A Downing Street spokeswoman said:
“The Prime Minister spoke to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
of Australia this morning to congratulate him on his election win
at the weekend.
“The Prime Minister told the new Australian leader that he wanted
to congratulate him fulsomely on the big moment and said he
looked forward to strengthening the UK – Australia relationship
even further.
“Prime Minister Albanese thanked the Prime Minister and noted
that the UK and Australia had a strong and historic friendship,
stemming from their close Commonwealth ties. The pair agreed that
there was more that could be done together.
“Both leaders agreed that there was strong alignment between
their Governments’ joint agendas, spanning across global
security, climate change and trade.
“Discussing AUKUS, the leaders strongly agreed on its vital
importance and the exciting opportunities it provided. The Prime
Minister said he thought the trilateral grouping could go further
together in other domains, where both countries could collaborate
for the global good.
“The pair also paid tribute to the extraordinary resistance of
the Ukrainian people in the face of ruthless Russian aggression,
and the Prime Minister thanked Australia for its principled
position and strong support to Ukraine.
“The leaders agreed that it was important that the war in Ukraine
did not embolden other countries to undermine global stability.
“The Prime Minister said that now was an important moment for
democracies to stand together and prove their worth, and it was
important that coercive autocracies were sent a message of
strength and unity.
“On trade, both leaders
agreed the Free Trade Agreement was incredibly important to both
countries going forward, as well as the UK’s accession to the
CPTPP trade bloc.
“The leaders agreed to stay
in close touch, and hoped they would be able to meet in person
soon.”
