Press conference - Johannesburg, South Africa
Transcript
Saturday 22 November 2025
Johannesburg, South Africa
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
The Hon Anthony Albanese MP
Prime Minister of Australia
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Firstly on Tropical Cyclone Fina, I've been in touch with our local MPs there, including of course Luke Gosling, Marion Scrymgour, and Minister McCarthy, but also Lia Finocchiaro the Chief Minister as well has been engaged.
The Commonwealth is providing every bit of support that is requested, and NEMA of course, its creation has made a real difference to the capacity to respond very quickly. But our thoughts are with people back in the Northern Territory and Darwin and surrounds as well.
It is great to be here at the G20 and I was able to participate this morning in my first forum and contribution to the debate, speaking up for Australia's national interests, which is about free and fair trade, about economic engagement, about diversification of our trade as well, following up from the successful meetings that we've had yesterday. The European Union, I've also met with a range of the individual national leaders, including I just had a bilateral meeting with Chancellor Merz.
Australia and Germany have a very close relationship, and we spoke about support for the Free Trade Agreement being finalised next year, along with our defence and security cooperation agreements as well. An upgrade of those relationships will be important.
The G20 began with President Ramaphosa indicating that the communiqué has been agreed by all of the participants. That's a good thing - quite often there's not a communiqué, unfortunately, from these multilateral forums, and it's a good thing that that has been adopted.
It's also been an opportunity to engage. I've had a very warm discussion with President Erdogan of Türkiye, and he is very pleased, as am I, at the resolution of the COP issue in Belém. And President Erdogan also was generous to invite me to visit Türkiye for Anzac Day next year, so we'll give that consideration as well.
We have started the Summit talking about economic growth and talking about the challenges that are there with the Australian economy. Throughout the day, I'll be meeting with a range of leaders including MIKTA, which is Mexico, Indonesia, South Korea and Türkiye. That group will have a formal meeting. As well as I've got a range of bilateral meetings scheduled, especially with European leaders, today. So I'm looking forward to that engagement and the informal engagement is always just as important at forums like this as well.
I was also able to have a discussion with my friend Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and inform him about Travis Head's extraordinary knock, and the success that Australia has had. And we had a good-natured banter about the outcome of the first test, but congratulations, a particular shout out, to Mitchell Starc and Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne, an extraordinary effort to win the test in two days.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, yesterday we were talking about the prospect of a Leaders' Statement; you suggested it might be a Chair's Statement this year. Are you surprised that at the very beginning of this G20 Leaders' Summit, the 19 members were able to come together so quickly to endorse this communiqué?
PRIME MINISTER: It's a good thing that that occurred. The Australian Sherpa who participated in that as well was a part of working through issues. And it's a very positive sign that the world wants to get on with cooperating, and it's a very positive statement going forward.
JOURNALIST: It makes multiple references to climate change, commitment to the Paris Agreement, to free trade. Is this a repudiation of the kind of policies that Donald Trump is pursuing?
PRIME MINISTER: It's about what the world has committed to - the Paris Agreement and to action on climate change. Of course, Australia signed up to the Paris Agreement, under Tony Abbott, and signed up to Net Zero under Scott Morrison. And with Angus Taylor as the Energy Minister. There is overwhelming support for action on climate change. People are very conscious of the fact that the increase in extreme weather events, the impact of climate change, is here right now. The impact on this continent here in Africa, the impact in the Pacific of course, is something that we're very conscious of as well.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister you speak about making decisions in the national interest. How do you anticipate this decision will affect Australia's strategic interests with the US and broader national interest?
PRIME MINISTER: Sorry, which decision?
JOURNALIST: You speak about making decisions in the national interest, how do you expect this communiqué -
PRIME MINISTER: Well, the communiqué is signed up by all of the countries who are participating here. And Australia, as a sovereign state, makes decisions based upon our own national interest. Australia has an interest in action on climate change. We have an interest in trade, we're a trading nation. One in four of our jobs is dependent upon trade. So there's nothing unusual about supporting free and fair trade. That's what Australian Governments have done on a bipartisan basis, and before recent times, action to achieve Net Zero was a bipartisan position as well.
JOURNALIST: But Donald Trump, he doesn't support the Paris Agreement as you know. He also didn't want this Leaders' Declaration to be agreed to. There was also a lot of language in there about support of multilateralism, free trade. Was this sort the rest of the G20 showing a unified force against the Trump agenda?
PRIME MINISTER: No. This was countries making decisions consistent with the direction in which the world has gone. The whole reason -
JOURNALIST: But it's the opposite direction to what Trump is going.
PRIME MINISTER: The whole reason for the formation of the G20 at a Leaders' level, it was 2008, I participated in the first meeting that was held at Leaders' level in London. That was in response to the Global Financial Crisis. Multilateralism is something that's very much in Australia's national interest and clearly other governments make their own decisions based upon what they assess to be their national interest.
JOURNALIST: The statement talks about 600 million Africans don't have access to electricity and that, in order for the developed world to hit their 2030 targets it would cost $5.1-5.8 trillion. Does this highlight how difficult it is for the developing world to actually reach their climate targets, particularly as they're moving to increase economic growth? And does Australia plan to increase investment or funding to help developing countries transition?
PRIME MINISTER: We are engaged in those issues, including in the support that we provide. The achievement of countries such as India in giving people access to energy has been quite remarkable in recent years. And the world has an interest in -
JOURNALIST: A lot of that has been through coal though, hasn't it? New coal fire power stations?
PRIME MINISTER: A whole range of issues. India is rolling out a massive renewable investment program, and when I spoke with Prime Minister Modi, we spoke about our agreement on green energy that we have. And later today you'll see some further developments on that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, overnight Australia has signed up to the Belém Declaration on the transition away from fossil fuels. I was wondering how that kind of fits with the Government's future gas strategy which states that natural gas will be needed to 2050 and beyond - a fossil fuel?
PRIME MINISTER: Well it is needed. It's a part of the transition which is occurring. What you need to back up renewables is firming capacity, that's what's enabling the investment to occur. And all of the energy experts say the cheapest form of transition is renewables backed by gas, backed by hydro, backed by batteries. That's Australia's position.
JOURNALIST: But this statement, which holds the strongest language on phasing out fossil fuels that Australia has ever supported. So, if we're talking about signing up to international declarations on phasing out fossil fuels, acknowledging that we're still going to be needing natural gas beyond 2050. Are those positions, sort of, compatible?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes.
JOURNALIST: Are there any plans to taper down Australia's production of fossil fuels?
PRIME MINISTER: Our position is the same today as it was yesterday. The cheapest form of new energy is renewables. That needs to be backed up by gas as firming capacity, by batteries, and by hydro.
JOURNALIST: Peter Malinauskas and Chris Minns have said the Narrabri Development needs to go ahead. Various people have talked about the need to get more gas out of the ground. Do you subscribe to that as well?
PRIME MINISTER: I've said that a long time ago. Go and have a look at my previous comments.
JOURNALIST: Do you understand how people would understand that now that you've signed up to this declaration that there would be movement on tapering off coal exports or gas exports or gas in general? You're saying that that's not the case at all?
PRIME MINISTER: No.
JOURNALIST: Net Zero was in this document. Would a Coalition government have been able to sign up to this Declaration?
PRIME MINISTER: Well the Coalition can't even make an agreement with themselves, let alone speak for Australia. You have a new Liberal leader in New South Wales saying that she supports Net Zero. A new Liberal leader in Victoria saying that she supports Net Zero. You have a Leader of the Opposition that before a couple of weeks ago was out there campaigning for Net Zero. And you have the Liberal Party that has adopted a position that is more conservative, more right-wing, more anti-renewables and -transition, than what the National Party stood for.
Bear in mind, Barnaby Joyce was a part of signing up to Net Zero, as was of course Angus Taylor as the Minister for Energy, as was the Morrison Government.
Now, one of the things that we're dealing with when it comes to energy is that we have had a system that was essentially developed many decades ago. Coal fire power stations are reaching the end of their life. 24 out of 28 announced their closure, either that or brought forward the date of their closure, while the Coalition was in Government. And they have announced 23 policies, none of them landed, not one. And now they want to go back to the chaos and dysfunction, and arguing within the government, bearing in mind the number of policies that they had. The NEG - brought forward. Adopted twice in their caucus, and then they rolled the Leader for adopting a policy that their caucus had adopted.
We cannot afford to go backwards. And Australians can't afford to pay the price of dysfunction that is there in the Coalition. Thanks very much.
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