Trump’s Albanese snub raises questions about Rudd’s clout

New York: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been snubbed from Donald Trump’s official schedule of meetings in New York, raising concerns about the strength of Australia’s ties with the United States and ambassador Kevin Rudd’s level of influence with the White House.

Albanese will be left to compete for a handshake with the US president at a reception with more than 100 other world leaders at an event on Wednesday morning (AEST), after again failing to secure a meeting with Trump.

Trump also took a dim view of the decision by Australia and others to recognise a Palestinian state, saying through his press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, that it was a reward for Hamas and did nothing to bring Israeli hostages home.

As a Labor frontbencher argued it was a “good thing” that Albanese and Trump had not met, the Coalition accused the Trump administration of treating Australia like a “piece of dirt”.

Leavitt confirmed Trump’s schedule at the United Nations would include bilateral meetings with the UN secretary-general and the presidents of Ukraine, Argentina and the European Commission.

Trump will also attend a multilateral meeting with the leaders of an array of Middle Eastern countries, Turkey, Pakistan and Indonesia.

But Australia and Albanese were omitted from the schedule, despite earlier suggestions from both sides that a bilateral meeting was possible on the sidelines of the summit or at the White House.

Over the past week, however, the Australian government played down the prospect of a formal one-on-one meeting with Trump. The president’s availability was further reduced when he flew to Arizona on Sunday for the memorial for assassinated activist Charlie Kirk.

“We will meet when we meet,” Albanese told the ABC last week. “There’s a range of events occurring as well ... that means that people’s arrangements will be finalised when they’re finalised.”

He will still have the opportunity to meet the president in person at a reception Trump is hosting on Tuesday night (Wednesday AEST) that Leavitt said would be attended by more than 100 world leaders.

“I’ll be talking with him there,” Albanese told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program on Monday.

After the reception, Trump will fly back to Washington, where he is scheduled to hold a meeting and lunch with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.

Former Australian ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos said it was disappointing that Albanese and Trump had not been able to arrange a meeting since last November’s presidential election.

“Going so long without a person-to-person meeting encourages speculation about what is going on. It’s important for the leaders to establish a personal relationship and discuss important matters like trade, co-operation on critical minerals and AUKUS,” he said.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison - who was feted by Trump at a state dinner in 2019 - said the government had done well to secure talks this year with the president’s key lieutenants, but there was no substitute for leaders’ meetings.

“Sometime diaries are difficult to coordinate but it’s been a long time now,” Morrison said on Sky News. “Many other leaders now have had those opportunities and it really is up to the government to get this landed.”

Liberal senator Andrew Bragg said Australia had been treated like a “piece of dirt” by the Trump administration after Kevin Rudd was appointed ambassador to the US in 2023.

“I think it’s very embarrassing,” Bragg told Nine’s Today on Tuesday.

“I think that perhaps sending Mr Rudd was actually not in Australia’s interests, and also the way that Mr Albanese has conducted his diplomacy, he’s also been a disaster. I mean, where we’re being punished, frankly, and it’s now very embarrassing.”

Albanese brushed aside concerns about Rudd’s past criticisms of Trump when he appointed the former prime minister to the crucial role, arguing Rudd would open doors for Australia in the US capital.

Before becoming US ambassador, Rudd described Trump as “nuts”, called him “the most destructive president in history” and named him a “traitor to the West”.

Michael Shoebridge, who served as Australia’s senior defence policy official in the Australian embassy in Washington, said the failure to secure a meeting showed that “Trump is just not that into us.”

“The fact there has not been a leaders’ meeting is not good news, and no amount of spin can change that. American power is centralised in the individual of Donald Trump,” he said.

Shoebridge said the snub raised questions about Rudd’s access to the White House after the ambassador was forced to delete previous social media posts critical of Trump before taking up the post.

“Whatever influence Rudd has, it hasn’t resulted in a leaders’ meeting,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said he was sure Albanese and Trump would meet soon, as he argued the US-Australia relationship was in good shape.

Commenting on the lack of a meeting, Assistant Foreign Minister Matt Thistlethwaite said, “I think we should see this as a good thing.

“It means that the president, who’s been meeting with world leaders to try and reach agreements on trade policy, he’s trying to do deals with other nations around tariffs and trade policy. He doesn’t need to do that with Australia,” he told Sky News.

Albanese addressed a conference on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at UN headquarters on Tuesday morning (AEST), a day after Australia’s recognition of Palestine took formal effect.

Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said Australia’s relationship with the US was drifting under Labor and that Albanese got it wrong by recognising a Palestinian state. The Coalition would reverse the move, she has said.

The White House did not respond to a request for further comment.

In June, Albanese was among several world leaders who missed out on a planned meeting with Trump when the US president left the G7 summit in Canada early to deal with an unfolding situation in the Middle East.

The pair have spoken by phone four times since Trump was elected in November, including a call this month, but are yet to meet face to face.

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