Albanese and UK Prime Minister Burnham meet at UN, discuss AUKUS and social
Albanese and Burnham met for the first time at the UN in New York. They discussed defence and tech policy.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday. Burnham confirmed this was his first in-person meeting with Albanese since taking office in July.
The two leaders had bonded before over rugby league in a phone call. Albanese is a South Sydney Rabbitohs supporter.
Burnham previously headed the Rugby Football League in the UK. Albanese said he convinced Burnham to back the Rabbitohs.
In return, Burnham got support for his favourite team, the Leigh Leopards. Beyond sports, they discussed the AUKUS partnership, which will give Australia nuclear submarines.
Burnham also praised Australia's leadership in banning under-16s from social media.
- UN General Assembly in New York
- Meeting location
- July 2026
- Burnham's role start
- South Sydney Rabbitohs
- Albanese's team
- Leigh Leopards
- Burnham's team
Why it mattersThis strengthens the Australia-UK partnership on defence, technology, and child safety policy. Both nations face shared global challenges.
AustraliaReinforces Australia's AUKUS commitment and positions Australia as a model for other nations on protecting children from social media harms.
✓ Claims checked against the source and corrected before publish. checked 1 d ago
