Anthony Albanese talks climate change in lead up to King Charles meeting
Anthony Albanese has touched on climate change and cost-of-living pressures at a London summit alongside world leaders, before turning to royal duties with King Charles.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s three-day visit to the UK has begun with an address to the progressive conference Global Progress Action Summit in London alongside British PM Sir Keir Starmer, Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Iceland’s Prime Minister Kristrún Frostadóttir.
Mr Albanese was also set to meet with King Charles III on the weekend.
He said climate change “is front and centre” of the government’s agenda and he hit out at the opposition’s stance on the issue.
Stronger together.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) September 26, 2025
Plus fort ensemble.
Sterkari saman.
🇦🇺🇮🇸🇨🇦🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/moLsOP7oU0
“They (the opposition) are going back into a debate about whether it exists or not, basically whether they will continue to support net zero by 2050,” Mr Albanese told the summit.
“We’re saying climate change is real … get ahead of it and bring people on that journey”.
He also spoke of why Labor won the last two elections and accused the opposition of having too much upheaval within their ranks.
“My party and our conservative team both replaced sitting prime ministers a number of times and that had disruption that annoyed people,” Mr Albanese said.
He said the government has been “relentless” in easing cost of living pressures, boosting employment, cutting student debt and increasing paid parental leave.
He also said the government had maintained a tough stance on migration.
“One of the themes of our approach is strong on borders without being weak on humanity,” he said.
“We have strong border control through Operation Sovereign Borders we’ve continued, but at the same time we’ve increased the number of asylum seekers”.
Stronger together.
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) September 26, 2025
Plus fort ensemble.
Sterkari saman.
🇦🇺🇮🇸🇨🇦🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/moLsOP7oU0
His comments come after Sir Keir told the summit illegal migration remained a serious problem for the UK and “for too many years it’s been too easy for people to come here, slip into the shadow economy and remain here illegally,” he said.
“Frankly, we’ve been squeamish about saying things that are clearly true.
“Every nation needs to have control over its borders, we do need to know who is in our country.”
It comes after Mr Albanese wrapped up the American leg of his tour – which included meeting US President Donald Trump at a reception and locking in a meeting with him next month.
The UK’s Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy and former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern also attended the summit where a range of issues including economic growth, migration and national security were discussed.
Mr Albanese also met with Sir Keir on Friday afternoon (Saturday AEST) at 10 Downing Street as well as several other senior British Labour ministers and former prime minister Tony Blair reinforcing Australia’s important ties with the UK.
Britain is Australia’s second-largest source of foreign investment and also the nation’s largest destination for outgoing investment.
Mr Albanese met with Conservatives leader Kemi Badenoch on Friday afternoon along with Shadow Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster Alex Burghart and Shadow Education Secretary Laura Trott.
Mr Albanese is due to meet with the King at Balmoral Castle in Aberdeenshire, Scotland in a one-on-one meeting over the weekend.
The Labor government shelved plans to move Australia to becoming a republic which would involve removing the King as head of state.
The PM is also expected to attend the UK Labour Party’s annual conference which begins on Sunday. It is being held in Liverpool in northwest England.
The trip to the UK comes after Mr Albanese spent the past week in the US which included addressing the United Nations General Assembly.
In his address he spoke of Australia’s strong support for Ukraine in the war against Russia and he also called for other nations to come together to help fight antisemitism.
Mr Albanese also acknowledged the Australian government’s decision to commit to a two-state solution in Israel after recognising Palestinian statehood – a move criticised by the US, but made by more than 150 countries including the UK, Canada and France.
During his UN address, Mr Albanese made the case for Australia’s bid to host COP31 and spoke of the impacts of the importance of adopting cleaning energy options – all part of Australia’s ambitious bid to try and reduce carbon emissions by 62 to 70 per cent of what they were in 2005.
His remarks were at odds with Mr Trump who told the assembly that climate change is the “greatest con job ever penetrated in the world, in my opinion”.
Mr Albanese’s visit to the UK is due to end on Sunday afternoon (Monday AEST).
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Originally published as Anthony Albanese talks climate change in lead up to King Charles meeting
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