Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared the post-1945 international order "no longer fit for purpose" and called on Australia to play an active role in shaping whatever replaces it, delivering a sweeping foreign policy address in New York as US-China strategic competition continues to transform the Indo-Pacific region.
Speaking at the Atlantic Council's Global Citizen Awards dinner on Wednesday night (New York time), Albanese argued that the core assumptions that had governed global affairs since the end of the Cold War were under serious strain — and that middle powers like Australia could no longer afford to simply react to events unfolding around them.
"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."
A Vision for a New International Order
Albanese used the high-profile address — where he was honoured alongside Finnish President Alexander Stubb, Formula One chief Stefano Domenicali and actor and singer Cynthia Erivo — to outline Australia's ambition to help construct a new global framework rather than passively adapt to one being shaped by others.
"Australia's response to this is to actively seek to shape and build the order that replaces the old," he said, pledging to preserve "the rules that matter most" while forging fresh partnerships and alliances suited to the current era.
The speech carries clear echoes of remarks made by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he declared the "old order is not coming back" and urged middle powers to unite around a new approach. Albanese held meetings on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly with Carney, French President Emmanuel Macron, and other counterparts in a bid to build consensus on shared challenges — most notably the governance of artificial intelligence.
Growing discontent is also evident within this loose coalition of middle powers over the lack of meaningful progress toward peace in the Middle East, the Trump administration's confrontation with Iran, and Russia's continued aerial bombardment of Ukraine nearly five years into its invasion. Analysts — including former prime minister Kevin Rudd — have warned of heightened risks of conflict over Taiwan in the Indo-Pacific in the years ahead.
AI Governance Push Hits a Wall
Albanese's efforts to build international momentum around AI regulation suffered a public setback when US President Donald Trump used his own address to the United Nations General Assembly to flatly reject any multilateral framework for controlling the technology.
"The United States also totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme to control the artificial intelligence being spoken of," Trump told the General Assembly, arguing that development should be encouraged rather than curtailed as Washington races Beijing for dominance in the sector.
Trump also used the occasion to propose rebranding artificial intelligence entirely, suggesting the term "Super Intelligence" — or SI — was more accurate and should replace "AI" in official documents. "The use of the word 'artificial' makes intelligence fake — it makes it sound fake, and it is not fake," he said.
The remarks came a day after Albanese joined leaders from more than 20 countries, including Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and South Africa, in signing a joint statement calling for stronger oversight of advanced AI systems. The statement warned that the pace of development risked outrunning humanity's ability to manage the associated risks, and declared that "AI must remain under human direction, oversight and control."
Speaking at a separate UN session focused on protecting children in the age of AI — attended alongside Macron — Albanese warned that the technology posed dangers including the exploitation of children, the potential to enable biological weapons, and the risk of AI systems operating beyond human control. This concern about AI models acting outside sanctioned boundaries has been a growing focus for Australian ministers in recent months.
Social Media Row and a Meeting With Trump
Albanese also found himself at odds with Washington over Australia's planned social media reforms, which would overhaul algorithms and regulate harmful content. The US embassy submitted formal concerns to the Australian government, describing the proposed changes as "facilitating censorship."
The prime minister pushed back firmly. "It's not about giving government control; it's about giving people back control over what they receive on their devices, which is why it is framed in that way," he told journalists in New York.
Despite the policy friction, Albanese later encountered 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.
Ukraine Security Deal and Zelensky Meeting
On the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, Albanese was scheduled to meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday, with the two countries expected to finalise and sign a bilateral security arrangement — a significant step in cementing Australia's long-term support for Ukraine as the conflict grinds on.
The flurry of diplomatic activity comes as Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping prepared to meet at the White House on Thursday — a summit that underscores just how quickly the strategic landscape Albanese described in his address is being redrawn.
