: Can I just say it's good to be back, arrived in the early hours of this morning after what was a very successful visit. Indonesia is such an important relationship for us, and we were looked after very well by President Prabowo. I had an extensive one on one meeting with him, as well as our leaders' meeting. And I look forward to President Prabowo visiting Australia later this year. In addition to that, I had a meeting on the way back with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who was re-elected as Prime Minister on 3rd May 2025, at the same time. He reminded me that he got a bigger majority than Labor did here, to put that in perspective, but it's a warm relationship with Singapore. And of course, both of those relations, as well as the discussions I had with leaders - including Prime Minister Carney. I met the new German Chancellor, I met a range of leaders from, particularly, around Europe, and sat down with Ursula von der Leyen, the leader of the European Union, about tariffs, about trade, and it's important that we have free and fair trade, and that the international economic system be allowed to continue to function, and leaders are engaged in that discussion. In addition to that, of course, it was an incredible honour for me to be at the Inaugural Mass of Pope Leo XIV, and to have an audience with the Holy Father was a great honour, and one of the things I will cherish for the rest of my life.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a lot changed while you're away. The Coalition is no longer a coalition.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it isn't, and that's a matter for the Liberal Party and the National Party. I've had discussions with both Sussan Ley and David Littleproud on a one on one basis. We'll continue to treat people across the Parliament, of course, with respect. Those arrangements are really a matter for them. My job is to remain focused on leading a Government that is orderly, that provides for the implementation of the program that we took to the Australian people and received such a strong mandate for, and that will be my focus. The Cabinet will meet next week for the first time. We had a full ministry meeting after the swearing in. I wanted to give Ministers - some of whom are new - the opportunity to meet with their departmental secretaries, to go down and get on top of their departments, and we'll be going through an orderly process of releasing charter letters for their - draft firstly - for what is expected of them over the next three years.
JOURNALIST: Would you call this another win for the Labor Party, with the Coalition splitting?
PRIME MINISTER: That's a matter for them. Our job is to remain focused. And I make this point - political parties will not be successful if they're focused on themselves. And that is what my task is, to focus on the needs of the Australian people. If the Liberal Party and the National Party want to focus on each other and focus on their internals, that's a matter for them. I lead a united Party that is focused on the needs of the Australian people.
JOURNALIST: What does it mean for staffing levels, PM? Will the Liberals maintain the sort of Opposition staffing levels that are normal? Also the Nationals, what do they get? Obviously, you have a bit of control over this scenario. So, what does it all mean?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, obviously, we'll give consideration to all of those matters. But clearly it is not reasonable that there be more staff or a reward, if you like, for the fact that you have this division, has occurred. So, we'll give consideration to it. And I'll have discussions with both Sussan Ley and David Littleproud about that, as well as the crossbenchers. We haven't sorted out ministerial staff yet, so there's some time to go on that.
JOURNALIST: Just in relation to Peter Dutton, isn't there a convention that after a leader leaves Parliament and there's some arrangements in place, they have access to office staff and they have ongoing security? Are you talking to Peter Dutton in relation to any of those issues?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: And PM, does the fracturing and the breakup of the Coalition, does this create new opportunities for you, that you can see?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, our opportunity is to deliver on strengthening Medicare, continuing to get inflation down, continuing to get job creation, work on the energy transformation, work on strengthening the Australian economy, in lifting up wages. That's our focus. Our focus is on our positive vision. I think one of the issues during the campaign was our optimistic, positive vision, versus a Coalition - at that time - that was talking Australia down. I'm really optimistic about Australia's position. There's nowhere you'd rather be. And when you talk with leaders from around the world, it really reinforces that. They look at the Australian achievement of getting inflation down, whilst not getting a spike in unemployment, whilst getting wages up. That's a significant achievement. It's something we're really proud of, and I look forward to working on that. I'm going to have a couple of days off now and then I'll see you next week.
