Prime Minister Tony Abbott pushes for enhanced business ties on New York visit

Updated

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has tried to ram home his business, trade and investment agenda during the first day of his visit to the United States.

Mr Abbott visited the US stock exchange in New York City where he rang the bell to signal the start of trading.

It is a ceremony seen by millions across the globe, and behind and below Mr Abbott were big signs with the slogan "Australia is open for business".

"You cannot love jobs and hate the entities that create jobs. Private businesses are the engine of job creation," Mr Abbott said.

But amidst the work of drumming up business for Australia, Mr Abbott has found time to meet key republican and media figures.

He is ending day one of his US trip with a private dinner with News Corp co-chairman Rupert Murdoch.

And earlier he met presidential hopeful Jeb Bush - the second son of former president George H W Bush - who is an early frontrunner for the Republican nomination.

But in the 36 hours he is in the Big Apple, he has one core message and is repeating it constantly in the hope it will buy him a boost back home.

"All of my overseas trips are in large measure about more jobs for Australians. And we can't have more Australian jobs without stronger Australian businesses," Mr Abbott said.

Two-way investment with the US is already worth in excess of $1 trillion a year.

At a function packed with Australian and American business leaders, Mr Abbott spoke of the opportunities infrastructure investment and the rise of Asia offers.

"The rise of China has been good for the wider world because there are now so many more people to afford to buy what the rest of the world produces," Mr Abbott said.

He also touched on free trade, corporate tax avoidance, private investment in infrastructure and his first budget.

"It's better to be tough in your first budget than in your last. There's been a political cost, of course, but we have refused to put short-term popularity ahead of long-term respect," Mr Abbott said.

But climate change politics threatens to overshadow his visit.

United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon raised the issues in talks overnight and it will almost certainly be discussed again when Mr Abbott meets US president Barack Obama in two days' time.

Before arriving in New York Mr Abbott held talks with his Canadian counterpart Stephen Harper, where both men agreed they would put their economies ahead of action on climate change.

In Ottawa, Mr Abbott said climate change was "a significant problem" and he supported moves to arrest carbon emissions that will not "clobber the economy".

"It's not the only or even the most important problem that the world faces," he said.

Mr Abbott's comments are likely to make his upcoming meeting with Mr Obama more challenging after Mr Obama's administration last week announced a new regulation requiring the power sector cut emissions by 30 per cent on 2005 levels by 2030.

In the years ahead some deft diplomacy could be required.

The ABC understands an announcement will be made this week that Australia's ambassador to the US, former Labor leader Kim Beazley, will have his term extended.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten criticised the Prime Minister's handling of the climate issue and said he was "taking Australia backwards".

"It must be embarrassing for the Prime Minister as he meets other world leaders," Mr Shorten said.

Abbott pays 'sombre' visit to 9/11 memorial

Mr Abbott began his first day in New York with an early morning run with NYC firefighters, before laying a wreath at the 9/11 memorial on the site of the 2001 World Trade Centre terrorist attacks.

Ten Australians died in the attacks. Their names are among the 2,983 inscribed on the side of the memorial and each Australian name is marked with a yellow rose in honour of the Prime Minister's visit.

Mr Abbott described the Manhattan site as an "extraordinarily sombre place".

"It's really quite overwhelming to be in this place, on this spot, [where] some 2,900 people were killed including 10 Australians in one of the most horrific moments in world history," he said.

"I pay my respects to all who died that day. I remember all the emergency services personnel who responded."

Topics: abbott-tony, world-politics, government-and-politics, foreign-affairs, climate-change, terrorism, united-states, australia

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