Anthony Albanese makes Lowy Institute address outlining Australia’s ‘place in the world’

In a major speech, Anthony Albanese has reinforced Australia’s foreign policy priorities as he looks to the future.

The Prime Minister has outlined Australia’s foreign policy objectives. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Sam Ruttyn

Anthony Albanese has spruiked Australia’s role as a formidable middle power, prioritising the Indo-Pacific in a speech lauding Labor’s foreign policy inroads over the past 18 months.

The Prime Minister delivered the annual Lowy address at the Lowy Institute on Tuesday night. In a speech titled “Australia in the world”, he declared Australia’s future security and prosperity would depend on prioritising its own backyard over the rest of the world.

“Without any doubt, Australia’s future security and prosperity will be defined by the strength and success of our engagement in the region we call home,” he said.

Mr Albanese used his speech to double down on calls for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict amid reports Australia will deploy more troops to the Middle East.

The speech, which reasserts Australia’s agency to act on foreign policy issues, comes amid reports Australia will not take up a US request to send a warship to join a dangerous Red Sea mission in a bid to safeguard commercial trading routes after container ships and oil tankers were targeted by Houthi forces.

“(The) anchoring of Australian strategic policy in our region has been a core tenet of Labor defence and foreign policy,” Mr Albanese said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese addressed the Lowy Institute on Tuesday night, outlining Australia’s foreign policy goals and agenda. Picture: NCA NewsWire/ Sam Ruttyn

He offered a list of times Labor governments had expressed its own agency and occurrences where the Asia-Pacific region had been prioritised.

“John Curtin’s decision to recall Australian forces from the Middle East for combat against Japan in New Guinea is widely held to represent the beginning of Australia setting our own foreign policy,” Mr Albanese said.

“It also represents the first anchoring of Australian strategic policy in Asia and the Pacific.

“When Curtin spoke of ‘the Battle for Australia’, he made it clear that we had to fight to secure our continent and our home.”

He said Australia had emerged as a middle power with a valuable role in the region.

“More than any part of the world, Asia is where Australia’s economic destiny lies,” he said.

Speaking more broadly, he said Labor’s approach to foreign policy and national security had “been defined by a complementary focus on investing in our capabilities and investing in our relationships … our deterrence and our diplomacy”.

“This reflects our recognition of Australia’s interests, but it also speaks for our belief in Australia’s agency. The role we can play in our region, where … stability must always be secured by collective responsibility,” he said.

“This is the contribution Australia can make as a middle power in the Indo-Pacific.”

Mr Albanese has met with Chinese President Xi Jinping multiple times since assuming power. Picture: Twitter

He said fostering better relationships with Indonesia and India were priorities, as was supporting smaller Pacific nations.

Mr Albanese said the government was “clear eyed” but had used a sense of “calm and consistency” to stabilise the relationship with China.

“It is always important to make the point that China’s extraordinary and unparalleled economic achievements have been made possible by our region’s commitment to peace, freedom of navigation and respect for sovereignty,” he said.

“This is where our government’s patient, calibrated and deliberate approach to managing this relationship is so important.”

Looking ahead, he said the government was investing in Australia’s “ability to shape the future”.

“To re-anchor ourselves as an economic, security and development partner of choice in the region,” he said.

“To use our status as an influential middle power to help secure the peace and security that underpins our prosperity.”

He used the speech to double down on his calls for a ceasefire in the Middle East. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

Mr Albanese used his speech to double down on calls for a ceasefire and reiterate that despite wanting a two-state solution, Hamas could have no role in that.

He lauded last month’s brief humanitarian pause and said Australia wanted to see it “resumed”.

“And we support urgent international efforts towards a sustainable ceasefire,” he said.

Australia last week voted at the United Nations for a ceasefire. The UK abstained while the US voted against the move.

Mr Albanese reiterated that “Hamas is the enemy, not the Palestinian people”.

“There can be no role for Hamas in the future governance of Gaza – and Gaza must not be used as a future platform for terrorism,” he said.

“None of us should abandon hope in the ultimate goal: a two-state solution, with Israelis and Palestinians living securely and prosperously within internationally recognised borders.”

Originally published as Anthony Albanese makes Lowy Institute address outlining Australia’s ‘place in the world’