Obama in Australia at Close of Asia-Pacific Tour 

President Barack Obama is closing out his weeklong trip through the Asia-Pacific region with a stop in Australia.

Obama's plane touched down early Saturday at the Royal Australian Air Force's largest base, Base Amberley. From there, Obama traveled to the home to Queensland's state government, Parliament House in Brisbane. There Obama was attending a retreat and luncheon with fellow world leaders at the annual Group of 20 economic summit.

While in Australia, Obama was to give a speech at the University of Queensland about the status of his administration's effort to engage more intensely in Asia. It's a cornerstone of Obama's foreign policy, but there are concerns that crises in other parts of the world have diverted Obama's attention.

The president will also hold a three-way meeting with the leaders of Japan and Australia, plus take questions from reporters before heading back to Washington Sunday evening.

Obama's visit to Australia follows earlier stops in China and Myanmar, where Obama pressed leaders to improve human rights and expand press freedoms.

In his joint appearance with Suu Kyi, on the back porch of her lakeside home, Obama stopped short of an explicit endorsement for her potential campaign for president. But his affection and deep admiration for Suu Kyi was clear, from his praise for her efforts to liberalize the government to the ease with which he whispered in her ear as they walked arm in arm into the home where she was once confined as a political prisoner.

Although Obama was quick to caution he didn't want to dictate how Myanmar should pick its next president, he said told President Thein Sein the night before that he saw little wisdom in a rule barring the 69-year-old Suu Kyi from running next year because her children hold British citizenship.

"I don't understand a provision that would bar somebody from running for president because of who their children are," Obama said. "That doesn't make much sense to me."

Suu Kyi, a member of Parliament demure in her support for changing that provision, said it was flattering to have a constitution written with her in mind. But she said that wasn't how it should be done in a democracy, urging supporters not to get too caught up in whether she wins next year's pivotal elections.

"Of course any party wants to win the elections — I'm sure the president will tell you that," she said with a grin. What's more important, she said, is how you win. "I'd rather lose than win in the wrong way."

Obama and Suu Kyi took questions from reporters on the final day of Obama's visit to Myanmar, an impoverished country struggling to reinvent itself. Obama is heavily invested in Myanmar's progress, having made a historic trip here two years ago to signal a strong U.S. commitment to democratization in the country and the broader region.

On this visit, prompted by economic summits in the capital city of Naypyitaw, Obama faced profound concerns by Myanmar's citizens that its transition to democracy is backsliding. At a town hall meeting Friday with young Southeast Asians — itself a rarity in a country ruled by its military for half a century — Obama told an ebullient crowd their generation has more potential than any before to shape Myanmar's society.

"The future of this region — your region — is not going to be dictated by dictator or by armies," Obama said. "It's going to be determined by entrepreneurs and inventors and dreamers."

Left unaddressed by Obama during his two days in Myanmar was growing skepticism about whether Suu Kyi, his fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is willing to fight as vigorously for human rights and tolerance as she is for democratic reforms. The U.S. has deep concerns about the abuse of Rohingya Muslims, a minority group deeply disdained by most in the majority-Buddhist country, but Suu Kyi has resisted calls to speak out on their behalf.