Scott Morrison and Joe Biden have held their first phone call, with the US president-elect listing fighting coronavirus, confronting climate change and the global economic recovery as the top priorities for both nations.
Mr Morrison has joined several world leaders in congratulating Mr Biden on winning the election, even though Donald Trump has refused to concede and has promised to mount legal challenges in several states.
Mr Biden's team put out a brief description of the call which said the two leaders discussed "many common challenges, including containing the COVID-19 pandemic and guarding against future global health threats; confronting climate change; laying the groundwork for the global economic recovery; strengthening democracy, and maintaining a secure and prosperous Indo-Pacific region."
Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra there was "no more critical time" for the United States and Australia to "work together to promote peace and stability".
The US is still being ravaged by the coronavirus pandemic, with the number of daily new cases climbing above 100,000.
Mr Morrison said the fight against COVID-19 was at the top of Mr Biden's agenda, and the president-elect wanted to learn more about how Australia had contained the spread of the virus.
"The president-elect was very interested in Australia's success here and what Australia could contribute from our lessons and our learnings about the way that we have managed the COVID-19 pandemic, and the economic dimensions of that as well," he said.
Morrison says net zero target was not discussed
Joe Biden campaigned energetically on climate change, promising to re-join the Paris climate agreement, invest heavily in new climate initiatives and embrace a target of net-zero US carbon emissions by 2050.
Labor says Mr Biden's victory leaves the Federal Government deeply exposed on climate policy, and has predicted the United States will press Australia to adopt a similar target.
But Mr Morrison said the president-elect did not mention the net zero target on the call, and suggested that both Australia and the United States were both focused on embracing new technologies to drive down emissions.
"We did not discuss that, but I raised with the president-elect the similarity between the president-elect's comments and policies regarding emissions reduction technologies that we needed to achieve that," Mr Morrison said.
Trump's transition from the White House
The two men also discussed the vexed transition process ahead of Mr Biden's inauguration in January.
US President Donald Trump has made baseless claims that fraud marred the election result, and has received public backing from several leading figures in his Republican Party.
That has caused deep anxiety in Washington, with Mr Biden labelling Mr Trump's behaviour "embarrassing".
But Mr Morrison played down the ongoing chaos, and said he was not concerned by Mr Trump's behaviour.
"This is not the first transition, it happens from time to time, those procedures are well-established and the president-elect and I discussed that this morning," he said.
"We both have due respect for that, and there are matters still afoot that we are working with the current administration on, and we will continue to do that. That is quite regular."
Mr Biden has also promised to revitalise America's engagement in multilateral forums, shedding Mr Trump's hostility to international organisations.
That is a source of relief for Australian officials who have been worried about waning US influence in key international decision-making bodies.
Mr Morrison said he and Mr Biden talked a lot about working together in forums "that bring together like-minded, market-based democracies" and said the president-elect "understands this part of the world extremely well".
PM to visit Japan and PNG
The Prime Minister announced he would travel to both Japan and Papua New Guinea next week, in his first overseas trip since the coronavirus pandemic struck Australia.
He'll meet Japan's new Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga, making Mr Morrison the first international leader to visit him in Tokyo.
Mr Morrison said he and Mr Suga would discuss how the two countries were working together to ensure countries in South-East Asia and the Pacific get access to a COVID-19 vaccine and bounce back quickly from the health crisis.
In Papua New Guinea, he's expected to meet with his counterpart James Marape.
The trip will force the Prime Minister into two weeks of isolation in the Lodge upon his return to Australia. That will mean he will have to attend Parliament — including Question Time — by video link rather than in person.
Government sources said they were pushing ahead with the visit despite the logistical barriers because it was crucial for Mr Morrison to have face-to-face conversations with both leaders.
