Joe Biden host Anthony Albanese at his home ahead of Quad meeting

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has spent 90 minutes chatting with US President Joe Biden in Delaware at his private residence. Their discussion was wide ranging covering global issues, regional security and US-Australia relations.

Transcript

00:00Anthony Albanese spent 90 minutes with U.S. President Joe Biden at one of his private

00:07residences in his home state of Delaware.

00:10It's the first time a foreign leader has been invited into his private home, and that personal

00:15touch reflects the nature of the meeting that the two leaders had, which clearly looked

00:20back at the time that Joe Biden has had in public life, and Anthony Albanese making it

00:26clear he's learnt a lot from Joe Biden over the years and the meetings that they've had

00:30together.

00:31The discussions were more wide-ranging than that.

00:34They covered a range of global events, Ukraine, the Middle East, also went to key economic

00:40issues facing both countries, how to process critical minerals, how to tackle climate change.

00:45So this broad meeting covered a lot of ground, but ultimately it was very much about the

00:50relationship between Joe Biden and Anthony Albanese.

00:54Well, it was an opportunity for me to express my support and congratulations for the role

01:03that President Biden has played.

01:06He has been a good friend of Australia, but he's also been an advocate for the rule of law.

01:14The other thing about President Biden as well is he's someone who is optimistic and someone

01:21who speaks about hope.

01:24Hope's always better than fear.

01:27Now the big meeting will be tomorrow when the leaders of the Quad Nations, so that's

01:31the US, Australia, Japan and India, will meet again, this time at Joe Biden's old school,

01:38so again another personal touch.

01:40Now we know that primarily they'll be focused on regional security, what's happening with

01:45China, particularly in the South China Sea, and of course the regime in North Korea, a

01:50key issue for the Quad to deal with.

01:53But their remit is certainly growing.

01:55We know they're going to be making announcements on maritime issues, looking to have joint

01:59exercises with Coast Guards in the Pacific.

02:03They're also going to be joint announcements on health funding around cancer prevention.

02:07So the Quad is certainly engaging in a very broad brief of issues and that's notable because

02:13there had been some concern that when we come to the November US presidential election,

02:18if Donald Trump were to be elected, it wasn't clear what his commitment to the Quad and

02:23other bodies of regional cooperation might be.

02:27But Anthony Albanese today has made it clear that with his discussions, not just with the

02:32White House but with other members of Congress, that he's confident that the American support

02:37for the Quad negotiations and American support for AUKUS in particular, for the Australia,

02:43the UK and US arrangements, will remain strong regardless of who enters the White House in November.

02:50I know from my own experience, one-on-one discussions I've had across the Congress and

02:56across the Senate, how deep the support for AUKUS is.

03:02And there is no question in my mind that AUKUS will continue to have the support of any future

03:12US administration.

03:14And with the latest escalation of tensions in the Middle East, that too was on the agenda

03:19for Anthony Albanese and Joe Biden.

03:22They didn't go into a great deal of detail about precisely what they discussed, but Anthony

03:26Albanese took the opportunity in speaking to the media afterwards to reiterate his concerns

03:32about the cost the conflict has had on Palestinian lives, on Israeli lives, and his concerns

03:39that that could escalate into broader conflict in the Middle East.

03:43And he urged Australians who are in Lebanon, who have the ability to leave and come home

03:48to do so immediately, warning that if things were to escalate, that this may be their best

03:54chance to get out safely.

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