I congratulate Liz Truss on her election as Leader of the Conservative Party and as the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
A great friend to Australia and a champion of stronger ties between our nations, Liz Truss is a defender of democratic freedoms and a warrior against those who seek to undermine international rules.
Personally, I hold great regard for Liz Truss. Together, we launched negotiations for the Australia-UK Free Trade Agreement in 2019. Throughout our negotiations Liz demonstrated a commitment to an ambitious FTA that would deepen our countries cooperation, trade flows, investment, technology transfers and mobility.
As Foreign Secretary, Liz helped to deliver on the AUKUS agreement and pursued deeper defence cooperation, including the development of Australia’s shipbuilding capabilities which I had the honour of showing her first-hand at Adelaide’s Osborne shipyards earlier this year.
Boris Johnson is to be acknowledge and thanked for being a dynamic and enduring partner of Australia during his time as Prime Minister. The depth of his, along with the United States’ understanding of our shared interests in foreign policy, defence and security is clear through his involvement in the AUKUS alliance.
Australia benefits from the UK actively engaging internationally as a strong and principled partner of like mind on so many issues. I look forward to Liz Truss leading such a government.