Anthony Albanese has expressed serious concerns for Australia’s looming summer during high-level climate talks with leaders in the US.
The Prime Minister met with both Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin on the sidelines of the APEC summit on Thursday.
In an “informal chat” with Mr Trudeau, both leaders discussed joint efforts to address climate change in the wake of the country’s devastating wildfires.
“I’m very proud that Australians were there once again to help Canada, just as Canadians have been in Australia. We are very worried about our upcoming summer,” Mr Albanese said.
“We have all the conditions that were there prior to 2019-20. And indeed, the fact that that period has gone means you’ve got the growth that’s just about the right size, elements, conditions to really be concerned with a very dry, hot period coming up for us.”
Canada has had a record-breaking fire season in 2023, with 65000 fires recorded across the nation’s 13 provinces and territories since March.
Earlier, Mr Albanese held his first meeting with Mr Thavisin since the leader’s election in August.
Mr Albanese said both Thailand and Australia had a lot of progress to work through under Australia’s Southeast Asia Economic Strategy to 2040, which was launched in Jakarta in September.
Thailand is Australia’s third largest trading partner in Southeast Asia, with two-way trade worth more than $24.6bn in 2021-22.
“Australia and Thailand have a great friendship and we are working on our strategic partnership that we have in place between our two great countries,” Mr Albanese said.
“There’s a large diaspora in Australia with the Thai community. It’s very big and a community that’s involved in businesses, involved in commerce and spread right around the entire nation.”
Mr Albanese signalled a further strengthening of economic ties and said the new agreement was “pointing towards how our complementary economies can work to create jobs in both of our jurisdictions.”
He is expected to give a speech later on Friday afternoon discussing climate change and broadening Australia’s trading relationships.
This comes after Mr Albanese faced widespread backlash for his trip to the summit in San Francisco, as it was his fourth overseas trip in one month.