I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet, and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.
I'd like to acknowledge the Senators and Members of Parliament who have joined us.
As well as members of the diplomatic corps, the RMIT leadership and business leaders.
I'd also like to acknowledge my friend, Dr Craig Emerson.
Craig's professional life has been linked with APEC and its mission for a long time.
First when he was working for Bob Hawke at APEC's inception over three decades ago, then as Trade Minister in the Gillard and Rudd Governments, with a particular focus on furthering Australia's engagement with Asia and the Pacific.
To now serving with distinction as the Executive Chair of the Australian APEC Study Centre.
Craig continues to champion Australia and our capacity to be a positive force both within APEC and beyond.
From the very beginning, APEC has held a unique and central place in Australia's trade and foreign policy.
In the best of the Australian traditions, we did not just join this institution - we helped to shape it.
We are not just observers, or members, we are the architects.
In 1989, Prime Minister Bob Hawke mounted the case for a new regional economic partnership.
One that brought together the growing economies of the Asia-Pacific, and recognised their shared interests as liberalising, trading nations in a post-Cold War world.
By December of that year, APEC had sprung to life in the form of a Ministers Meeting, hosted by the Australian Government in Canberra.
From there, the vision of APEC as a body to drive the new economy of the 21st century continued to crystallise.
In 1993 Paul Keating, flanked by President Clinton, used a speech titled 'Present at the Creation of the Asia-Pacific Economic Community' to announce the elevation of APEC to the status of a Leaders' Meeting.
For Keating, elevating APEC signified a natural coming together of a new community of nations, represented at the highest levels.
In his words, a community "marked by the comprehension of common, and enduring, interests…by a shared sense of possibility, shared goals, and a shared sense of the future."
In those words is contained a clear vision not to merely retain an Australian seat at the table of the old economic forums of the post-war period but to build something new that would benefit the region - and the nation.
To construct something that reflected the state of the world as it was developing around us in real time.
To anticipate, and create the economic and trade opportunities of this new future.
It is true that the creation of APEC owed something to the optimism of an era when people wrote about 'the end of history'.
The benign assumption that accelerating globalisation would inevitably lead to more open economies, deeper security and greater prosperity for all.
The past two decades have reminded us that progress doesn't travel in straight lines.
Many economies are still living with the aftershocks of the Global Financial Crisis and its impact on their model for growth.
We've seen the return of nativism - from Brexit to protectionism.
A fracturing of the global consensus around climate action.
A pandemic that revealed the fragility of international supply chains.
A land war in Europe - and strategic competition in our own region.
Yet the vision of Hawke and Keating endures - it lives in the transformation we have seen.
In 1993, APEC brought together 12 nations - including the rapidly expanding economies of China, Indonesia, Japan and Korea - along with the might of the United States.
Back then, APEC accounted for a market of 2 billion people, as well as half the world's production and half the world's trade.
Now, in 2025, APEC is a market of nearly 3 billion people across 21 economies.
It represents over 60 per cent of global GDP and 75 per cent of Australia's trade.
Just think about that.
In an economy like ours, where 1 in 4 Australian jobs depends on trade, the impact of that market and those supply chains is enormous.
From then to now, APEC has risen to take its rightful place as an economic forum of real weight - and unique strength.
APEC still remains the only international economic forum that brings together economies across the Asia Pacific in voluntary, non-binding cooperation.
For Australia, Hawke and Keating's push for APEC meant more than just an expansion of economic cooperation.
It also said something about our foreign policy - and our ambition.
Because what underpinned that economic vision was an innate understanding of Australia's strategic role as a middle power in the region.
A nation able to show leadership in the world, to point to the future, and to act in concert with others for mutual benefit.
Hawke and Keating's view was of an Australia connected to our region and the world economically, but also as a nation with the power to shape outcomes through cooperation and leadership.
That is both an economic and a strategic legacy that continues to resonate.
More than ever, we seek our security in Asia, not from it.
Just last week I warmly welcomed President Prabowo Subianto to Australia.
Together, we announced the substantive conclusion of negotiations on a new treaty on the common security of Indonesia and Australia.
It is a watershed moment in our relationship - one that is based on friendship, trust, mutual respect, and a shared commitment to peace and stability in our region.
And earlier this year, Australia and Papua New Guinea - a fellow APEC member - signed the Pukpuk Treaty, elevating our relationship to the level of an alliance.
The agreement with PNG is only our third alliance, and our first in over seven decades.
It is a truly historic moment for Australia.
And we should be proud that our nearest neighbour - and one of our dearest friends - is now our newest ally.
More than ever, our future prosperity lies in the economies of our region.
More than ever, our role as a middle power matters.
Australia's word matters.
We are a trusted partner in the Pacific.
And a respected voice in the world.
Geographically centred in this region, we are uniquely placed to further our shared interests, as well as to demonstrate solutions and strategies to solve shared problems.
Perhaps now more than ever that is the role of a middle power.
To step up.
To facilitate the dialogue that leads to understanding.
To give voice to the aspirations and priorities of our neighbours and our region.
To take the more fragmented and uncertain world and to look for opportunities to bring others together - and bring them along with us.
Not because we force them to, or because we hassle them.
But because when we act in pursuit of Australia's national interest, in line with Australian values, without arrogance or bluster, we can provide leadership to others.
That is the model of how Australia can impact the world.
Working as a trusted partner to deliver mutual prosperity.
Pointing to the future we want to see.
And inviting others to come there with us.
Since I had the great honour of being elected as Prime Minister in 2022, I have attended the APEC Summit every year - first in Thailand, then the United States, Peru and this year in South Korea.
And at every meeting I am reminded that one of APEC's great strengths is its focus on cultivating business connections abroad, in order to strengthen jobs, trade and industries at home.
During my time in Korea I visited POSCO Steelworks.
POSCO is Australia's largest commercial customer in the world - bar none.
In the last year alone it had a trading relationship with Australia worth $18.2 billion.
That is Australian jobs, Australian industry and Australian trade on a mind-boggling scale.
I also saw how APEC positions Australia as a key partner in business - unlocking the jobs and trade of the future.
In Korea I held zero emissions steel in my hand.
It was the product of our two nations - of our partnership in trade and innovation.
Australia, of course, as a supplier of iron ore, but also as a source of critical minerals, of green technology and rare earths - powering Korea's energy transition and today's green metal industry.
That is the economic strength of APEC.
Creating jobs, growing industry and increasing free and fair trade across the board - together.
That's what our joint commitment with Singapore to establish an APEC Centre of Excellence for Paperless Trade is about too.
Improving efficiency and security for export and import businesses alike.
Saving costs, saving time and reducing barriers for goods as they travel across borders and into economies.
Of course APEC can be - and is - more than a collection of economies.
It is also an important forum for face to face dialogue between leaders.
In just the last few weeks alone at multiple forums I have personally engaged with more than 20 leaders - including a dinner with Korea's President Lee and President Trump.
And on the sidelines of last month's APEC Summit, President Trump and President Xi met for the first time since President Trump's re-election.
It was a positive meeting with good outcomes for the world.
But what it demonstrated is how APEC - and the support for trade generally - can act as a bulwark against conflict.
It can incentivise de-escalation - even at the highest levels.
Because trade doesn't happen in isolation.
For the economic benefits to flow at home, you need to be able to trust partners overseas.
That reliance on trust and mutual benefit encourages nations to work out their differences with dialogue.
To work it out rather than to have it out.
That strategic role of APEC and of the trade it facilitates shouldn't be underestimated or undervalued - it is a great strength of the organisation.
And it is a benefit to the world that when leaders come to APEC to talk about their economies - they also end up talking about their security.
It's an example of trade backing in stability.
And stability backing in trade.
Friends, I have always been optimistic about Australia's future.
We are in a decisive decade.
If we get it right, if we move with urgency and purpose, we can set our nation up for the long term.
Forums like APEC, the dialogue and co-operation they facilitate, the jobs and trade they bring us, are a vital part of that, because open, inclusive, rules-based trade remains the surest way to grow all of our economies and lift living standards.
In short, to make the lives of our citizens better.
Industries with stable demand and secure jobs.
Better infrastructure.
Lower prices and fairer, uniform production standards.
All these things translate into real benefits for the people we serve.
And through its economic and business links, APEC helps us to tackle challenges, and to seize and cement opportunities.
Climate change and the global shift to clean energy.
Artificial intelligence and the technological benefits it can bring to health, work and industry.
As well as a changing - but rewarding - system of global trade.
All of these represent Australian challenges and Australian opportunities.
But not uniquely so.
They are global in scale and they connect us all.
That is why we cannot find our prosperity - or our place in the world - by only looking inward.
Our sense of who we are, what we believe, and the Australian values we cherish all rely on us looking out toward the region and the world.
Seizing opportunities.
Remaining a trusted partner.
Pursuing Australia's interest abroad - but always with the motivation of making Australians' lives better here at home.
