12m agoWed 24 Sep 2025 at 7:55pm
Albanese presents Australia’s new climate targets
We’re still waiting for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to step up to the iconic green marble dais at the General Debate.
But he has already made a speech today — earlier, he popped up at the UN Climate Summit.
There, he presented Australia’s new 2035 climate target to the world leaders present.
Australia will aim to reduce its carbon emissions by 62 to 70 per cent of 2005’s levels.
“This target is ambitious, but importantly, it is also achievable,” he said.
“It will mean that by the next decade, we will halve our current level of emissions, and it will ensure Australia honours our commitment to the Paris Agreement.”
Albanese also took the opportunity to spruik Australian-made renewables and the bid to host COP31 in 2026.
24m agoWed 24 Sep 2025 at 7:43pm
Australia pitches teen social media restrictions on sidelines of UN
Many serious and difficult subjects are discussed at the United Nations, but there was barely a dry eye at the event hosted by Australia this morning to discuss the world-first social media age limit coming into force from December 10.
Emma Mason stood in front of a huge picture of her daughter, Tilly, who took her own life after social media bullying.
(AAP: Lukas Coch)
Anyone who has seen Emma speak before will know how impressive this mum and lawyer from Bathurst is, but this was a big stage, in front of about half a dozen world leaders and more than a hundred others, in the UN building, looking out across the East River.
It was the moment when this campaign went from convincing Australia to adopt a social media age limit to convincing the world.
This was about hitting the social media giants where it really hurts.
Emma’s speech was thoroughly captivating, going into detail about what happened to Tilly and why kids should never be subjected to that sort of abuse.
At the end of the address, the crowd was on its feet.
Communications Minister Anika Wells hugs Emma Mason. (AAP: Lukas Coch)
Clearly, Donald Trump’s in no mood to take on the tech giants, but the Europeans are.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s attendance and personal support for an age limit were significant.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, clearly moved as well, said he wished he could have given her an Order of Australia on the spot.
A few of those in attendance reckoned Emma wouldn’t be a bad choice for Australian of the Year either.
47m agoWed 24 Sep 2025 at 7:20pm
Few details about Albanese and Trump’s ‘engaging chat’
Anthony Albanese has been asked about his selfie moment with Donald Trump in New York.
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Their encounter, at a function hosted by the US president for world leaders visiting the UN, was the first time the men had met in person.
But Albanese, ever-careful when he speaks about the mercurial president, didn’t give away many details. When asked what they spoke about, he limited his answer to:
“We had a very warm and engaging chat. I tend not to broadcast private discussions, but it was very warm, and we look forward to a further discussion.”
As we reported yesterday, Albanese will fly back to the US for a proper meeting with Trump in Washington on October 20.
1h agoWed 24 Sep 2025 at 6:58pm
☀️🗽Good morning
Hello, and welcome to another day of our federal politics blog!
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is due to speak at the afternoon session of the UN General Assembly in New York, which means another early start for us here in Australia.
We don’t have an exact time for Albanese’s speech, but I’ll let you know when he’s up.
If you haven’t been following along this week, the PM attended a two-state solution summit on Monday, local time, where he spoke about Australia’s formal recognition of a Palestinian state.
You can read the full transcript of his comments here.
I’ll be with you this morning to bring all the latest UN updates, and my colleague Courtney Gould will join us shortly with the news from closer to home.
Let’s dive into the day!
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