Shanghai: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese couldn’t help but smirk when Andrew Forrest deployed his trademark humour at a press conference in Shanghai on Tuesday.

“Look, I just speak today as a passionate Australian person who’s always been happy to cut the oranges out for our country, anytime,” the West Australian billionaire said.

The man known as “Twiggy”, a mining tycoon turned climate saviour, had moments earlier been lavishing praise on the prime minister. Albanese was a busy man, Forrest remarked, and busy people were the best people to handle a tough job.

The task on Forrest’s mind?

“I asked our prime minister if he could work together with China to form a bilateral agreement where we escape the threats coming from AI [artificial intelligence] to employment, both in China and Australia,” Forrest said.

A big ask in anyone’s book. And the purpose of this request?

Andrew “Twiggy” Forrest labelled national security “a distraction” from Australia’s trade with China.Credit: Dominic Lorrimer

“[To] generate a serious jobs boom in both China for green steel and particularly........

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