QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Mr ALBANESE (Grayndler—Prime Minister) (14:01): I thank the Leader of the Opposition. Indeed it was an absolute pleasure to welcome the Prime Minister of Solomon Islands, Matthew Wale, and his ministers to our nation's capital. I ask everyone to give them a welcome.

Honourable members: Hear, hear! Mr ALBANESE: Our nation is very honoured that the Prime Minister has chosen Australia for his first overseas visit since taking office about two weeks ago. That decision reflects the history and the deep bonds of cooperation that have linked our two nations and our two peoples over decades.

As Prime Minister Wale said earlier today, the resilience of our relationship is self-evident. It certainly is. At the request of Solomon Islands, our two nations will commence negotiations on a new, comprehensive treaty underpinned by mutual trust, respect and open dialogue.

This new treaty will help us confront global and regional challenges together as equal partners in the pursuit of peace across the Blue Pacific that we proudly share. Australia warmly welcomes Solomon Islands' signature to the Pacific Policing Initiative. The Prime Minister will visit the Pinkenba facility tomorrow and just see the work that the Australian Federal Police are doing, along with their police counterparts throughout the Pacific, on getting that common culture in policing throughout the Pacific, making the security of all of our nations in the Pacific family that much stronger.

This is also about building our regional security. Australia and Solomon Islands, like so many in our Pacific family, recognise that peace and security in the Pacific must come from within the Pacific. That is a key distinction.

I welcome the comments of the Prime Minister today in our one-on-one dialogue and our meeting with senior cabinet ministers. He'll meet the Leader of the Opposition later this afternoon and members of his team. This is a very significant visit for Australia, indeed one of the most significant that we have had during my time as Prime Minister—that we could possibly have—because the Solomons are, of course, very close neighbours to us.

We know there have been pressures on Solomon Islands and there have been bumps in the road. But this is an absolutely important journey that Prime Minister Wale and I have embarked upon today. He will be an honoured guest.

Jodie and I will host Prime Minister Wale and Madam Wale this evening at the Lodge to further cement the personal relationship that we have. At a time of global disruption, respectful engagement between equal partners looking to solve shared challenges and seize shared opportunities is more important than ever in education, in security, in tackling climate change, in economic resilience and in economic development, because it's through these relationships based in mutual trust, respect and dialogue that we will build and strengthen our shared future as members of the Pacific family and bring security and opportunity to our peoples.

I thank Prime Minister Wale for the invitation that I have, and I'm hoping to visit the Solomon Islands to reciprocate in a month's time. I look forward to us continuing to work together on this treaty, which will be very much in the interests of both of our nations.