Anthony Albanese’s surprise pub visit after UN speech in New York
Anthony Albanese has made a pit stop at a pub in New York after he used his inaugural UN speech to warn the world. He also highlighted plans that directly clash with Donald Trump.
Anthony Albanese used his first national statement to the UN to trumpet Australia’s green credentials at the same lectern where Donald Trump rubbished renewable energy and slammed climate change as a “hoax” a day earlier.
Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, Mr Albanese made the case for Australia’s bid to host COP31, declared Australia’s unwavering support for Ukraine and called for countries to unite against antisemitism while defending his commitment to a two-state solution.
He told fellow world leaders that amid the rise of new powers, all UN members had a role to play in safeguarding the rights of all nations.
“For Australia, this means investing in our capabilities and investing in our relationships,” he said.
“Investing in development, in defence and in diplomacy.
“To strengthen the security of our region, to support the sovereignty of our neighbours and to contribute to the cause of peace beyond the Indo-Pacific.”
Mr Albanese called on his fellow world leaders to do more than simply “contain the threat of war”, as countries contest with “dictators” and “tyrants”.
Mr Albanese also spoke of “a world governed by rights and rules, not fear or force”.
“Where the sovereignty of every nation is respected, the essential dignity and equality of every man, woman and child upheld, and where the shared mission and purpose of the United Nations is not merely to contain the threat of war, it is to create the conditions for peace,” Mr Albanese said.
The Prime Minister also used the speech to advocate for Australia to serve another term on the UN Security Council and called for reform to the United Nations to respond to a rapidly changing global order.
“If the United Nations steps back, we all lose ground,” he said
“If we give people reason to doubt the value of cooperation, then the risk of conflict becoming the default option grows.”
The Prime Minister warned that if any nation was allowed to consider itself above the rules, every nation would be at risk.
“If we resign ourselves to the idea that war is inevitable, or relegate ourselves to the status of disinterested bystanders, if our only response to every crisis is to insist that there is nothing we can do, then we risk being trusted with nothing,” he said.
Mr Albanese said the UN could not rely on its 80-year history to justify its existence and needed to perform deeds that made a positive impact.
He said it was up to the nation states to prove the UN was not a place of good intentions and little action.
A week after announcing Australia’s target to reduce emissions by 62 to 70 per cent below 2005 levels, Mr Albanese outlined the plan to the UN and described the target as ambitious but achievable.
“And more than anything else, Australia’s embrace of clean energy will get us there,” he said.
“Clean energy can carry the world beyond the false choice between economic growth and environmental responsibility.”
He said clean energy would enable Indo-Pacific economics to simultaneously industrialise and decarbonise.
In explaining Australia’s decision to recognise a Palestinian state, he quoted passages from the UN charter which committed to free future generations from the scourge of war, promote better standard of life and practice tolerance and live in peace as good neighbours.
“When can those words hold meaning, if not now? Where can those words apply, if they do not apply to the Middle East? And what can we, the members of the United Nations say we stand for, if we cannot say we stand for this,” Mr Albanese said.
“There is a moment of opportunity here – let us seize it.”
Calling out the Iranian-orchestrated firebombings in Melbourne and Sydney, the Prime Minister slammed the “criminal acts of cowardice aimed at spreading fear.
“If ever we had the luxury of imagining that breaches of international law were not our concern or that conflict and turmoil in another part of the world could not affect us, those days are long gone,” he said.
“And here at the United Nations we repeat to the world, there is no place for antisemitism.”
A day after meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on the sidelines of the general assembly, the PM also reiterated Australia’s commitment to the Coalition of the Willing, and a desire for the Russia conflict to reach an end on terms Ukraine agreed to.
“And as a nation that knows security depends on sovereignty, Australia stands with the courageous people of Ukraine in their struggle against Russia’s illegal and immoral invasion,” he said.
ALBANESE’S PUB PIT STOP IN NYC
Mr Albanese was later spotted in New York at the Old Mates pub where he stopped in and met revellers.
ALBANESE SAYS TRUMP TALK WAS ‘WARM’
Earlier, he described his first face-to-face meeting with Mr Trump as “warm and engaging” after the pair posed for a selfie and a handshake in New York.
“We had a very warm and engaging chat,” Mr Albanese said.
“I tend not to broadcast private discussions but it was very warm. And we look forward to a further discussion in a few weeks’ time.”
Mr Albanese met Mr Trump for the first time in person at a cocktail party after which Mr Albanese posted a selfie of the two leaders.
“Good to chat with President Trump at US welcome reception for world leaders attending United Nations General Assembly hosted by @potus and @flotus.”
The White House confirmed the pair would formally meet in Washington next month.
PM OUTLINES CLIMATE POLICIES AT NYT CONFERENCE
On his final day in New York before departing for the United Kingdom, the Prime Minister outlined Australia’s climate policies in a speech to a UN event and addressed a New York Times climate conference.
At the UN, Mr Albanese said it was a decisive decade to address climate change and seize clean energy opportunities.
In a video message to the UN on Wednesday local time, China’s President Xi Jinping promised a targeted reduction of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions – committing a cut of seven to 10 per cent over the next decade.
It is the first time China, the world’s biggest carbon polluter, has made a reduction pledge and comes only a day after Donald Trump rubbished climate change as a “hoax”.
Xi said China would also increase its share of renewable energy sources to more than 30 per cent by 2035 and described the green energy transition as “the trend of our time”.
Speaking at The New York Times Climate Forward conference in Manhattan, Mr Albanese said China could do more but welcomed the step in the right direction.
“It’s good that there is progress being made,” he said.
“We would like there to be more.”
He said he would also like to see China commit to not open new coal-fired power stations.
The Prime Minister described action on climate change as the “entry fee to credibility and to engagement”.
“This isn’t some academic argument,” he said.
“This is a matter of an existential threat.”
It came just one day after Mr Trump used his United Nations address to lash climate change as a hoax made up by “stupid people that have cost their countries fortunes and given those same countries no chance for success”.
“If you don’t get away from this green scam, your country is going to fail,” he said.
Last week Mr Albanese unveiled ambitious plans to drastically slash Australia’s emissions to bring them 70 per cent below 2005 levels by 2035.
In his own speech at the UN climate event on Wednesday local time, Mr Albanese urged world leaders to move urgently and with a common purpose to address climate change.
“We all grasp the scale and the urgency of our task,” he said.
“We all understand the consequences of inaction: for our environment, for our economies, for our people’s way of life and for our children’s future.
“Australians know – all too well – the toll taken by extreme weather events becoming more frequent and more intense.”
Outlining Australia’s emissions targets, Mr Albanese described clean energy as “key”.
“Just as our traditional resources have helped power the extraordinary economic transformation of our region, renewables can underpin the next generation of prosperity for the growing economies of the Indo-Pacific,” he said.
“This is how we bring the world with us on climate change. Not by asking any nation to forego the jobs or security its people deserve. But by working with every nation to seize and share those opportunities.”
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