Australia to seek UN Security Council seat from 2029

Australia will bid to join the United Nations Security Council from 2029, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said on Monday, as he launched a campaign to secure one of the two non-permanent seats available to its bloc.

Albanese said Australia, whose last two-year term on the council ended in 2014, would have an opportunity to play a key role in shaping global responses to issues that matter to Australians if elected to the Security Council.

"Australia punches above our weight ... and we can have an impact on the world, and that's what I want to see Australia do," Albanese told reporters in New York on the sidelines of the annual gathering of world leaders at the UN General Assembly.

Albanese said he expected "very strong support" from Pacific island countries and Southeast Asia.

He added that his "strong relationships" with world leaders would help Australia's bid, even as a closely watched Newspoll conducted for The Australian newspaper and released on Monday showed his approval rating at home had slipped to its lowest level since he won its first term in 2022.

Rapid developments in AI and the effects of climate change will be among the world's top challenges by the end of this decade, making it in Australia's national interest to be involved in the UN Security Council, Albanese said.

The UN Security Council has 10 non-permanent members, with five elected each year. Finland is the other nominee, alongside Australia, for the 2029-30 seat from the Western European and Others Group. The Asia-Pacific, African, and Latin American and Caribbean groups will also put forward their nominees.

Voting to select the non-permanent members for the 2029-2030 term is expected to take place by secret ballot in 2028.

The United States, China, France, Russia, and the United Kingdom make up the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.