Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has delivered a blunt assessment of the global rules-based order in New York, declaring the post-1945 international framework "no longer fit for purpose" and calling on Australia to take an active role in shaping whatever system emerges to replace it.
Speaking at the Atlantic Council's Global Citizen Awards dinner — where he was honoured alongside Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Formula One chief Stefano Domenicali and actor and singer Cynthia Erivo — Albanese argued that the assumptions underpinning global affairs since the end of the Cold War are rapidly unravelling under the weight of intensifying strategic competition between the United States and China.
"Since the end of the Cold War, the prevailing assumptions of international affairs were clear: openness was security; efficiency mattered more than resilience; and international rules would be observed as a matter of course," Albanese said. "Both those expectations are now being tested. The post-1945 world order is no longer fit for purpose. Universal institutions that remain necessary are now not always sufficient for the challenges we face."
Australia's role in reshaping the international order
Rather than framing Australia as a passive observer of global change, Albanese used the address to outline an activist posture for Canberra. "Australia's response to this is to actively seek to shape and build the order that replaces the old," he said, emphasising the need to preserve "the rules that matter most" while forging new partnerships suited to the shifting strategic landscape.
The speech bears a resemblance in tone and intent to remarks made by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where Carney similarly declared the old order finished and urged middle powers to unite around a new framework. In New York, Albanese sought out several of those same middle-power leaders — including Carney, French President Emmanuel Macron and UK counterpart Andy Burnham — to build consensus on pressing issues, most notably the governance of artificial intelligence.
On the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, Albanese also met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, with the two countries expected to sign a bilateral security arrangement. The meeting comes amid growing frustration among middle powers at the lack of progress toward peace in the Middle East, the ongoing US confrontation with Iran, and Russia's continued aerial bombardment of Ukraine.
For more on Australia's strategic posture in the region, see our coverage of Albanese's Pacific security push and the Fiji deal amid China competition.
AI governance battle plays out at the UN
A parallel and pointed disagreement over the future of artificial intelligence unfolded at the same gathering. A day before Albanese's speech, Australia joined more than 20 nations — including Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and South Africa — in a joint statement calling for stronger international oversight of rapidly advancing AI systems.
"AI must remain under human direction, oversight and control. It must be developed and used in line with international law," the statement read.
Albanese also spoke at a UN coalition meeting focused on child protection in the age of AI, warning that the technology "can pose a range of potential risks — from the exploitation of children, the potential to enable biological weapons, or even the loss of control of AI systems themselves."
President Donald Trump, however, publicly and emphatically rejected that multilateral push. In his address to the UN General Assembly, Trump said the United States "totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control the artificial intelligence." He argued the technology should be encouraged, not curtailed, as Washington competes with Beijing for dominance in the sector.
Trump also used the occasion to propose rebranding artificial intelligence as "Super Intelligence" — or SI — arguing that the word "artificial" made the technology sound fake. "It's actually amazing, but we have to be careful," he said, adding that "whoever wins superintelligent, wins."
Albanese, who was present in the chamber for Trump's address alongside Foreign Minister Penny Wong, said efforts to build international consensus on AI governance would continue despite the US rebuff.
Social media regulation flashpoint and Trump encounter
The visit was not without friction on other fronts. The Trump administration has taken aim at Australia's proposed overhaul of social media algorithms and content moderation rules, with the US embassy formally describing the planned reforms as "facilitating censorship."
Albanese pushed back firmly. "It's not about giving government control; it's about giving people back control over what they receive on their devices," he told journalists in New York.
Despite the tensions, Albanese met Trump at a UN leaders' reception, posting a photograph of the two together and describing it as "always good to catch up" with the president.
With the United States and China at the centre of virtually every major global flashpoint — from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific to AI — Albanese's New York addresses represent a deliberate effort to position Australia as a constructive architect of the emerging order rather than a bystander. Former prime minister Kevin Rudd is among those who have warned of heightened conflict risk over Taiwan in the coming years, adding further urgency to Canberra's diplomatic push.
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