Climate alliance strengthens Australia-us ties
Anthony Albanese and Joe Biden have struck a landmark deal to bolster the Australia-us alliance, making co-operation on the clean energy revolution its third pillar along with our defence and economic ties.
The climate pact will fuse our resources to develop solar, wind and storage technology, co-ordinate the supply of critical minerals, develop new types of batteries, and support emerging hydrogen markets.
The Prime Minister and the President also announced Australia would be added as a domestic source in the US defence industrial base, opening up major opportunities to manufacture critical military equipment, as well as plans for a new American space station Down Under to support moon missions and a joint council to combat child sexual exploitation.
The pair met in Japan on the sidelines of the G7 summit after Mr Biden was forced to scrap his trip to Australia this week to return to the US to avert a looming financial crisis.
The President apologised to Mr Albanese as well as the other Quad leaders, who also met on Saturday night instead of at the planned Sydney Opera House summit, which
Mr Albanese had promised would be the biggest diplomatic event here in a decade.
They agreed the next Quad summit would be held in India next year, meaning Australia has missed its chance to host the leaders before next year’s US presidential election.
Mr Albanese told Mr Biden he hoped he would still visit “sometime in the future”.
The President praised the Prime Minister as a “great partner” and said he was looking forward to hosting Mr Albanese in Washington DC for a state visit within the next six months.
Mr Albanese said he was “saddened” Mr Biden had postponed his trip but he could “certainly understand the circumstances”.
The climate deal was a key priority pursued by Mr Albanese after he was elected a year