On 24 October, Katalin Novák emphasized the importance of traditional family values during her meeting with former Australian Prime Minister Anthony John Abbott in Sydney. The President and Tony Abbott discussed possible actions against the demographic ice age, and after their one-on-one discussion, significant representatives of Australian society joined the meeting.
President Novák highlighted that Hungarian family policy goes against the mainstream by truly placing family-centeredness at its core. She pointed out that the population decline has been ongoing for 40 years, therefore besides addressing demographic challenges, preserving family-friendly approaches and traditional family values are also of utmost importance. She also noted that Hungary has hosted the annual Budapest Demographic Summit for the fifth time this year.
The President’s visit to Australia focuses on three main areas:
maintaining connections with the Hungarian diaspora, strengthening relations between the two countries, and building an international alliance for family-friendly policies.
The events of Tuesday mainly revolved around the latter. As part of strengthening the relationship between the two countries, Novák met with Margaret Elaine Gardner, the Governor of Victoria State in Melbourne, where they discussed women’s participation in politics and enhancing economic ties, as reported by Vajk Farkas, the Communication Director of the Sándor Palace.
The President continued her Australian visit in Sydney, where she presented the demographic challenges facing Western civilization and discussed measures related to strengthening Hungarian families and encouraging childbirth at the Australian Catholic University. She also met with key actors of the Australian economic and public life. Vajk Farkas also added that Novák commended the Humanity Tuesdays initiative during her meeting.
The initiative is a survey on X in which the Hungarian President posts a question related to having children and starting a family every Tuesday for ten week, which has been endorsed by Elon Musk. More than a hundred thousand people answered the most recent question, Novák highlighted, with the majority expressing a desire for many children. Therefore, the role of politicians is to provide assistance to people to realize that wish, the President stressed.
