
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese looks to strengthen tourism ties with China during tour of Shanghai
The three-city tour — Beijing, Shanghai and Chengdu — has been cast as part of a wider reset on trade ties with China but comes as the Prime Minister is under pressure over his failure to first meet the US President to argue the case for a tariff carve-out and to Donald Trump's public commitment to the $368 billion trilateral AUKUS defence deal.
While he hasn't been able to secure a face-to-face meeting with Mr Trump, Mr Albanese is expected to receive a red carpet reception when he meets Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang.
The Prime Minister on Friday talked up his Government's efforts to restore the relationship after it took a hit under the Morrison government, saying key commodities previously iced out - like barley, live rock lobster, wine and beef - were now surging ahead.
Mr Albanese will be joined on his China trip — his second visit as Prime Minister — by a Business Council of Australia delegation of corporate leaders from the banking, mining and metals industries and higher education.
Among the executives joining the Prime Minister are Fortescue's Andrew Forrest, BHP's Geraldine Slattery, HSBC chief Antony Shaw, Rio Tinto's Kellie Parker and the vice-chancellors of Monash and UNSW universities professors Sharon Pickering and Attila Brungs
Fortescue executive chairman Andrew Forrest said the Prime Minister's visit could not come at a more critical time for Australia's future.
'To put it bluntly: if Australia and China provide the leadership, then – given the immense industrial platforms that exist in both nations - Australia could build its largest-ever industry in green iron, and China its largest in green steel,' he said.
'The economic benefits would be profound for both countries: tens of thousands of new jobs, an upskilled workforce, and a solution to one of the world's biggest climate threats - the global steel industry.'
ANZ's International managing director Simon Ireland is also attending and stressed the importance of China as Australia's largest export market and a gateway to broader trade and investment across Asia.
'For ANZ, a bank that facilitates the movement of goods and capital across borders, China is a strategic partner,' he said.
Rio Tinto Australia chief Kellie Parker said the miner worked closely with their Chinese customers and labelled the trip as a 'valuable opportunity to deepen collaboration'.
The six-day tour will include a visit to Trip.com headquarters, a travel behemoth that hosts platforms Skyscanner, Qunar and MakeMyTrip, which all have partnerships with several Australian tourism bodies and businesses.
Mainland Chinese visitors spent $9.2 billion in Australia in the year to March 2025, cementing its status as the nation's most valuable tourism market.
The 860,000 trips made by Chinese tourists over that period accounted for about a quarter of all international visitor spending in the country.
The surge marks a sharp rebound, with visitation up 26 per cent and spending up 28 per cent compared to the previous 12 months.
'Australia's economic relationship with China is important, but so are the community links that underpin it and help build on it,' Mr Albanese said.
'Whether that's our vibrant Australian-Chinese community, Australian footballers in Shanghai or Chinese tourists in Sydney.'
He will also meet senior representatives from the Shanghai Port Football Club, including former Socceroo Kevin Muscat.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


West Australian
15 minutes ago
- West Australian
Michelle Grattan: Sussan Ley must fill net zero void if Coalition scraps 2050 target
There's no other way of looking at it: Sussan Ley faces a diabolical situation with the debate over whether the Coalition should abandon the 2050 net zero emissions target. The issue is a microcosm of her wider problems. The Nationals, the minor party in the Coalition, are determined to run their own race on most things. The Liberals have become akin to two parties, split between those eyeing urban seats and younger voters, and right-wingers reflecting the party's conservative grassroots. Nobody misses the contrast. The Albanese Government is beset by a host of actual issues around the transition to a clean energy economy. The renewables roll-out is not going as fast as desirable and is meeting with resistance in some communities. Energy costs are high. But such problems are not putting any pressure on Labor's unity. At the same time, the Opposition is fractured over an argument about a target that's a quarter of a century away, when who knows what the technological or political landscape will look like. For the Opposition, the internal debate about net zero is about symbols and signals, rather than substance. The net zero debate exploded within the Opposition this week with Barnaby Joyce's private member's Bill to scrap Australia's commitment to it. The timing, in Parliament's first week, was extraordinarily inconvenient for Ley. But if not now, it would have erupted later. On present indications, the Nationals appear likely to ditch the net zero commitment. David Littleproud, anxious to avoid the issuebecoming a threat to his leadership, is reading the party room and positioning himself to be in the anticipated majority. Asked on Thursday whether he supported net zero, Littleproud told the ABC, 'well, I have real concerns about it, to be candid. What net zero has become is about trying to achieve the impossible, rather than doing what's sensible.' But, he insisted, 'we're not climate deniers'. It is less clear how the debate will pan out in the Liberal Party, once the group under shadow energy minister Dan Tehan produces itsreport on energy and emissions-reduction policy. Liberal sources say the issue is now being driven by the party's grassroots, rather than the parliamentary party. Branches are throwingup motions to get rid of the 2050 target. The WA Liberal State council will debate a motion this weekend to drop the net zero commitment. The Queensland LNP organisation will consider its position next month. A few weeks ago, the South Australian Liberal State council rejected net zero. With a policy review underway, Ley and the parliamentary Liberals have left a vacuum on the issue. Some Liberals warn the parliamentarians risk being run over by the party outside Parliament. Others point out that on policy, the parliamentarians are independent of the organisation, which often comes up with right-wing motions. How should Ley best handle the situation? By filling the vacuum with a position sooner rather than later. That means accelerating the Tehan report. Beyond that, ideally she should be taking leadership on the issue herself. But is she in a strong enough position to do that? One idea being floated would be for the Liberals to retain the net zero target but extend the time frame. This wouldn't stop thecriticism about the shift. Whether the Coalition could stay as one if its two parties had different positions on net zero may be an open question but itcertainly would be messy. On the other side of politics, the Government is rapidly approaching a decision on another key target — the one Australia will put upinternationally for cutting emissions by 2035. Inevitably, this will be contentious. This target must be submitted by September. Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen has yet to receive advice on the target from the Climate Change Authority. The target is expected to be between 65 per cent and 75 per challenge will be to strike a target with sufficient ambition that doesn't alienate business and the regions. Next week the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, Simon Stiell, will be in Canberra for talks. His comments will be carefully watched. Last year he told the Sydney Morning Herald, 'the world needs countries like Australia to take climate action and ambition to the next level'. Climate and energy issues will have a place at next month's economic reform roundtable. Bowen is organising two preliminary roundtables — on electricity, with energy user stakeholders, and on climate adaptation. He told The Conversation's podcast that adaptation will 'be an increasing focus of this Government and future governments because, tragically, the world has left it too late to avoid the impacts of climate change'. The Government is waiting, somewhat impatiently, for the decision on whether Australia will be given the nod to host next year's UN climate conference. The COP meeting, which would be in Adelaide in November 2026, is an enormous event to put on, so the decision is becoming urgent. Bowen says Australia already has the numbers over Turkey, the other contender. But 'one of the things about the process to decide COPs, I've learnt, is it's quite opaque and there's no particular timeline and no particular rules to the ballot. 'It's meant to work on a consensus, (a) gentlemanly sort of approach to say whoever loses will withdraw. That's not the way it's panning out. I've had multiple meetings with my Turkish counterpart to try to find a 'win-win' solution. We haven't been able to find that yet.' Stiell's trip includes Turkey as well as Australia. Bowen will hope he may provide some clarity, when they meet, about how the 'opaque' process of assigning the COP meeting is going. Bowen will be emphasising how important the proposed co-hosting COP with the Pacific is to the region, with climate change already an existential issue for many Pacific countries.


Perth Now
15 minutes ago
- Perth Now
REVEALED: The surprising WA suburb to spend the most online
Cost of living pressures? Not in Mandurah… residents of the 6210 postcode spent the most online in WA and were one of the top spenders in the country during the end-of-financial-year online shopping boom. Australians spent $19.2 billion online in the last quarter as the anticipation of interest rate cuts and easing inflation sparked a surge in end-of-financial-year shopping, according to Australia Post's latest Quarterly eCommerce Report. The top shopping suburbs in WA were Mandurah, Success and Wanneroo. Mandurah was in the top five locations for online shopping Australia-wide. From April to June this year, there was a 15 per cent increase in online spending with 7.9 million Australian households shopping online. Australians spent $4.2 billion through online marketplaces, food and liquor attracted $3.9 billion in online spending, followed by $2.7 billion spent on fashion. Millennials contributed $6.9 billion to online shopping, and appeared to have the most discretionary spending of any generation, followed by Gen X ($5.3 billion) and Gen Z ($3.4 billion). Gen Z saw the biggest increase of any generation, seeing a 16% growth since last year. Toowoomba (QLD), Mackay (QLD), Bundaberg (QLD), Point Cook (VIC), and Mandurah (WA) shopped the most online. Australia Post general manager Chelsea O'Reilly said consumer behaviour has shifted when it comes to how they shop online. 'With inflation cooling and consumer confidence returning, we're seeing more Australians shop online, with higher expectations,' she said. 'Shoppers are spending more, but they're also expecting more in the way of speed, convenience and value. 'Retailers that put the customer experience first, through faster delivery and more flexible options will stand out in an increasingly competitive landscape'. To learn more about online shopping trends and consumer insights, visit:


Perth Now
an hour ago
- Perth Now
Australia, UK to ink 50-year deal to underpin AUKUS
Australia and the UK will ink a 50-year deal to underpin delivery of the AUKUS nuclear submarine agreement, amid concerns about a US review of the trilateral pact. AUKUS, formed in 2021 between Australia, the UK and US to address shared concerns about China's rising military ambition, is designed to enable Australia to acquire nuclear-powered attack submarines in the 2040s. But doubts have been raised about the future of the $368 billion program after the Trump administration this year initiated a review of the deal to examine if it met its "American First" criteria. Defence Minister Richard Marles said he remained confident about the future of US involvement on the eve of Australia and the UK signing a multi-decade bilateral deal cementing their commitment. "It is a profoundly important treaty that we will sign," Mr Marles said on Friday alongside Foreign Minister Penny Wong and their British counterparts John Healey and David Lammy. "It forms part of a trilateral agreement that we have and we are really confident about the progress of all three countries in bringing that to fruition." The treaty, to be signed in Geelong on Saturday, would allow "comprehensive co-operation" on the design, build, operation, sustainment, and disposal of AUKUS submarines, the ministers said in a joint statement. It will also support development of personnel, workforce, infrastructure and regulatory systems for Australia's nuclear-powered submarine program, the statement said. Mr Lammy said the treaty showed the strength of Australia and the UK's commitment to AUKUS. "It's clear that the UK-Australia relationship is an anchor in what is a very volatile world, providing stability in troubled waters and a relationship that holds steady whichever way the geopolitical winds are blowing," he said. Mr Healey said the UK was confident it could meet its obligations under the deal on industrial capacity to deliver SSN-AUKUS submarines. "We have the technology and the designs to be able to deliver our commitments to the SSN-AUKUS and we will," he said. Australia will pay $5 billion to support British industry to design and produce nuclear reactors to power the future AUKUS-class submarines. Australia will acquire at least three Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines from the US in the early 2030s. On Sunday, the ministers will visit Darwin to observe joint military exercises known as Talisman Sabre, which comprise more than 30,000 personnel from 19 militaries. This year, the war games involve the UK's Carrier Strike Group, led by the Royal Navy flagship HMS Prince of Wales - the first UK carrier strike group to visit Australia since 1997.