On Monday morning, when Anthony Albanese wakened in his quiet Marrickville bungalow, it may have been every other strange day.
However by that night, as he walked down the steps of the colossal RAAF KC-30 at Haneda airport in Tokyo, Albanese emerged on to the world stage as Australia’s thirty first prime minister.
He was greeted on the tarmac by Japan’s state minister for overseas affairs, a army salute and a ready motorcade of shiny black Toyota vans. It was as if, like Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Albanese had jumped down the rabbit gap and are available out as a wholly totally different individual.
Endowed with the authority of workplace, the insights of high-level safety briefings and the arrogance of a person who has simply received the race of his life, Albanese presents himself in Tokyo with a newfound high quality: solemnity. He's greedy the gravity of the second.
With the spectre of Chinese language aggression looming giant over the Quad assembly between Australia, the US, India and Japan, Albanese made clear that whereas the federal government could have modified, Australia’s strategic outlook had not.
“This can be a actual alternative for Australia to ship a message to the world that whereas the federal government has modified, our values haven't, by way of help for democracy and engagement with necessary companions right here,” Albanese stated.
The prime minister was warmly acquired by the Quad leaders, significantly the US president Joe Biden, who embraced Albanese because the leaders gathered for the standard “household picture” on the summit. The Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, gave Albanese a pleasant slap on the again, earlier than resting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. The three males laughed collectively as if a reunion of previous pals.
“What an effective way to start,” Albanese stated with a smile.
The US president was clearly happy with the prime minister’s attendance, saying his dedication to the Quad so quickly after being sworn in was “testomony to Australia being all in”.
“You bought sworn in, received on a aircraft – and for those who go to sleep when you’re right here, it’s OK, as a result of I don’t understand how you’re doing it,” Biden stated.
A protracted-serving staffer, probably exhausted after the relentless six-week election marketing campaign, shed a tear as Albanese spoke to the room of leaders, with the voice of a newly fashioned prime minister.
“It's an honour that that is my first act as prime minister to attend this necessary leaders’ assembly right here in Japan,” Albanese stated.
Behind him sat two of an important folks of his profession – his good friend and ally Penny Wong, now as overseas minister, and Tim Gartrell, his long-serving chief of workers. They appear on like proud dad and mom, nearly needing to pinch themselves in the mean time.
Later, at their first bilateral assembly, Biden and Albanese once more exchanged pleasant banter, flanked by officers on all sides. Maybe it's the bond of their shared Irish blood that makes them so relaxed.
“I’m throughout it,” Albanese jokes about his deal with on the brand new prime ministerial gig, after Biden makes point out of his quick time within the function.
“I'm trying ahead to having the possibility to get to know you a bit extra as an individual,” Biden says.
The prime minister then recounts his time as a “younger fella” on a US management program throughout which he spoke with curiosity teams “throughout the spectrum” from the Nationwide Rifle Affiliation to reproductive rights group Deliberate Parenthood.
“You’re a courageous man!” Biden exclaims, leaping to his toes to shake Albanese’s hand, after pretending to stage a walkout.
Albanese’s attendance on the summit might be chilly consolation to China, who had been hoping Australia could take a softer method to its strained relationship with Beijing.
However whereas emphasising Australia’s unchanged dedication to the shared values of democracy and a free and open Indo-Pacific, Albanese additionally used the journey for a diplomatic reset, indicating that Australia was able to take higher motion on local weather change in step with the Quad’s ambitions.
“We are going to act in recognition that local weather change is the primary financial and safety problem for the island international locations of the Pacific,” he stated.
In an indication that the marketing campaign of only a few days in the past is effectively and really behind him, Albanese was requested at a press convention if the summit had mentioned Scott Morrison’s dealing with of the Solomon Islands safety pact or the previous authorities’s recalcitrance on local weather change.
“I don’t intend to politicise this press convention whereas abroad or make any criticism of the previous authorities,” he stated.
The metamorphosis from candidate to prime minister is full.
Or as Alice stated: “It’s no use going again to yesterday as a result of I used to be a special individual then.”
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