Mutual admiration as billionaire Gates meets PM Albanese in Sydney
Anthony Galloway - January 21, 2023
Billionaire Bill Gates had never met Anthony Albanese before Saturday, but he thought he’d drop in on the Australian prime minister to talk vaccines, energy and climate change.
Gates, who is in the country with his foundation and representatives from his company, Breakthrough Energy, has made it his mission to ensure world leaders are ready for the next pandemic.
Standing at 177cm, the Microsoft founder didn’t have the physical stature of Albanese’s last celebrity drop-in, the 216-centimetre former basketballer Shaquille O’Neal, but the conversation was much bigger.
Sitting in the living room of Kirribilli House, the two men discussed climate action, the energy transition, international development and health, and the need for Australian innovation to help solve global challenges.
Albanese told Gates he was “very welcome here”.
“We haven’t met before. But I’ve admired your work and your contribution, not just financially, but in raising debates, including the need to deal with health issues,” Albanese said.
“We’ve just been through the pandemic, but we need to prepare for future health challenges, and the work that’s being done on eradicating malaria and other diseases in our region is very important.”
Albanese told Gates that his government had been “elected on the platform of taking climate change seriously”, which was backed up by its emissions reduction target of 43 per cent by 2030, and net zero by 2050.
“That’s fantastic,” Gates replied.
He thanked Albanese for the Australian government’s increased commitment to the Global Fund to fight HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.
“As you say, the preparedness for the next pandemic is still a discussion that hasn’t been figured out,” Gates said.
“You know, malaria in the long run, we want to do the same thing we’re doing with polio, which is eradicated regionally, and then eradicated all over the world.”
Gates has also influenced previous Australian prime ministers.
Albanese’s predecessor, Scott Morrison, was inspired to commit to a 2050 net-zero emissions target after reading the billionaire’s book, How to Avoid A Climate Disaster. Morrison regularly quoted large slabs of the book to advocates and critics of stronger action on climate change.
Gates also met then-prime minister Julia Gillard and foreign minister Bob Carr on a trip to Australia in 2013.
https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/mutual-admiration-as-billionaire-gates-meets-pm-albanese-in-sydney-20230121-p5cef2.html