, is being impacted by the ongoing Russian war in the Ukraine, as well as conflict in the Middle East, conflict in Sudan, conflict in a lot of places around the world. And when you have this conflict, it has an economic impact as well as a humanitarian impact. My Government is working at home with international partners, including APEC and the G20, to boost economic resilience and ensure that Australia’s economy is well placed to face global economic challenges. And as you know, our focus has been putting that downward pressure on inflation whilst providing cost of living support and continuing to see an economy that grows and delivers jobs. Because having a job is such an important statement for your quality of life and standard of living. Earlier today, I also met with President Xi to talk about the progress in stabilising relations between our two countries. This is the third bilateral meeting I’ve had with President Xi. We have restored trade between our two countries. Impediments have been removed across a range of industries – wine, timber, coal, barley, seafood. And as a result of that, some $20 billion of trade has been resumed. That means Australian jobs. I was in Geraldton talking to the co-op that runs the lobster industry there. That’s important not just for those people who work with the lobster trade, it’s a driver of that town’s regional economy as well. And so these things do matter. And I’m confident that the agreement which will see the lobster trade resume by the end of the year in time for the Lunar New Year in 2025, will be delivered and those negotiations between our respective departments is taking place. I’ve also said that dialogue is crucial. I’ve said, a number of times, that we’ll cooperate with China where we can, we’ll disagree where we must, but we’ll engage in our national interests. And we’ve managed to improve relations without compromising any of Australia’s national interests, which we have continued to pursue and will continue to pursue. This patient, calibrated and deliberate approach has made a difference and has both saved but also created many thousands of new jobs in Australia. We discussed areas that present opportunities for greater practical cooperation, such as the renewable energy transition and climate change. And I also made clear Australia’s views on issues affecting regional and international peace, stability and prosperity, ranging a number of bilateral points as well, including consular matters which included Dr. Yang Jun. I also met the Prime Minister of the UK, Keir Starmer, following our meeting in CHOGM. I regard Keir as a good friend and someone who it was great to catch up with, both informally but formally as well. We reiterated our commitment to progress negotiations on the bilateral AUKUS Treaty. That’s about the creation of the subs in both South Australia and Barrow in the UK and getting that agreement in place. We also discussed the progress that we announced in CHOGM of the Climate and Energy Partnership. It will be signed by our respective Ministers, Ministers Bowen and Miliband in COP29 this week. We had the MIKTA meeting – which is Mexico, Indonesia, Korea, Turkey and Australia. They are middle powers if you like, when you look at the context of the G20, and we had a positive discussion and then I had a bilateral meeting with President Erdogan of Turkey. Australia and Turkey, of course, have close relations due to our history that we have together and it was an opportunity to catch up with him. I then had also a formal bilateral with the re-elected President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. We discussed Australia’s support for Ukraine in the land war that is taking place in Europe. We also talked about the opportunity that’s there for further investment from Europe in the Future Made in Australia agenda. Countries such as Germany have expressed a great interest and are engaged on issues such as hydrogen. We discussed as well, over the last day and a half, I’ve had informal meetings and pull asides with a range of counterparts including President Macron, the Spanish leader, Sanchez, and a range of others as well. And a chance to engage in a constructive way and to build relationships. I’ve said we need to invest in our capability and invest in our relationships. And that’s what I’ve been doing.
JOURNALIST: With President Xi, did you sort of speak either directly or indirectly about Donald Trump’s tariff plans and did you get to a sort of agreed position that they’re not a good idea? Did that come up?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Was there any discussion at all about the Trump Administration, as such? Whether – because you said you were about regional and international peace. Did that come up? What the Trump Administration might mean for that?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, under President Xi, China has engaged in industrial scale theft of intellectual property. Subsidised industries, including clean energy, to weaken global competitors. Allowed state sponsored cyber-attacks targeting critical infrastructure. Has imposed indiscriminate and unfair trade bans targeting countries including Australia. You’ve done obviously very good work to reverse that.
PRIME MINISTER: Thank you. I’ll take that as an endorsement.
JOURNALIST: There’s also, you know, obviously, the very high profile cases of the Chinese military putting our ADF personnel at risk. And then there’s the overt espionage and foreign interference. Do you believe that the Chinese Government, overnight, can genuinely suggest that they are champions of free and fair trade and that they can be a security partner that we can trust and rely upon?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I’m not a commentator, but our security partnership, our alliance, is with the United States and that is the only context in which the US was raised, was that. But I raised as well, I’ve said we will disagree where we must and we do disagree on a range of issues. We have different political systems. I raised the issues of human rights. I raised Taiwan. I raised cyber. I raised the supply of assets to Russia. I raised the ICBM missile test that I previously raised as well with the Chinese Premier. So, we raised issues that matter to us, to Australia.
JOURNALIST: Just on their trade practices, you know, they’ve got a proven record. So, they’re obviously making noise with an incoming Trump Administration. But you look at the recent track record and Australia has been caught up in that. How do you approach that in terms of that long term trust around -?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, China will speak on behalf of China. My job is to speak on behalf of Australia. And Australia has an interest in free and fair trade. We’re a trading nation and Australia believes that there should be international norms of trade, that we should abide by them. Part of the discussion that’s taking place now, as we speak at the G20, is about the WTO and about strengthening the WTO. I spoke about Australia’s national interests because as Australia’s Prime Minister, that is what I do. Because it is in Australia’s interest to have jobs created and to have that economic activity, and that comes from trade.
JOURNALIST: This picks up on what Geoff just said. Chinese media reported that Mr. Xi is having said during a meeting that “as long as two sides seek common ground while shelving differences, China-Australia relations will surely develop well.” That idea is directly opposed to your motto of disagreeing where we must. So, should Australians be prepared for the fact that once this uncertainty around the incoming Trump Administration, for example, passes, that if Australia is deemed to be too forceful in raising these issues around trade, human rights and security, that that economic threat is as present as it ever was?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Australia should be prepared that they have an Australian Prime Minister who will always speak up for Australia’s national interest. That’s what I did today. That’s what I’ve done in my entire time in political life, and I’ll continue to do so.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, this is the first meeting you’ve had with President Xi since Yang Jun was sentenced, was given a suspended death sentence, you say you mentioned it. How likely is it that he will be let free?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we’ll continue. We will continue to advocate, as we do, for Australian citizens. But I point towards the success in some cases, not as many as we would like, that we have had with the release of Australians or the conclusion of cases, including for Cheng Lei, including from Sean Turnell, from Myanmar, including the pharmacist from Cabramatta out of Vietnam, including a range of people. What we do is we advocate for Australia’s interests. And there are a range of Australians, not just with China, but with other countries as well, who we will continue to advocate for.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you’ve had a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer, one of your AUKUS partners. Did you talk about Donald Trump at all?
PRIME MINISTER: No, no, not in the formal meeting, no.
JOURNALIST: Informally?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, informally – I have chats to people all the time, David. And the reason why I can do that is because I have chats to people, including people in this room and others. So, obviously, at a conference like this, on the sidelines, obviously people are mentioning political issues that there is a focus on. It would be disingenuous to suggest that that hadn’t occurred right across the board, I would have thought, between world leaders this week.
JOURNALIST: It’s been reported that President Erdogan is presenting his Ukraine peace plan to leaders at the G20 which includes a freezing of the current front line in Ukraine. Were you made aware of that peace plan of his today in your meeting, and is something like freezing the borders along the current front line unacceptable to you?
PRIME MINISTER: We support Ukraine, and we support Ukrainian sovereignty, and we regard the Russian invasion as immoral and illegal, and Russia should withdraw. And Ukrainian sovereignty must be respected.
JOURNALIST: The proposal as it stands, Erdogan is proposing to make an agreement as where territorial gains have been made. Would you be open to a discussion on that?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, Australia isn’t participating in peace talks with regard to Ukraine. What we’re doing when it comes to Ukraine is supplying, continuing to supply hardware and support, as well as political support for the people of Ukraine. Our position is very, very clear, which is that Mr. Putin could end this conflict today by withdrawing into his own borders. That is in the interests of the international rule of law and the comments that were made today at the G20 were consistent across the board. Almost every speaker, obviously, with the exception of Mr. Lavrov and perhaps one or two others, almost every speaker mentioned in their contributions their opposition to Russia’s actions, which make it an international pariah.
JOURNALIST: PM, further on that, is the Australian position at this Summit that you want an outcome in the communique that explicitly condemns Russia for the invasion of Ukraine? I know you’ve got Mr. Lavrov here, and he’ll have an opinion on that. What are you doing behind the scenes to try and get a statement on Ukraine in that final communique?
PRIME MINISTER: Australia is arguing consistent with our position, which is that the international community have an interest in making clear statements about the rule of law internationally and the protection of national sovereignty.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said that Taiwan was one of the issues that was discussed at the meeting. Chinese state media suggested that the Australian delegation said it wasn’t in support of decoupling. Are you able to elaborate a bit further on Taiwan discussions?
PRIME MINISTER: Well that’s not about Taiwan, that’s about the economy. We support the bipartisan support that is there for One China Policy. We also support the status quo. That is no unilateral action, and that’s been a consistent bipartisan position for a long period of time. We support peace in the Taiwan Strait. Decoupling refers to the idea that you would decouple your economies. That the trade sanctions, those issues, that is what that’s referring to. And our economic relationship with China is important because that is where a whole lot of, for example, our iron ore and coal goes to China and creates steel and construction that’s the relationship which is there.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned in your opening remarks the increased frequency of bilateral talks with China. Have you agreed on the location for the next one of those bilateral talks, and a time frame? Is it likely to see President Xi in Australia anytime soon?
PRIME MINISTER: We’ve agreed that next year’s meeting will be in China. My counterpart is Premier Li, but during that I would expect that I would have a meeting with President Xi as well. We haven’t determined a time frame, these things happen in a far more nuanced way, but I would expect that that takes place next year, the leader to leader meetings. But in addition to that, we’ve had Don Farrell was there, our Trade Minister, in Shanghai just a couple of weeks ago. We’ve had the Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, go to China, and a number of other ministers. And we’ve had a number of ministers visit Australia as well.
JOURNALIST: Is there an offer for President Xi to come to Australia though?
PRIME MINISTER: Well President Xi would be welcome, as would other leaders who we have relationships with in Australia.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said that you mentioned China’s ongoing support of Russia, you raised that in the bilateral. What was the response? Was there one?
PRIME MINISTER: No, it was in my opening statement or second statement where I went through a range of issues that we had in the relationship, that was one of them.
JOURNALIST: President Xi said to you today, said ‘Our relationships have realised a turnaround’. How would you characterise where we’re at in the relationship?
PRIME MINISTER: They’ve improved to where they were, and there’s no question about that. And they’ve improved, and that has meant Australian jobs and Australian investment, particularly in our regions. If you look at the industries that have benefited from the removal of impediments that were there in our trade. I mean, I’ve been in Port Lincoln looking at a ship that was completely full of Australian barley going to China. I’ve been in Geraldton looking at the lobster trade. Been in South Australia, speaking to the wine industry. That has all meant substantial benefit for Australians and for Australian jobs and Australian businesses as a result. Because one of the, it’s not just a matter either of the volume. It’s also a matter of the price for some of those goods was depressed if the major destination for a product in terms of exports is stopped, then that has an impact on price, and has an impact therefore on profitability, and therefore has an impact on the capacity of businesses to invest. And so this is important, as I say, one in four Australian jobs as export dependent, and one in four of our export dollars comes from China. And so that is important, as well as it is a good thing that dialogue occurs when we talk about national security issues. One of the things I spoke about at the Shangri-la Dialogue in Singapore, I think was in the middle of last year, was about middle to middle communication between China and the United States. It’s a good thing that that is occurring, and that’s a good thing for international relations.
JOURNALIST: One of Australia’s big exports is international students. Your plan to cap those student numbers, obviously met resistance in the Parliament. Will you go back to the drawing board at all on reworking those caps?
PRIME MINISTER: The Senate from time to time makes decisions that they need to explain. You can’t have some of the comments that the Opposition have made and then vote against legislation like that.
JOURNALIST: Can I get your reaction to Alan Jones arrest?
PRIME MINISTER: No comment. That’s a matter that clearly is a legal matter that I understand is either before the courts or certainly a legal matter. And I don’t think it would assist for the Prime Minister of Australia to make a comment on it. Thanks very much.
