This week in Australian foreign affairs: King Charles announces plan to visit Australia; Albanese responds to attempt on Donald Trump’s life; Marles joins new Defence Minister in UK; Commemoration of 10 years since downing of MH17; Wong announces new Indo-Pacific Braodcasting Strategy, and more.

On 15 July, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced that Australians would welcome King Charles III and Queen Camilla to Australia in October this year. The King and Queen will travel to the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales, making the trip number 16 in official visits. However. this will be the King’s first visit to Australia as Sovereign.

Also on the 15 July, Albanese responded to the attempt on former United States President Donald Trump in an opinion piece for the Australian. Albanese wished Trump and his family well and offered condolences for the loss of an audience member. He went on to call the event an “inexcusable attack on the democratic values Australians and Americans share and the freedoms we treasure.” The article continued, “debate in any democracy needs to be robust. At times, even full-throated. But it needs to be constructive, it needs to be respectful and it needs to be peaceful. In challenging times, political leaders need to be careful custodians of core democratic values. We need to give citizens faith in our institutions and processes, and faith that our politics is capable of building opportunity for people. Faith that we are capable of bringing the temperature down – and of bringing people together.” Albanese also called on Australians to “exercise caution when reading unverified reports of the events, and to seek out credible news sources. Social media platforms can be instantaneous distributors of rumours, innuendo, and weaponised mistruth.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles has been in the United Kingdom this week. In opening remarks on 14 July with UK Secretary of State for Defence John Healey, Marles congratulated the new government and defence secretary on their recent electoral success, noting further that Australia’s “relationship with the United Kingdom today is as important as it has ever been.” Marles stated that Australia looked forward to working with the new government, particularly on addressing AUKUS, as well as issues such as Ukraine. He also noted that the Albanese government was excited about the UK government’s “growing role in the Indo-Pacific.”

Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong announced on 17 July she will travel to Japan to represent Australia at the 10th Japan-Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM10). “The meeting in Tokyo is an opportunity for the Pacific family to discuss regional challenges and Pacific priorities with Japan.” Wong remarked that “Australia and Japan are working together to deliver on Pacific priorities such as climate resilience, infrastructure, health, and digital connectivity,” noting further that the two nations “share the Pacific’s vision for a region that is peaceful, stable and prosperous and where sovereignty is respected.”

Also on 17 July, Wong joined Attorney General Mark Dreyfus to mark “10 years since the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight MH17 and the tragic loss of 298 lives, including 38 people who called Australia home.” The statement acknowledged “the courage and resilience shown by those who responded to the disaster,” including the “Australian Federal Police, Defence Force and Australian Transport Safety Bureau personnel whose work was central to the thorough and painstaking investigation.” According to the statement, “Australia remains steadfast in our commitment to seeking truth, justice and accountability from those responsible for this horrific act of violence.” Wong hosted a memorial “service with victims’ families, along with first responders, investigators and officials, at Parliament House in Canberra.” Next week, Dreyfus “will attend an event in the Netherlands hosted by the MH17 Air Disaster (Next of Kin) Foundation with representatives from victims’ families and loved ones.”

Wong joined Minister for Communications Michelle Rowland and Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy on 13 July to announce the Albanese Government’s new Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy, which will increase access to trusted and reliable news, deliver quality content and foster engagement across the region. According to the announcement, “the Strategy provides a framework to help foster a vibrant and independent media sector, counter misinformation, present modern multicultural Australia, and support deeper people-to-people engagement.” The framework includes three key areas: “Support the creation and distribution of compelling Australian content that engages audiences and demonstrates Australia’s commitment to the region; Enhance access in the region to trusted sources of media, including news and current affairs; [and] Strengthen regional media capacity and capability and boost connections between Australian-based and Indo-Pacific media and content creators.” The strategy will “help media organisations in the Pacific, Southeast Asia and South Asia  provide quality media services” through the Indo-Pacific Media Fund. The Albanese government will invest 40.5 million over five years in the ABC to “create new content, improve digital engagement, increase ongoing support for media partners in the Pacific, Southeast Asia and South Asia, and expand Radio Australia’s FM footprint across the Pacific.”

On 15 July, Conroy announced a new government partnership to energise remote communities across the Pacific and Timor Leste. This will include the delivery of “off-grid renewable energy to rural and remote communities across Papua New Guinea, Timor-Leste and Vanuatu.” According to the statement, the Off-Grid Renewable Energy Partnerships will seek to capitalise on the expertise and technology of businesses, academia and NGOs to address climate change risks and impacts in the region. The new partnerships include: “Caritas Australia, Catholic Church Health Services and the Australian Government to improve the energy infrastructure of two essential healthcare services in remote Aitape, Papua New Guinea; MEA Power Up, Master Electricians Australia and the Australian Government to enhance four critical health infrastructure sites in Timor-Leste’s Cova-Lima Province, including two medical clinics and two water pumping sites, which will benefit from new solar energy systems; [and] University of New South Wales, Vanuatu Disability Promotion Advocacy Association, Vanuatu Institute of Technology, Vanuatu Department of Energy and the Australian Government to harness the circular economy to tackle the growing environmental issue of e-waste from solar energy systems.”

Dr Adam Bartley is the managing editor for AIIA’s Australian Outlook and weekly columnist for The Week in Australian Foreign Affairs. He is a former Fulbright Scholar and resident fellow at the Elliot School for International Affairs, the George Washington University. Adam also has positions as post-doctoral fellow at the Centre for Cyber Security Research and Innovation RMIT University  and as program manager of the AI Trilateral Experts Group. He can be found on Twitter here.

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