Well, Prime Minister Manele, can I welcome you very warmly to Australia and I’m very honoured, and we’re honoured as a nation, that you have chosen Australia as your destination for your first official visit after your successful election, as Prime Minister of the Solomon Islands. We’ve just had a lovely one on one meeting, in which we were discussing the great honour that we have in engaging and leading our respective nations and as members of the Pacific family, this relationship is so important. I do want to thank you as well, we were very quick to have senior representatives to the Solomon Islands after your election, including Deputy Prime Minister Marles and Foreign Minister Wong, and both spoke very warmly about them being received. I thank you for your invitation for myself to visit the Solomon Islands to reciprocate your visit here. The pace of visits between our two countries since you formed government shows how important this relationship is to Australia. And of course, the Solomon Islands is closer to Australia, geographically and in time, than many parts of Australia are to each other. And hence, it’s not surprising that that is important. Our support to your elections that were held in April working with PNG, with New Zealand and Fiji to assist the Royal Solomon Islands Police Force was an example of how we’re showing up and responding to your priorities. I look forward to having an open discussion with you today with senior members of my Cabinet about how we can further deepen this partnership in line with our shared objectives, working together as equals, as partners and as friends. I understand that economic growth is a key early focus for your Government, and we discussed that in our one on one meeting, but also our excellent breakfast that was held here this morning as well with my Ministers. I know that the Deputy Prime Minister is hosting you and your delegation for lunch today, as well. And I’m jealous, I must say Prime Minister, that you will be at the MCG this evening for the State of Origin game between New South Wales and Queensland in which you have very wisely chosen a neutral position, but I am sending Minister Conroy with you, he is not neutral, he is not neutral, and he won’t be neutral tonight. So I apologise for his yelling and I suggest you sit at least six feet away with Minister Conroy this evening, because he’s a very passionate Blues supporter, but there will also be passionate Maroons supporters there this evening as well. And it is one of the great events that we hold here in Australia. I am really proud that in recent years, Australia has adopted new tools to strengthen economic resilience and integration in our region. We’ve opened up our labour markets through the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme, PALM as it’s known, my Government’s Pacific Engagement Visa as well. And we discussed the important role that plays in giving people employment and skills, but also being able to repatriate funds back to families, but also the contribution that that makes to Australia as well. And it is a two-way mutual benefit arrangement. We also had the Australian Infrastructure Financing Facility for the Pacific that is playing a role. We of course look forward to discussing as well today, further discussions on the future of our security co-operation. We have our head of the Australian Federal Police here as a part of this meeting this morning. And of course, what I say is the entry fee to credibility in the Pacific, which is action on climate change. We know, that it’s critical for all of the nations in our Pacific family as well and my Government is absolutely committed to net zero by 2050 and a 43 per cent reduction in our emission by 2030, and we have a path to achieve that. So, working with you together, we can grow the strength of our respective countries. But, also I think working with our family in the Pacific through the Pacific Islands Forum, we discussed that meeting that will be coming up in August, we can develop the strength of the Pacific family as well. Thank you, Prime Minister.
THE HON JEREMIAH MANELE, PRIME MINISTER OF THE SOLOMON ISLANDS: Thank you Prime Minister Albanese, let me first of all thank you sincerely for inviting me as your Guest of Government after my election as Prime Minister. I would also like to thank you for the visits of your Deputy Prime Minister, Richard Males, and Foreign Minister, Penny Wong, both of whom I consider friends and I have so much respect for. Let me also on behalf of my delegation acknowledge the wonderful, warm hospitality extended to my delegation since I arrived in Australia in Brisbane and of course Canberra now. I am looking forward to the game tonight, may the best team win. During Richard and Penny’s visit we spoke frankly, we spoke frankly, about the value and genuineness of our partnership. And also highlighted areas where Australia, as a close neighbour and development partner of choice, has concerns. So we did discuss these areas, I will look at the security element shortly. But on labour mobility, if I could also on behalf of the Government and people of Solomon Islands, thank your Government people for the opportunity for our people to come and work in Australia. As you have rightly said it’s a win-win initiative for both our country’s economy benefits. But our workers also benefit, country benefits, through the remittances that workers send. I think it’s going towards 214 million Solomon Dollars, and it’s growing. We have about 6000, almost 6000 workers here in Australia, and almost 1000 in New Zealand. So we appreciate these opportunities. It is an important opportunity that helps to relieve the pressure that we have in terms of unemployment, we have a huge youth bulge, so this farm arrangement, as well as the New Zealand scheme does, in a short term, help us to relieve that pressure. Going forward as a government, we believe that we need to embark on creating permanent jobs in country in the Solomon Islands. And the focus of our Government is on the productive sector. How we can develop fisheries, forestry, mining, tourism, where Australia is one of our source destinations in terms of tourists coming and we appreciate that. So going forward, that is the focus that my Government is taking. Creating economic growth, creating jobs and employment and income for our people is very, very important for us. On the security arrangements, I hear you very clearly in terms of Australia’s interests, in terms of Australia’s concerns, with regards to security. Our approach has been, will continue to be, to be focusing on domestic security concerns. And Prime Minister as you would appreciate Solomon Island is a diverse nation, ethnically diverse, geographically spread, so the allotment will continue to be a challenge, even in terms of finding ways to unite our people, it remains a challenge. In terms of our development interest, much broader and deeper compared to other small countries within the region. So, we would like to work with all our partners, including Australia, is our partner of choice to address these security challenges. For us, security challenges, is not only conventional security, in terms of law and order, but also more importantly, soft security issues in terms of climate change, the environment, natural disasters, even health, health security, these are important, of course, unemployment, these are important security considerations for us, as a small country. Of course, we are also a least developed country and it’s important for our partners to also understand the development challenges that we are facing as an LDC, we are scheduled to graduate, come 2027. So that is why the focus on economic development is key. But so is trade, because we would like to use trade as a strategy to prepare us for graduation, come 2027, so that when we graduate, that process is sustained, and irreversible. We look forward to partnering with partners like Australia in terms of how do we move forward as partners in terms of the economic space, social and economic infrastructure. Climate change, yes I agree with you, that remains a critical priority area for our countries in the region. We look forward to continuing that collaboration with you in terms of the climate change space. For us as a government, investments in renewable energy will be critical for us exploring opportunities in solar energy, but also hydro power. On that note, let me take the opportunity to thank Australia for support towards the Tina Hydro project, that’s important. And we hope that that support we will continue, but having similar Tina Hydros, or solar projects out in the rural areas, in the provinces, is our focus as well. Because evidence has shown that in terms of the SDGs, the Sustainable Development Goals, once communities, countries, have access to renewable energy, then that will place them in a position that they can fulfil or achieve a good number of the Sustainable Development Goals that we have.
