This week in Australian foreign affairs: Albanese in the United States for the 2024 Quad Leaders’ Summit; the Quad Cancer Moonshot initiative; Marles visits Norway and UK; joint statement on AUKUS Defence Ministers Meeting; Wong in New York for UNGA meeting, and more.

On 21 September, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with President Joe Biden ahead of the Quad Leaders Summit in Delaware, United States. The leaders discussed the Australia-United States alliance and “depth of cooperation across defence and security, economic ties and climate and clean energy.” Other topics included modernising the alliance with a focus on vital interests around clean energy, critical minerals, and addressing climate change. Additionally, the two discussed the AUKUS agreement, reaffirming their commitment to the partnership.

Albanese joined his counterparts on 21 September in a joint statement of the Quad Summit leaders meeting. The “Wilmington declaration” focused on health security, Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief, maritime security, quality infrastructure, critical and emerging technologies, climate and clean energy, cyber, space, the Quad Investor’s Network, people-to-people initiatives, and a broader “Working Together to Address Regional and Global Issues.” The announcement finished with a statement looking forward to “the next Quad Leaders’ Summit hosted by India in 2025. The Quad is here to stay.”

Also on 21 September at the Quad Leaders Summit, Albanese joined the leaders from the United States, India and Japan to launch the Quad Cancer Moonshot initiative, with the aim of saving lives and preventing cervical cancer in the Indo-Pacific. According to the statement, “Australia is on track to be the first country in the world to eliminate cervical cancer.” The ground-breaking “human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to prevent cervical cancer was invented and developed at the University of Queensland by Australian of the Year Professor Ian Frazer.” Accordingly, “Australia will contribute to the Quad Cancer Moonshot initiative by expanding our Elimination Partnership in the Indo-Pacific for Cervical Cancer Program.” The partnership aims to help more “governments get HPV vaccine programs up and running in Papua New Guinea, Malaysia, Timor-Leste, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Tuvalu, Fiji, Nauru and beyond. The Australian Government will contribute $16.5 million to this partnership, with Andrew and Nicola Forrest’s Minderoo Foundation providing an additional $13.1 million.”

This week, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles visited Norway and the United Kingdom. The announcement on 24 September stated that Marles will meet with his counterparts and participate in the third AUKUS Defence Ministers’ Meeting. The “visit to Norway follows the Albanese Government’s recent announcements with Kongsberg which include a $850 million contract to manufacture and service missiles in Newcastle and the announcement earlier this month of a $142 million contract to deliver the Joint Strike Missile (JSM) for use by the Australian Defence Force.”

On 26 September, Marles released a statement in a joint press conference following the AUKUS Defence Ministers Meeting. The focus of the meeting was on some of the challenges “in respect of the human dimension, making sure that we are training enough submariners to operate… [nuclear-powered] submarines in the future.” According to the statement, there are currently “Australian submariners at the Nuclear Power School in the United States,” as well as those “being trained here in the United Kingdom, operating on Astute class submarines, operating on Virginia class submarines. We have Australian defence industry workers from ASC who are right now gaining skills working in Pearl Harbor and the numbers in each of those areas stand to increase.” Additionally, “Australia is funding 4,000 additional university places across our university system in AUKUS disciplines to make sure that we are building the skills that are needed to deliver this project.” The ministers also discussed AUKUS Pillar II, noting “significant developments.” One example was work being conducted “on developing classified advanced algorithms for the use of AI in terms of processing the vast amounts of data which are picked up by our sonar buoys, which collectively will greatly enhance our decision making advantage in the undersea domain.”

Also this week, Minister for Foreign Affairs Penny Wong has been in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. In a media release on the 22 September, Wong announced she will lead Australia’s delegation to the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly. The statement noted that Australia will be using this week to press for all countries to uphold common laws and norms, “including the adherence to the international humanitarian law and the protection of civilians and aid workers.” Wong will also meet with stakeholders about the “conflict in the Middle East and advancing a two-state solution.”

On 23 September, Wong issued a joint statement with the members from Jordan, Switzerland, Indonesia, Sierra Leone, the United Kingdom, Japan, Brazil and Colombia to announce the formation of a “Ministerial Group for the Protection of Humanitarian Personnel, dedicated to upholding and championing international humanitarian law and driving action to protect humanitarian personnel in conflict zones.” According to the statement, “2023 was the deadliest year on record for humanitarian personnel, with 280 killed and hundreds more wounded and kidnapped. 2024 is on track to be even worse.” In forming the Ministerial Group, the partners “rededicate ourselves to the protection of humanitarian personnel. We stand together, seizing the momentum created by the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2730 in May 2024, to strengthen international commitment and translate it into action, to reverse current trends.”

The Albanese government has announced additional humanitarian assistance for Gaza and the West Bank. In a joint media release with Minister for International Development and the Pacific Pat Conroy on 23 September, Wong announced that Australia will provide an additional $10 million in response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the West Bank. “The funding will be directed to UNICEF and UNFPA and will provide lifesaving assistance, with a focus on women and girls, including the delivery of nutrition support, as well as hygiene and dignity kits.” Australia “has committed AUD$82.5 million in humanitarian assistance to address essential needs in Gaza and the West Bank and respond to the protracted refugee crisis in the region.”

Meanwhile, on 26 September, Wong announced that Australia will join Germany, Canada and the Netherlands to take unprecedented action to hold Afghanistan to account under international law for the Taliban’s treatment of women and girls. “This action is being brought against Afghanistan for violations of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, to which Afghanistan is a party.” The parties “urge Afghanistan to participate in negotiations, as provided for under the Convention.” According to the statement, “the Taliban has demonstrated contempt for the human rights and fundamental freedoms of women and girls in Afghanistan, through a campaign of sustained and systematic oppression. This includes denying girls their right to education and attempting to erase women from public life.”

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 non-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.

This article is published under a Creative Commons License and may be republished with attribution.