SYDNEY — Prime Minister Mark Carney is in Australia, the place he’s set to carry his first information convention in two weeks.
The prime minister arrived in Sydney noon Tuesday native time, which was Monday night in Canada. He’s anticipated to satisfy with enterprise leaders in Sydney — a part of his authorities’s efforts to construct on already sturdy intelligence ties by means of broader collaboration in commerce and defence.
“This can be a essential relationship for Canada to proceed to construct on. It’s one which’s predicated on years of co-operation,” Defence Minister David McGuinty, who’s in Sydney with Carney, stated Tuesday.
He informed reporters Canada is constructing the connection with Australia on two tracks — a deeper financial connection and defence and safety.
McGuinty stated there’s a “new openness right here in Australia to work with Canada.”
“I might say that the prime minister’s outreach and indicating that there’s one other method for center powers to return collectively and collaborate on the economic system, on defence, on safety, is a message that resonates very strongly,” he stated.
Whereas McGuinty held a media availability shortly after arriving in Sydney, Carney final held a information convention on Feb. 17, when he introduced the brand new defence industrial technique in Montreal.
It’s uncommon for prime ministers travelling overseas to not maintain a information convention with accompanying journalists 5 days into a visit.
His silence comes as questions mount about transnational repression by India and after American strikes in Iran have set off a warfare involving a number of nations.
Carney’s workplace cancelled a Monday press convention in India following his assembly there with Prime Minister Narendra Modi. His workplace declined reporters’ requests to make him obtainable to reply questions Tuesday.
The prime minister is slated to carry a media availability in Sydney on what will probably be Wednesday morning in Australia — round 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in Ottawa’s time zone.
On Thursday, Carney will head to Canberra to handle the Australian Parliament. The prime minister will then depart for Tokyo.
Carney is about to satisfy with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who has been in energy since 2022. Each nations are Commonwealth nations and companions within the 5 Eyes intelligence-sharing alliance, together with the U.S., U.Ok. and New Zealand.
“Australia clearly is a pure companion for Canada within the Indo-Pacific,” Asia Pacific Basis vice-president Vina Nadjibulla stated in a current interview.
Each nations are commodity exporters. Nadjibulla famous that Beijing has swapped imports from one nation to the opposite throughout instances of friction — it purchased Australian canola merchandise when it restricted Canadian imports throughout a current diplomatic row.
Amongst Indo-Pacific nations, Australia has been “by far the main supply” of international direct funding in each instructions for Canada, significantly for Canadian pension funds, Nadjibulla stated.
Canberra additionally has signed on to a handful of initiatives Canada has launched to shore up crucial mineral provide chains and cut back western nations’ dependence on China. Nadjibulla stated Canada may study from an Australian initiative to stockpile sure strategically necessary crucial minerals.
On the G20 summit in South Africa final November, Carney launched a partnership on rising applied sciences with India and Australia. The three nations have supplied little info on what that work will entail.
Ottawa and Canberra signed an settlement final 12 months for Canada to purchase an Australian over-the-horizon radar system to be used within the Arctic. Nadjibulla stated each nations may construct on this by means of defence-industrial tasks bearing on cybersecurity or quantum expertise.
Australia was among the many nations Canada singled out final month in a brand new technique to spend billions on defence.
The prime minister’s go to comes as he leads a push to get the European Union into some type of partnership with the Complete and Progressive Settlement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, or CPTPP, a large Pacific Rim commerce bloc that features Australia. Canada is a member of the CPTPP and has a commerce settlement with the EU.
The concept is to sidestep the dysfunction Beijing and Washington have created on the World Commerce Group and have most different massive economies buying and selling with predictable guidelines, Nadjibulla stated.
“Within the absence of an total multilateral framework, the perfect subsequent choice is this type of smaller coalition of nations which are nonetheless excited about rules-based commerce, and excited about upholding these values,” she stated.
Whereas Australia has been grappling with the erratic insurance policies of U.S. President Donald Trump, Nadjibulla stated it’s necessary to keep in mind that Canada is way extra built-in into the American economic system by advantage of proximity.
“They’re much less uncovered to the volatility and unpredictability of Trump,” she stated. “Public opinion just isn’t as targeted on President Trump in Australia. They’re rather more targeted on nearer, regional points vis-a-vis China and the threats of China within the Indo-Pacific.”
Nadjibulla stated Canberra can be unlikely to take a powerful stand towards Washington. However she stated Australia could possibly be a information for Canada because it seeks to spice up financial and safety ties with nations in Southeast Asia, the place Ottawa has varied commerce offers signed or beneath negotiation.
“Australia has much more inroads in its relationships and Canada desires to do extra. We are able to pool sources basically, and produce extra scale and extra depth once we present up in that area, if we companion with Australia,” she stated.
This report by The Canadian Press was first printed March 3, 2026.
— With recordsdata from Dylan Robertson in Ottawa.
Anja Karadeglija, The Canadian Press