CANBERRA, ACT, Oct. 22 -- The Prime Minister of Australia issued the following media release:
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Thanks for joining us. And for the travelling media as well, thanks for making the effort of coming here to the United States for what has been my seventh visit to the United States as Prime Minister, my third since the federal election in May, and it has been a very significant visit. I'm joined today by the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Madeleine King, the Minister for Industry and Innovation, Tim Ayres, but I'm also joined by some of the private sector representatives who've been here who we're engaging with as a result of the critical minerals and rare earths agreement that we came to yesterday. I'm joined by Bill Oplinger, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Alcoa, Darryl Cuzzubbo, the Managing Director of Arafura, and both of those gentlemen will speak after I do. Adam Hanley from Northern Minerals, the Chairman, and Tom Northcott from Graphinex, and I appreciate you joining us today.
Of course, we're here as well at the Australian Embassy to commemorate BHP at an important event for the Big Australian, as it was known for such a long period of time and still is. It has been fantastic to be here in Washington DC to meet President Trump and other key members of the US administration. We had a very good meeting yesterday and I thank the President again for his hospitality. I thank him for the warm invitation, firstly, to meet in the White House. I thank him very much for the honour of staying at Blair House as well, here in Washington DC.
There are no closer friends and allies than the United States and Australia, and this visit has reinforced that across a range of areas. President Trump and I agreed that we'll continue to work together as our two nations have done for more than 70 years. And it was a great opportunity yesterday to spend almost three hours with the President talking about a range of political issues, geopolitics to talk about respective policy issues, but also to really continue to build on what has been, as I have said repeatedly, a really constructive relationship. We have had fantastic calls and engagement this year, and yesterday's meeting helped build on that.
Australia and America are going to make more things together, and that was the big announcement yesterday, working together, whether it be on AUKUS or with critical minerals, which is consistent, as I said yesterday, the Future Made in Australia agenda is consistent, I think, with the idea that President Trump has of America First and making more things here in the United States as well. Our historic critical minerals framework is going to see us break new ground together. This agreement will see more investment in Australia and provide critical minerals required for defence and other advanced technologies to the United States and our strategic partners.
It builds on what we did with the Future Made in Australia agenda and then the critical minerals and rare earths reserve that we announced in Western Australia during the election campaign and was part of my election speech in the lead-up that we did once again in Perth. But this will benefit not just Western Australia, as we see from the representatives here, but particularly the big resources states. This means more jobs in Australia, it means more resilience for our economy. It means making more things in Australia, and this is just one of the examples of where we are making that investment to build our national resilience. Australia and the United States will provide a combined $3 billion towards an $8.5 billion future pipeline of priority critical minerals projects in Australia. And that is just already what we have identified. And we see this as just the start, not the end. We have announced financial commitments for two of those priority projects yesterday, and the gentlemen behind me, Bill and Darryl, will speak about them specifically. My Government is making our critical minerals sector one of the biggest in the world. Australia will reap the benefits of that growth. Australia and the United States will utilise these critical minerals together and in our combined national interests. And we see as well, engagement with other nations. For example, one of the agreements that we've reached includes Japan as well. We don't see this as an exclusive operation.
More broadly, yesterday the President and I discussed our defence alliance and our work on AUKUS, and I think his comments were very clear and they're consistent with the discussions that I have had with him over a long period of time. AUKUS is strong and together with our ally, the United States of America, we're accelerating this work. And the other discussions that we've had with the Friends of Australia caucus this morning over breakfast, with the Foreign Affairs Committee that I've met with, other representatives and senators that I've had, are consistent with that as well. As I've consistently said, we have worked hard. In particular, Ambassador Rudd's done a great job of building support across members of Congress for the AUKUS arrangements. Firstly, getting the legislation carried in 2023 and then continuing to build on that support. And one of the things that had struck me when I was up on the Hill, was everyone I met on the Hill, I'd met before, when I'd been up there as part of the campaign that we ran, effectively both people in the United States and in Australia, to provide support for AUKUS.
I also outlined, of course, why Australia's a model trading partner. We of course want to see our reciprocal tariffs be just that: reciprocal. Zero. We understand of course the United States has a different position when it comes to tariffs, but we will continue to be a country that believes in free and fair trade and will continue to advocate for Australia's interests. Our two nations have fought together, and fought together for peace and security in the world, for over 100 years. We're partners with a great deal of mutual respect and I think that was shown yesterday. I also, yesterday afternoon, had the opportunity to meet at the Ambassador's residence with Treasury Secretary Bessent. We had a constructive discussion about the state of the global economy, about the US economy, about challenges which are there and working together. I also had dinner with Secretary Rubio and four of his colleagues, senior members from the State Department as well, particular representatives who have a lot to do with Australia, including with the AUKUS arrangements.
And that was, I must say, delightful as well, to have both the formal discussions that took place over a lengthy period as well as the informal get-to-know-you anecdotes that are able to occur over a meal such as that. This morning, we had the Friends of Australia caucus, which was very successful as well, was very well attended. And I've just come from meetings with the House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries, and the bipartisan Key Congressional Senate Committee as well. I will of course look forward to the event with BHP being held here. I had committed to speak at the BHP event that will be held in Melbourne tomorrow to commemorate the 140th anniversary of BHP. So, we decided to bung on an event here as well. Why have one party when you can have two? And I'm very pleased that my friend Dominic Perrottet has now come here and has been very good at organising that. He, of course -- we had a chat at the event in New York a couple of weeks ago, hosted by [INDISTINCT].
So, this has been an incredibly successful visit and it builds on the work that we've done. A visit doesn't just occur when you land. It's a lot of the prep that takes place, the building of relationships, the working out of a way forward, and we have been very well-received and I thank everyone who's been involved with the hospitality here. Everyone from the Secret Service to the staff at Blair House to the Australian embassy staff and Foreign Affairs who've done such a terrific job. I'll now call upon Bill and then Darryl to say a few words and then we're happy to take some questions.
BILL OPLINGER, CEO OF ALCOA: Thank you, Prime Minister. So, thanks for having me here today. Alcoa in Australia has been in Australia for 60 years. We have a significant presence in Australia. We employ over 6,000 people in Australia, and it may surprise you to know that about a quarter of the ownership of Alcoa globally is actually located in Australia. We create significant value for our shareholders, but also for our stakeholders in Australia, in Western Australia and Victoria. The project that we announced yesterday is really a tremendous project that will serve the gallium market. So, 99 per cent of the world's gallium is currently made in China. This project will serve approximately 10 per cent of the global market for Gallium, and we're uniquely positioned to be able to do that in Western Australia. The project will sit on our Wagerup plant site, and the project really strengthens the relationship between Alcoa, the Australian government, Western Australia, the US and Japan.
So, I'm very happy to have announced what we announced yesterday. And for those who don't know, gallium is a critical mineral that is used for defence and semiconductors. So, it positions a product chain that will firmly go through Western Australia. So, I'd like to personally publicly thank you and your administration for making this happen. I would also thank Premier Roger Cook in Western Australia for all of his support over the years. And most importantly, I want to thank the Trump administration for really supporting us in making the project happen. And we look forward to being the first to market in 2026 with Gallium outside of China. So, with that, I'll turn it over to Darryl.
DARRYL CUZZUBBO, CEO OF ARAFURA: Thank you, Bill. The agreement that was announced yesterday is as important as it is historic. So, in 35 years of being in the resource sector, I've never seen this level of alignment and cooperation at the highest levels of two governments. It's important to the US. The US is one of the global powerhouses for manufacturing in the world, and you can't protect and grow that unless you've got access to critical minerals. And just one example that brings us to bear, from a rare earths perspective, every dollar of rare earths enables $600 of end product value. So, the US really needs access to reliable critical minerals and there's no country better able to do that than Australia. From an Australian perspective, thanks to the Prime Minister and Minister King. I know you work very hard for our sector. We are going to get preferential treatment and this provides a mechanism to get projects to construction and production faster. And this is truly important for attracting investors. From an Arafura perspective, we're on the cusp of completing our financing, and this rapidly brings that to a close so we can rapidly move into building Australia's first mine-to-ferrous-oxide project and then get on with phase two, which we see as become a processing hub, which we think will unlock the ferrous sector throughout Australia. So, again, like to thank the leadership of the Prime Minister and obviously the hard work of Minister King. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, it was quite the experience for us in the cabinet room yesterday. It must have been one for you. Just want to get your thoughts on that, including the upbraiding of Ambassador Rudd. The Opposition are now calling to him to be sacked. But if you could respond to that and also give us an idea about the personal connection you've made with President Trump?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, it was very positive. I arrived and of course had a discussion with him in the Oval Office first. We had a walk around the grounds as well before the meeting, and that enabled us to talk about some of the issues, but also to engage personally. We engaged in the room, was what it was, but it was -- after the press conference, there was a three-course lunch. I've been asked what was served. I'm not giving that detail out. That's confidential, because it may well be contrary to some people's diets that were in the room at the time. But it was very pleasant. And of course, I take a great deal of comfort from the fact that it wasn't just President Trump. I sat in between the President and the Vice President of the United States. Vice President Vance delayed his trip overseas in order to make sure that he could attend. And you have of course, the other seats, all of the senior members of the administration there. And afterwards of course, meeting with the Treasury Secretary as well as again having another meeting with the Secretary of State, but the Secretary of Defence, the fact that the head of the Navy was there as well was an indication of the support that is there for AUKUS. I thought it was very, very positive. And afterwards as well, we went back to the Oval Office, but took photos in the Oval Office. The President gave us his challenge coin to the people who were assembled there. We did some photos and then, after other members of the delegation left, I had another one-on-one with the President where we talked about a range of things including personal things as well that were terrific. As you know, I have a policy of when we have private meetings, they stay private. But it was as warm and friendly as you saw, and I thought it was a very positive meeting. But it was also consistent with what I expected, as I indicated to people beforehand. It's consistent with the discussions that I've had with the President on a number of occasions. He's been very warm. And also with the correspondence that we've had together as well that have included personal notes, et cetera. So, I really look forward to building on it.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said you met with Secretary Bessent and Rubio. Can you just elaborate a bit on those conversations? So, are you on the same page? What did you discuss?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we were on the same page. Private discussions again. Talking about economic issues, obviously, with the Treasury Secretary, but we talked, I had a discussion with him. Then, we had a joint discussion with the Treasury Secretary, the Secretary of State, the Ambassador, and myself. And then because the Treasury Secretary wasn't able to stay for dinner, so it ended, it meant quite a considerable period of time with the Secretary of State and with the other officials who'd been sworn in, to have gone through the process of approval that happens under the system here. There were another four representatives there. We talked about AUKUS, we talked about Australia's relationships. We talked about a range of international issues, but it was a private discussion and some of it was just anecdotal as well. We talked about my relationship with the United States, we talked about Australia's position in the region. Now one of the things about our country is we pull our weight and obviously the United States is the most powerful country in the world and that puts it in a unique position. Australia's also a significant country. We play a significant role in the region, in the Indo-Pacific and in ASEAN. Obviously, I spoke with a range of people, including President Trump, about the agreement that we've breached with Papua New Guinea. That's seen as a very significant agreement, which it is.
JOURNALIST: The exchange with Kevin Rudd and President Trump across the table did overshadow somewhat a successful meeting. Are you concerned that it did any damage or change the way that President Trump feels towards Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: No, not at all. And people who were there would've seen that. To quote President Trump, all is forgiven. And he said that while you were exiting the room. Some of you heard that, some of you reported that, that's up to you. But Kevin Rudd is doing a fantastic job as the Ambassador. And I've got to say, up on the Hill, every single person who we met with and the people who spoke this morning all say exactly the same thing.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you agree with Donald Trump's assessment that there is no real threat of President Xi taking Taiwan?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not going to comment. I have no intention whatsoever --
JOURNALIST: No, it's a serious question because he was asked about the deterrence aspect of AUKUS.
PRIME MINISTER: You asked a question and I get to answer it. That's the way it works. And I'm not going to comment on President Trump's comments. President Trump's comments stand.
JOURNALIST: Do you agree with the assessment?
PRIME MINISTER: President Trump's comment stands and I'm not going to be in a position, and I've done that consistently in Australia, of commenting on his comments. I think that his comments were of course very constructive. He's meeting President Xi soon and certainly we talked about the meeting that I've had with President Xi and my visit to China.
JOURNALIST: Do we still need the submarines to deter China? Do we still need AUKUS submarines?
JOURNALIST: Are there any expectations on Australia that you are aware of from the US side, if there was to be a Chinese incursion in to Taiwan? And just following up on what's happened while you've been here in the South China Sea, China has responded saying that the Australian aircraft went into Chinese airspace and the actions they took were really, in their view, appropriate. But are you going to raise this issue directly with President Xi?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we have raised the issue.
JOURNALIST: But you personally?
PRIME MINISTER: We have raised the issue with the Chinese administration both in Beijing and in Canberra.
JOURNALIST: And on Taiwan?
PRIME MINISTER: And we regard, well, President Trump's comments --
JOURNALIST: Sorry, can you explain, what you understand Australia's position is if there was to be a Chinese --
PRIME MINISTER: Australia's position has not changed.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, do you think the AUKUS agreement is a deterrent against China?
PRIME MINISTER: I think the AUKUS agreement is about our national security and is about a more secure and peaceful Indo-Pacific and region. I think it's a more secure region when you have a stronger presence. And that is what it's about. It's not about any one country, it's about Australia's national security and about our alliance with the United States and our partners, including of course the United Kingdom.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, the Secretary mentioned that there was some ambiguity with the AUKUS deal, that changes might need to be made. What's your understanding of what those changes might be and do you think that the timeline we'll still see Virginia-class submarines in the early 2030s?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, they said yesterday, not only was it said that the timeline was on track, but that potentially it could be brought forward. So, we want to work hard. The discussions I had on the Hill today, I mean, there's very broad support for this. We'll continue to engage constructively. We of course want to, like any project, like we want these projects here. If they can get done and be started sooner, we're up for that. This is about putting in place the structures, we've done that. We haven't over-promised. What we've done is make sure that we've done things in the methodical, orderly way that characterises my Government.
JOURNALIST: What would the changes be?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're not pre-empting that.
JOURNALIST: [INDISTINCT]
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, but we don't make announcements about AUKUS and structures at a press conference like this. What we do is we work things through in an orderly way.
JOURNALIST: The review for AUKUS is still taking place, even though Donald Trump was very positive about yesterday. Do you feel it's going to be signed off more or less exactly how it is or there'll be changes to it?
PRIME MINISTER: No. Look, when we were, there's nothing -- don't look for something that's not there. Been enough of that. What we had done, what we did when I became Prime Minister, we inherited what was essentially a media release and a concept and an idea. We built on that. We did a review, the UK did a review. The United States is doing a review. Nothing unusual about that when there's a change of government. What is very clear is that there is agreement about AUKUS and what is also clear is that as you build a major project, we're talking about a project with considerable cost. It's not simple. It has stages to it. Inevitably, of course, as you go, you'll constantly have an assessment to make sure you're getting everything right. You don't say in something that's going to go to the 2040s, this is exactly how things are going to occur, because you want to make sure you get it right. That is all that is occurring here. And that's precisely what the President himself said, the head of the Navy yesterday, said, I don't think it can be clearer.
JOURNALIST: But on that point, I mean I think we all realise the reasonableness of actually having the review. But there were three people that spoke in the meeting yesterday. There was yourself, there was President Trump and the Secretary of the Navy in these prepared remarks that he gave. They weren't off the cuff, they weren't sort of spit-balling. He said that there were ambiguities in AUKUS and they need to be clarified. What was your understanding of those ambiguities from the US side? It's not splitting hairs, Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you were there. I'm sorry. It is.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister in your chats with President Trump, he made a lot of the efforts he's got in the Middle East and in Europe. Did he give you an idea of what he sees Australia's role in the Pacific as being, and did he ask us to do more or do anything different?
PRIME MINISTER: He sees our role in the Pacific as being critical. We are [INDISTINCT]. We're the security partner of choice, as a range of Pacific Island nations have said. We play a major role in the Pacific Island Forum. That's an important body. This is an area of course where there has been strategic competition and Australia is seen as being, as playing a very positive role. Importantly, not just by our partners such as the United States, but importantly by Pacific Island nations themselves.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Mr Rudd, by March next year, will have served three years in the job. Will he continue in the job as Ambassador past that point or will he --
PRIME MINISTER: He's been appointed for four years.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, a week ago, Secretary Scott Bessent said allies should consider decoupling from China. Yesterday, Trump was very positive about China. What's the message you've taken away from conversations with all of these players about how comfortable they are with Australia's deep economic ties to China. And just on Future Made, obviously the investments in companies like these are very welcome. It helps them get to production. But when are we going to see rubber hitting the road on things like support for minimum floor prices that help projects like these protect themselves against China's distortion of prices?
PRIME MINISTER: To start at the finish, clause 4, if you look at the agreement that was signed, very much goes into that. And that is a part of the security going forward. One of the things about the deal that was done is that some of the critics, when we said that we were going to have a critical minerals and rare earths reserve said, oh, that's interfering with the market. The Coalition during the election campaign were very critical. There's not a market in operation here. That's the point. We need to engage and not pretend that there's this free market out there where everyone's getting a fair crack. This is a market that's dominated by China and it is something where they've commenced not years ago, decades ago. And so, if we are going to be more resilient and more able to engage in Australia's national interest, then this is the sort of intervention -- this isn't the Government taking over. This is the Government facilitating private sector investment and private sector activity. And we have a common position there.
JOURNALIST: Yeah, on these were decoupling versus having strong economic ties with China. What's the message that you heard from your US counterparts on where they want Australia to be?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you were there I think yesterday for President Trump's comments. As I said before, they stand alone. It's not my job to interpret. I thought they were pretty clear. And Australia has said China is our major trading partner. We've made that very clear. We've worked very hard to remove impediments that were there to our trade because that's about jobs in Australia. And we will always, my position is the same, you might've heard it before, and it is just, in case you've forgotten -- it is that we will cooperate where we can, disagree where we must and we'll engage in our national interest.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, did you speak with President Trump or Secretary Rubio about your hopes for Palestinian recognition and their Gaza peace plan? Did they speak at all or has there been any sort of direction from the Trump administration in terms of what role or supporting role Australian might play in terms of what they're hoping to execute or land with their peace plan?
PRIME MINISTER: I did speak with the Secretary about the Gaza peace plan and how it's rolling out. I'm not in a position to go into that detail for obvious reasons, but we're very supportive of the role of the United States is playing there.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you mentioned earlier, Australia's continued strong position that it wants to see reciprocal tariffs being zero. Did you advocate tariff relief during the meetings yesterday and what was the response?
PRIME MINISTER: Yes, I did. I'll continue to engage.
JOURNALIST: And what was the response?
PRIME MINISTER: And we'll continue to engage.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, not your first time in the White House or the Oval Office. But I wonder when you took a walk around with the US President, did you see any of the construction work that he's undertaking in the White House and what did you think of what he's done to the Oval Office?
PRIME MINISTER: We did, and President Trump has the plan for the ballroom, and it will be a fantastic facility to be able to host indoors in the ballroom, to be able to host state dinners, et cetera, is the plan. So, I had a chat with the President about our wonderful Parliament House, Australia's most visited building, about when it was built for our bicentenary, of course, in 1988. And that has allowed us to have functions in the Great Hall, et cetera. And so we had a chat about that. It was one of the things we talked about when we walked around the grounds.
JOURNALIST: So, perhaps another visit, state visit to the new ballroom when it's complete?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we'll wait and see. We make announcements when we make them rather than pre-empt them, which I know can be frustrating for you guys somehow. But my Government is concerned with getting things done rather than necessarily just doing things on the run.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, it's customary at these kind of events to exchange gifts. Can you tell us what you gave to Donald Trump on behalf of the people of Australia and vice versa?
PRIME MINISTER: Yeah, we gave, our gift was done through protocol. So, I know what our gift was, which was two things at least, perhaps more. We had a gift for Melania. We had jewellery, we had a submarine model for the President, and we had some Ugg booties for the President's newest granddaughter to come along, and I'm sure they will be very well received. I'll probably get whatever has come to us in about three years and six months after it goes through all the security things and PM&C, all of that. I'll just leave it there. Thanks very much.
Disclaimer: Curated by HT Syndication.
