Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

It's a great honour to welcome Prime Minister Ishmael Kalsakau here to the Australian parliament from Vanuatu. I ask members to give him a welcome.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

Sir, you, your delegation and your ministers are very welcome visitors here today. You were greeted at the front of Parliament House by me, the Leader of the Opposition and other dignitaries here this morning. This is the first time a prime minister of Vanuatu has made an official visit here since 2018. Today we were able to make great progress on some of our shared priorities, including progressing sectors such as infrastructure, cybersecurity, trade and agriculture. Australia and Vanuatu are longstanding friends. We are partners—equal partners—guided by mutual respect and a shared commitment to a prosperous, peaceful and resilient Pacific. On Vanuatu's independence in 1980, Australia was proud to gift the Parliament of Vanuatu with it's Speaker 's chair, an enduring symbol of the democratic values that we share.

Last December, Senator Wong led an Australian bipartisan delegation to visit Vanuatu, where they were warmly welcomed by you, Prime Minister. On that visit, Minister Wong and Prime Minister Kalsakau signed our landmark bilateral security agreement. One of the things that we've agreed in the Pacific Islands Forum is that we in the Pacific need to secure our own region here, and the Pacific family needs to look after each other. The agreement recognises that Australia's and Vanuatu's security interests are deeply intertwined, and it lays out a framework for strengthening our partnership even further. Today we committed to ratifying that agreement, and I look forward to bipartisan support in this parliament to ratify that security agreement.

I recognise and commend the Prime Minister for his longstanding leadership in pushing for increased global action on climate change, which we spoke about again here this morning. Once again, I thank you, Prime Minister, for joining us here today, and wish you a very warm, Australian welcome.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!

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