Well, firstly, what an incredible privilege it was to attend the Inaugural Mass for Pope Leo this morning and of course for it to also be attended by the Prime Minister of Australia the Honourable, Anthony Albanese. It was a very moving service, very well attended and it was just an incredible privilege to be able to be here in Rome as Australia's Ambassador-Designate. The Prime Minister has obviously had other work to do and there's a lot more going on around the world and without further ado, Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister of Australia.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Well, thanks very much and thank you for the work that you've done as Ambassador-Designate during what is incredibly important time with the passing of Pope Francis, the Holy Father and the Inaugural Mass today of Pope Leo. That was such a privilege to be in attendance. It was a very moving ceremony, where he outlined his vision once again for his papacy and for the time in which he would hold this incredibly important position not just for Australia's five million Catholics, but for Catholics throughout the world, but also the holding of the position of Pope is one that provides leadership throughout the world as well, which is why it was attended by so many world leaders today, here, as a similar number that attended of course the funeral of Pope Francis. I was very honoured personally to be there, I found it an incredible privilege and it was good that Australia was represented at the highest level. And I was also very honoured to be able to have a brief discussion with Pope Leo in Saint Peter's Basilica after the mass was held. I look forward to further discussions in the near future with Pope Leo. In addition to that it was a gathering of world leaders, so I was able to have pull asides with Prime Minister Mark Carney before the mass began. We were there for some time in advance, and also to have discussions with Chancellor Merz of Germany, we hadn't met before, and also the Deputy Prime Minister of the UK, Angela Rayner and David Lammy as well. I'll be catching up informally with Angela Rayner later on today. In addition to that was an opportunity to introduce myself to a range of world leaders who I hadn't met before and to have brief discussions on behalf of Australia. Since then, we've had two bilateral meetings with Ursula von der Leyen of the European Union. We spoke about the importance of free and fair trade, spoke about our respective trade representatives in our case, of course, Senator Farrell, seeing if we can advance the Australia-EU Free Trade Agreement. We know that there were issues in the past over agriculture and we're hoping that they can be overcome. We also spoke about the common values that we have in defence and security, standing up for Ukraine and its national sovereignty, which led to the next bilateral meeting, of course with President Zelenksyy, who I've now met in a range of venues around the world. President Zelenksyy and the struggle of the Ukrainian people is an inspiration. The Ukrainian people are standing up not just for their national sovereignty. They're standing up for the international rule of law, and Australia stands with Ukraine. We have said we're prepared to consider any proposal, if peace can be achieved there, for a coalition of the willing, to be part of a peacekeeping force. And we discussed as well, the fact that we continue to provide military support to Ukraine, the latest example of which is the delivery of tanks to Ukraine, and we discussed the detail of that going forward. The next day as well, I expect to have further potential meetings over this evening and tomorrow before we travel back to Australia tomorrow evening.
JOURNALIST: In his remarks, President Zelenksyy talked about wanting sanctions on Russia, now Australia already applies quite a few sanctions on Russia. In that conversation with President Zelenksyy, are you looking at any other things Australia can do against Russia to try to heighten the pressure on it right now?
PRIME MINISTER: We have 1400 sanctions currently against individuals or against Russian companies. We continue to look at whatever we can do to place pressure on Russia. It's important as well that we continue to send the message to the globe that we stand with Ukraine. We, of course, have seen recently President Putin proposed a meeting in Türkiye, and then to not turn up to that meeting. That says something about whether they are genuine in seeking peace. But certainly, President Zelenksyy reaffirmed his view that he wants to see peace, of course, in Ukraine, but he also wants to be directly involved clearly in those negotiations. The United States has an important role to play as well.
JOURNALIST: The EU Commission President asked for a defence and strategic partnership to take the relationship just beyond trade. Is that something Australia's interested in and would we be looking to sign a defence partnership agreement along the lines of the ones signed by Japan and Korea with the EU? And did President Zelenksyy ask you for any further military aid and is that something we're considering putting together?
PRIME MINISTER: There were no specific requests from President Zelenksyy. He again signalled his appreciation of the support that Australia has provided up to this point. With regard to the European Union and future defence arrangements. We have, of course already a range of defence relationships including trade, including with countries such as Germany, with European countries, and we have participated previously in the IP4 together with Japan, with South Korea, with New Zealand and Australia on the sidelines of NATO. We said that we were certainly interested in any further engagement of support. But it's very early stages at this point. So we should imagine that future discussions may take place either at NATO or on a bilateral basis between Australia and the European Union.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, did you speak to JD Vance while you were there?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Did you get a chance? I mean, did you try to?
PRIME MINISTER: He arrived quite late in terms of just prior to the mass taking place, as you will have seen.
JOURNALIST: And have you reached out for a bilateral meeting?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: On Ursula von der Leyen's comments about defence, would what she's requesting, or suggesting, tighten Australia's coordination of its efforts, defence efforts with NATO?
PRIME MINISTER: Look this was just a suggestion that Ursula von der Leyen raised, we there was no detail further, just it was really an assertion of Europe's values being consistent with Australia's values, and in what ways could be explored further defence cooperation.
JOURNALIST: Can I just say, did you interpret it at least in the context of defending or helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia?
PRIME MINISTER: No, I wouldn't over-read what Ursula von der Leyen's statements were, and so I think that would be not accurate. It was a suggestion by the President that the relationship was based upon not just economic relations, but based upon our values and part of that values, is for support for international rule of law. And it's no accident that Europe has defended the Ukrainian people and so has Australia. We will stand up for their international rule of law.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on Oscar Jenkins, can you tell us what you discussed with President Zelenksyy on the case of Oscar Jenkins? Did you make any specific requests to Mr Zelenksyy to see him part of a potential prisoner swap in the future?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, what we did was to raise in a diplomatic way, seek Ukraine's further support for Oscar Jenkins. And certainly, we had a discussion about not just Oscar Jenkins, but other cases as well.
JOURNALIST: What did you say to the Pope when you met him?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it was a very warm discussion. I was introduced to him as the Australian Prime Minister. He expressed a warmth about Australia, and I told him that it was a great honour for me to be there. I spoke to him about my mother, is I'm sure looking down from heaven with the biggest smile she's ever had. The fact that her son was at the Inaugural Mass of a Pope in the Vatican, was quite extraordinary. So, for me it was a very personal moment as well, and it was a personal discussion. It was very warm. He expressed his affection for Australia and I told him that Australia's five million Catholics would be watching and wishing him well in his pontificate.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you think Australia will be able to secure a free trade agreement with Europe during this term of government?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, look, our objective is to support an expansion of free and fair trade. And during the last term of government, the deal with the UAE is perhaps the template for free trade agreements, that is in Australia's interests. I spoke in the meeting with Von der Leyen, I spoke with her about the UK agreement, which has been in both of our interests, and we will wait and see. We have indicated in the past, though, that we won't sign up to agreements that aren't in Australia's national interest.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, this is very personal experience for you, who will you be catching up with, any family while you are here on this very brief trip and also the unique opportunity to catch up with all the world leaders while you're here. You mentioned meeting some that you hadn't met before. Do you get the sense from other countries, perhaps you haven't engaged with as much, that they want to work with Australia on trade and defence, especially with the Trump Administration in the White House.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, on the first, I did meet up with some of my family yesterday and that was great, a great privilege. They came up to Rome and it was very nice to spend a short period of time, relative, with them. And I certainly appreciate it.
JOURNALIST: Who came exactly?
PRIME MINISTER: My brother and his wife and one of his daughters came and it was wonderful to be able to catch up with them. They're very proud that someone who shares their name, it was a really nice moment for them. I hadn't seen them since my election as Prime Minister. Others sent messages as well. I have a brother and a sister who are at Barletta, which is down in Puglia, and they have, they both have children as well, so that that was a nice moment. And?
JOURNALIST: The leaders that you -
PRIME MINISTER: Australia is, one of the things about being an Australian Prime Minister is that when you walk in a room, you start off here. Australia is really highly regarded. I think that for, the Australian people need to be proud of the way that we are seen in the world. We're straight talkers, we get things done, we're a multicultural nation. There is no nation that you meet with who doesn't say I've got a nephew, I've got someone who I went to school with, I have someone, a connection directly with Australia, that's a big plus for us. We have a stable political system. We've just witnessed an election, which, remarkably it doesn't occur everywhere in the world, where there are, there is no controversies over electoral issues or anything else. We can be really proud of what we do. We're successful in terms of our business community and what we do, our trade, when we do an agreement, whether it's business or government to government, we honour those agreements. And we punch above our weight, we're a middle power, and we sometimes I think, in Australia, sometimes we don't, we talk ourselves down a bit. And part of my job as Australia's Prime Minister, and as an optimist, is to talk Australia up. We can have an impact on the world. And the discussions that I had with people, whether they were longer ones, such as with Prime Minister Carney, or shorter ones, were all very warm. That is what we have very much in common.
JOURNALIST: PM, speaking of being a middle power, did you raise the prospect of Europe coming into the CPTPP? Australia is chairing that at the moment, if you got Europe and Indonesia, it would be a big coup in terms of building a global trade network.
PRIME MINISTER: No, what we did discuss, though, was engagement between the CPTPP that Australia's currently chairing and the European Union, just having engagement, but not, we didn't discuss membership issues, but further engagement.
JOURNALIST: Are you happy to follow that with Mark Carney tomorrow, and if not, did the Jindalee Operational Radar matter come up today?
PRIME MINISTER: Look we discussed very briefly those issues. We had a pretty warm discussion today and we talked about a further gatherings that we will have between us. Australia and Canada have a lot in common and I think we can do a lot of work together and certainly trade is one those.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, why didn't you request a meeting with the United States?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I'm the Prime Minister. I meet the President of the United States and that will occur at an appropriate time.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister on the Abrams tanks, President Zelenksyy, made a brief reference to them in his opening remarks. So can I say, did he seek any assurances about the timeline for when those tanks may be able to reach Ukraine and is the Government still expecting they will arrive in Ukraine at some point this year?
PRIME MINISTER: He has all of those and all that information. Obviously there's war going on, and therefore, President Zelenksyy is fully aware of the time frames and is certainly more than satisfied with them. Thank you.
