Prime Minister
SPEAKER PELOSI: Good morning everyone. As House Speaker it is my official honour and personal privilege to welcome Prime Minister Scott Morrison of Australia to the United States Capitol. Mr Prime Minister, it is a privilege to meet with you today, for the first time, but at a time as this month our nations celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Australia New Zealand United States Security Treaty, and now, as we look to the future, the United States remains committed to continuing strengthening our security partnership. And we will hear more from you about the Australia, UK, US trilateral agreement, pretty exciting. I look forward to discussing [with] all of our members. We have a bipartisan meeting after we leave here to discuss how we can work together on critical priorities. Of course, climate change – and thank you for your leadership in that regard – the COVID crisis, which is still with us – and we can learn from each other about that – tackling again so many things in terms of cooperation on security, but also strengthening our relationship with regard to trade and commerce. So, with a lot to discuss it’s a perfect time for us to receive you here and we look forward to that discussion, Mr Prime Minister.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, thank you very much, Madam Speaker. It is a great privilege to be meeting with you today and to be here at Capitol Hill. There are few places around the world that echo democracy and freedom like Capitol Hill. And the relationship that we have between Australia and the United States is a broad and it is a deep one. It is one that stretches across all the arms of government. And the ANZUS Treaty, which we mark the anniversary of, the 70th anniversary, is an agreement not just with the executive government of course, but with the Parliament, with the Congress, the Senate, and we understand that relationship is absolutely critical to the success of our partnership between Australia and the United States. And now, as we go into a new period of the relationship under AUKUS, on the way up, as we were walking up the stairs, I saw the statue of Winston Churchill, and talking about freedom and his passion for freedom, and between Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom, that is something we share a great passion for – a world order that favours freedom. And that’s what our partnership has always been about. And so I am looking forward to having the discussions about how we’re going to progress that new era of our partnership. And the House, of course, the Congress and the Senate, will play a key role in ensuring that the responsibilities that we are seeking to take on, of which your [inaudible] is a steward, and we are seeking to be a steward, and so I am keen to be able to provide those assurances today, as we work together to implement this very fine partnership between the greatest of friends, the securest of relationships, and we will continue to work together in the cause of democracy and freedom.
SPEAKER PELOSI: Thank you, Mr Prime Minister.