Anthony Albanese, 59, led the Labor Party to victory on Saturday, ending almost a decade of conservative rule in Australia. Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong congratulated Albanese on his election win saying he looks forward to working with Albanese to continue advancing relations between the two countries.
“Our countries share longstanding ties, with strong cooperation across the five pillars of our Comprehensive Strategic Partnership – economics and trade, defence and foreign affairs, people-to-people, science and innovation, and digital economy,” Lee said.
Lee added, “I look forward to visiting Australia for the annual Singapore-Australia leaders’ meeting, to discuss how we can advance our bilateral cooperation and exchange views on regional and global issues.”
According to Albanese’s Twitter, he first met Lee in 2014 at the World Cities Summit. He acknowledged that Lee’s Singapore is driving growth and are hubs for innovation.
Was a pleasure to meet Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong at the #WorldCitiesSummit – cities are driving growth and are hubs for innovation
— Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) June 2, 2014
Three years later, Albanese addressed the Lee Kuan Yew Forum, where he recalled meeting Lee at the World Cities Summit in Singapore and said that it was a privilege to hear from world leaders like Lee.
“I have always been fascinated by Singapore.
“It provides a global model for urban policy, particularly when it comes to public transport.
“In fact, Mercer’s 2017 Quality of Living Survey ranks Singapore first for best city infrastructure.
“Singapore is also leading the world when it comes to urban greenery. Well on its way to achieving its vision of a City in a Garden, Singapore ranked first in a recent study on urban tree density.
“Just this afternoon in a briefing on your National Broadband Network, it reinforced to me why a Fibre To The Home model with universal access is best practice and sees Singapore ranked 1st in the world for high speed broadband.”
Albanese said that Singapore’s delivery model is almost identical to the Government he served down under after the Australian election in 2007.
He was referring to Australia’s Labor Party’s victory at the 2007 election. Albanese rose in standing within the party after this election and it was evidenced by his appointment as Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, Minister for Regional Development and Local Government and Leader of the House of Representatives in the Kevin Rudd Government.
“There is much Australia can learn from Singapore,” Albanese said at the Lee Kuan Yew Forum.
It remains to be seen if Albanese’s Government will closely follow the delivery model of Singapore’s like the Rudd Government did. But the 59-year-old said, “I want to change the country. I want to change the way that politics operates in this country.”