The White House

1. HOME
2. BRIEFING ROOM
3. STATEMENTS AND RELEASES

We, President Biden and Prime Minister Albanese, inaugurated a new era of U.S.-Australia strategic cooperation during the Prime Minister’s Official Visit and State Dinner in Washington, D.C., today.  

Our nations are inseparably linked by our common democratic values and the three pillars of our alliance: defense, economic, and climate and clean energy cooperation. As our alliance cooperation reaches new heights, we are expanding our partnership into new domains to reflect the evolution of our relationship and the growing complexity of global and regional challenges. At the core of our cooperation is a shared commitment to a peaceful, open, stable, and prosperous Indo-Pacific. We reaffirm our commitment to work with Indo-Pacific partners and institutions to respond to shared challenges and ensure a region that is thriving, connected, resilient, and secure. These commitments are based on respect for international law, including as it pertains to the protection and promotion of human rights, and the sovereignty and territorial integrity of states.

Today we announce the pursuit of new areas of cooperation on science and critical and emerging technologies so that we can build an “Innovation Alliance.” These initiatives will augment and complement our robust economic cooperation and trade; our foundational security and defense ties; our newly inaugurated cooperation on climate, critical minerals, and clean energy; and our enduring people-to-people connections.   

Steadfast in these values, we condemn in the strongest possible terms Hamas’ heinous terrorist attack on Israel. The terrorist actions of Hamas can have no justification, no legitimacy, and must be universally condemned. We call for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. Hamas offers nothing but terror and bloodshed. It does not represent the Palestinian people, nor their legitimate needs and aspirations.

Our countries will support Israel as it defends itself and its people against such atrocities. We affirm Israel’s inherent right to defend itself. In doing so, in line with the values we share as democracies, we call on all parties to act consistent with the principles of international law and to protect civilians as an utmost priority. We are concerned at the humanitarian situation in Gaza and call on all actors to ensure the provision of humanitarian supplies to populations in need.

Our two countries support equal measures of dignity, freedom, and self-determination for Israelis and Palestinians alike and we mourn every civilian life lost in this conflict. We continue to support Palestinian aspirations for a state of their own and consider a two-state solution as the best avenue towards a lasting peace.  

Promoting Advanced Technology and Space Cooperation

We welcome the announcement of a $3 billion investment in Australia by Microsoft, which will expand the company’s data center and Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure in Australia over the next two years, train more than 300,000 Australians with the skills required for a cloud and AI-enabled economy, and create the Microsoft-Australian Signals Directorate Cyber Shield to harden Australia from cyber-threats to individuals, businesses, and governments. We also welcome the close partnership between the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) and Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), including bilateral cooperation through the NSF’s Global Centers initiative with up to $16.3 million for climate and clean energy research, and an AI partnership supported by a combined $6.2 million in grants to drive ground-breaking research. Additionally, the development of a Memorandum of Understanding between Los Alamos National Laboratory and the Australian National University intends to strengthen cooperation in research and education between the United States and Australia.

Our focus on innovation also extends to space, where we look forward to tomorrow’s signing of a space Technology Safeguards Agreement that creates the potential for new space-related commercial opportunities while providing the legal and technical framework to protect sensitive U.S. space launch technology and data in Australia consistent with our shared non-proliferation goals. We also welcome progress in negotiations of a bilateral space framework agreement, and encourage further joint commercial investment across all sectors, including space situational awareness and commercial space stations.

Building Clean Energy Supply Chains and Addressing the Climate Crisis

In May, we launched the historic Australia-United States Climate, Critical Minerals, and Clean Energy Transformation Compact (the Compact), which affirmed our shared determination to make climate and clean energy cooperation the third pillar of our alliance and counter the threat to global security and prosperity posed by climate change. We recognize that achieving the goals of the Paris Agreement will require rapid deployment of clean energy and decarbonization technologies, and increased electrification in our countries this decade, alongside the phasedown of unabated coal power.

Under the Compact, we convened the ministerial-level United States-Australia Clean Energy Dialogue between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Australia’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water. As part of our enhanced cooperation, we plan to collaborate on clean energy supply chains with the intent to leverage our comparative advantages and sovereign capabilities, beginning with a battery supply chain working group to explore the deepening of both countries’ manufacturing capability and work on battery technology research and development. We also announced our intention for a Memorandum of Understanding between the U.S. DOE Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations and Australian entities. Australia and the U.S. DOE intend to establish the Australia-United States Clean Energy Industry Council, which will draw on the expertise of business and public finance leaders to advise our governments on clean energy industry development and cooperation.   

Recognizing that climate change poses the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security, and wellbeing of people and ecosystems in the Indo-Pacific, we announce today that the United States and Australia are working to jointly develop an Indo-Pacific Net-Zero Transition bond series to mobilize funding for small-medium sized enterprises with a focus on clean energy transition.

The United States and Australia intend to work to enhance access to the resources of the Green Climate Fund, and other relevant multilateral funds, especially for those most vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, including least developed countries (LDCs) and small island developing states (SIDS). This effort will be advanced, including through targeted bilateral technical assistance from USAID to LDCs and SIDS, and in coordination with DFAT’s program of support to Pacific Island countries