For anyone seeking the world’s most expensive and elaborate piece of performance art, the United Nations General Assembly is difficult to beat. It is, critics argue, a masterclass in hypocrisy and a theatre of the absurd.
Today, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese stepped up to the iconic green-marble podium, evidently treating the occasion as one of profound global importance. Yet beneath the earnest rhetoric, his address amounted to a question critics may well ask: so what?
He was addressing a chamber that, in this view, has long surrendered any credible claim to legitimacy. The notion that the body still commands genuine moral or political authority therefore appears increasingly difficult to sustain.
The composition of the assembly helps explain the criticism. Rather than representing a united gathering of the free world’s enlightened democracies, it includes, to a significant extent, despotic, dictatorial and authoritarian governments.
When the gavel falls, the vote of an absolute monarch or military junta carries precisely the same weight as that of a freely elected leader.
The world is expected to accept the moral force of collective resolutions even though many governments in the chamber routinely suppress dissent, imprison journalists and oppress their own citizens. Democracies have flaws, but those shortcomings are relative to the abuses occurring in non-democratic states around the world.
Albanese can deliver as many soaring speeches as he wishes, but some of those listening would readily imprison their own citizens for expressing the same views.
The presence of so-called tinpot client states adds another layer to the criticism. Dozens of smaller nations function on the UN floor as little more than diplomatic subsidiaries, heavily dependent on the financial support of larger authoritarian powers.
The United Nations General Assembly has been described as the world’s most expensive and elaborate piece of performance art. Above, the Prime Minister delivers his speech.
‘Whether it is climate change or artificial intelligence, there is always the temptation to say that our generation is being confronted by issues our predecessors could not have imagined,’ Albanese told the UN General Assembly.
According to this argument, their votes are secured through infrastructure loans, debt traps and opaque bilateral agreements. When these proxy states cast their ballots, they are not acting on principle but honouring geopolitical arrangements with powerful autocratic governments.
Rather than reflecting the will of the global community, the General Assembly is portrayed as responding to the interests of the highest bidder.
That perceived hypocrisy was on display during today’s coordinated walkout over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address. Representatives of some of the world’s most oppressive regimes marched out in a synchronised show of outrage—an episode critics described as the height of diplomatic absurdity. The writer adds that he is no supporter of Netanyahu.
Governments accused of sponsoring terrorism, executing dissidents or confining minorities in re-education camps appeared, in this telling, to have suddenly discovered a moral compass. The walkout is characterised not as a stand for justice but as a cynical public-relations exercise by regimes with little record of defending human rights.
Ultimately, the UN General Assembly is presented as a taxpayer-funded platform for tyrants. When democratic leaders address the chamber in earnest, they may be lending undeserved credibility to what critics see as a hollow echo chamber. The institution can give illegitimate governments a veneer of authority and allow some of the world’s worst abusers to pose as global arbiters. Granting the assembly genuine authority, this argument concludes, risks legitimising a system in which oppressors help write the rules.
It is time, the writer argues, to stop pretending that the emperor is fully clothed and recognise the General Assembly for what it has become: a farce in which democracy is mocked.
What Albo said at the UN General Assembly
By Andrew Brown for Australian Associated Press
The Prime Minister has urged world leaders to work together to tackle the growing challenges posed by unchecked artificial intelligence and climate change.
Speaking at the United Nations in New York on Friday, Australian time, Anthony Albanese argued that artificial intelligence must be brought under control through additional safeguards.
As the global order faces mounting pressure and confidence in institutions such as the UN declines, the Prime Minister said cooperation between countries was essential.
‘Whether it is climate change or artificial intelligence, there is always the temptation to say that our generation is being confronted by issues our predecessors could not have imagined,’ he told the UN General Assembly.
‘But for all the transformation the past eight decades have brought, the fundamental stakes have not changed.
‘We can rise to meet these new challenges now. We can reaffirm our national sovereignty and our shared humanity … but we can only do it together.’
The speech came a day after it was revealed an Open AI agent hacked into a Medicare statistics website, leading to concerns about the technology.
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Mr Albanese said the emerging tool was evolving at a ‘furious pace’.
‘The technological development that must now be the subject of discussion is artificial intelligence,’ he said.
‘(The Medicare hack) is unacceptable, and it is why Australia has been leading the way in establishing Australian standards for AI.
‘Standards to ensure AI will work and deliver for people, not the other way around. We can’t ignore AI or prevent it.’
Mr Albanese was among more than 20 signatories of a joint statement calling for more safeguards to be put in place on AI, which was put out on Tuesday, Australian time.
It was a stark contrast to US President Donald Trump’s speech to the UN, who rejected calls by nations to rein it in.
A significant portion of the speech was used to make the case for Australia securing a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.
Australia is seeking a two-year term on the council in 2029 and 2030, with intense lobbying happening on the sidelines of the UN.
A vote is not scheduled to take place until mid-2028.
Mr Albanese said Australia would elevate the perspectives of middle powers and smaller nati
‘We understand the UN mission cannot be entrusted solely to the great powers, or the biggest countries, or even the loudest voices alone,’ he said.
‘Nor can it be sub-contracted to the world’s richest companies or dictated by the pace of technology.’
The prime minister also argued the UN needed to adapt to meet modern times.
‘Clearly, the multilateral system we have all known and benefited from is under immense strain,’ he said.
‘To protect the peace, to create a world of human dignity, to do justice to the UN’s mission, we must embrace change and reform.’
One year on from Mr Albanese touting Australia’s world-leading social media ban for under-16s, he provided an update to the UN on how the measures were progressing.
‘Australian parents spoke to world leaders about their campaign resulting in our nations’ social media ban for under 16s,’ he said
‘Those parents channelled their personal grief into a powerful call for global action, and the world has answered.’
Since the ban came into effect in December, more than 20 countries have unveiled their own measures to limit social media access for teenagers.
Mr Albanese also raised the killing of Australian aid worker Zomi Frankcom, who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024 while working in Gaza, in his address.
He praised the work of Australia and eight other countries to set up a declaration for humanitarian worker protection.
‘That declaration outlines practical measures to ensure stronger accountability, safer access, and better protection for aid workers operating in conflict zones,’ he said.
‘Again, listening, partnering, protecting. Australian values at work.’
