Abdullah II

So that's a very good question.

One of the great strengths of the ruling Hashemite monarchy of Jordan, of which King Abdullah II, who's been in power since '99, is the current incumbent Is its capacity to regulate, monitor, um, and to guide its society towards a fairly moderate direction.

So to put your question in perspective, Jordan, since the 1980s and '90s, has had a fairly strong Islamist movement, and in fact, Jordan was targeted by Al-Qaeda in the 2000s and by ISIS militants in the 2010s in the throes of the Syrian Civil War.

What makes Jordan different is that the level overall of extreme Islamism in Jordan is generally far lower.

So the vulnerability doesn't come from fears of being annihilated by Iran.

It comes from the country across the Jordan River to the west, namely Israel.

So one of the reasons why Jordanians, including, uh, King Abdullah, as w- as, you know, h- his recent speech at the United Nations, um, made explicit, one of the reasons why Jordan fears so much Israel more than Iran is that Israel right now, in the minds of many Jordanians, both in the government and society, poses an existential threat.

So we're not talking about missiles falling on US planes parked in the desert in the east of Jordan.

In the joint statement, two nations also called for peace and security in the Middle East, and criticized the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Canberra earlier today.

We had a very good meeting, uh, last year in New York, where we discussed the full range of issues, uh, confronting not just our nations, uh, but confronting the world and humanity.

Unfortunately, some of those are, of course, uh, still going, uh, because we do live in a time of increasing global uncertainty, uh, particularly with the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

In the joint statement, two nations also called for peace and security in the Middle East and criticised the expansion of Israeli settlements in the West Bank.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with Jordan's King Abdullah II in Canberra early today.

We had a very good meeting last year in New York where we discussed the full range of issues confronting not just our nations but confronting the world and humanity.

Unfortunately some of those are of course still going because we do live in a time of increasing global uncertainty particularly with the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

So, please, if you see an unattended fire, please contact 000 immediately.

We've also had some news through from the Prime Minister's office that His Majesty King Abdullah II...

The King of Jordan will be coming to Australia from the 13th to the 14th of October.

Australia and Jordan share a warm relationship underpinned by defence and security cooperation.

Our countries are working together to advance peace and regional security, support humanitarian efforts to counter terrorism and violent extremism, to grow trade and to strengthen cooperation on resources, energy and the environment.

His Majesty will visit Canberra for a range of meetings as well as defence and cultural engagements.

King Abdullah II's last official visit to Australia was back in 2016.

So the King of Jordan will be coming to Australia from the 13th to the 14th of October.