Prime Minister Anthony Albanese came to blows with the ABC’s Sarah Ferguson on Tuesday night when questioning on his decision to miss the upcoming NATO summit got heated.
Nationals Senator Matt Canavan says Prime Minister Anthony Albanese “should go” to the NATO summit he was invited to.
“It’s very strange that I think he’s been invited – we’re not a member of NATO of course but NATO countries have invited Australia and most of those countries make up our best and closest allies,” he told Sky News host Andrew Bolt.
“There’s only two explanations here – one is … that he is planning an early election, I suppose we’ll find that out in the weeks ahead, the other explanation is that a little bit of name-calling has got Anthony scared.”
In Mr Albanese’s place, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Defence Richard Marles will represent Australia, which was invited as one of NATO’s “global partners” alongside South Korea, Japan and New Zealand.
Mr Albanese’s decision not to attend the summit, which reportedly came as sour news to the organisation, caught the spotlight on Tuesday night when he sat down on ABC’s 7.30.
Mr Albanese came under fire for sending Mr Marles in his place to this year’s summit despite attending the last two. Picture: Celestino Arce/NurPhoto via Getty Images
After the program kicked off with an intense back and forth over Senator Fatima Payman’s suspension, Ms Ferguson switched gears to grill the Prime Minister on declining NATO’s summit invitation.
The ABC host started by putting the Prime Minister’s reason for staying in Australia under the microscope.
“Do you really think that voters would mark you down for going to a NATO Summit in Washington while they’re struggling with cost-of-living issues?” Ms Ferguson asked.
Mr Albanese bluntly responded: “No.”
The Prime Minister engaged in an intense back and forth with Ms Ferguson over his decision not to attend the NATO summit. Picture: ABC
Ms Ferguson questioned if the Prime Minister thought Aussies would be concerned about him going to the summit while they struggle with cost-of-living pressures. Picture: ABC
The Prime Minister was then pressed on his absence at the summit and he claimed it was because Australia is not a NATO member, despite the nation being a “global partner” and Mr Albanese having attended summits in both 2022 and 2023.
Ms Ferguson proceeded to point the latter out and recalled the Prime Minister’s claim the previous summits were important, to which he agreed.
The ABC host then pried: “Have you changed your mind? Why have you changed your mind?”
Mr Albanese replied: “No, I haven’t changed my mind.”
The Prime Minister was then asked if he had ever said if he would attend or not.
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“No, we never accepted the invitation. We were considering what was before us,” he said.
“When I went to the first NATO Summit, it was an opportunity for the first time to meet many world leaders.”
Tensions between the two heightened when Ms Ferguson questioned whether Mr Albanese believed his presence was still “relevant or useful” at the summit.
“No, I didn’t say that,” he added before explaining additional political trips that occurred alongside the previous summits.
“When I went to the NATO summit that was held in Lithuania, I went via Germany to sign a billion dollar deal for manufacturing.”
The Prime Minster deferred the NATO summit invitation to Mr Marles amid concerns about Australians doing it tough under the cost-of-living crisis. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
After Ms Ferguson pointed out that other countries were sending their leaders, including “global partners” that were not NATO members, the Prime Minister deflected the question to attack Opposition Leader Peter Dutton.
“You know what I find extraordinary,” the Prime Minister said.
“Is that Peter Dutton, who moved a motion in the parliament last year, saying that – demanding that I not go to APEC, where Australia is a member, where we are a founding member of APEC and needed to participate in that forum, as opposed to NATO, where for a lot of the NATO Summit, as an observer country, we’re not there. We’re not in the room with the NATO members when that takes place.”
The row between the two settled when Mr Albanese clarified the decision to send Mr Marles was made “a while ago” before directing his sights back at his Liberal counterparts.
“I must say it’s a higher-level (of) representation than the three previous Liberal Prime Ministers who all sent Ministers rather than go themselves, all three of them. Morrison, Abbott and Turnbull,” he said.
Sky News host Chris Kenny says it is “unusual” for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to be missing the NATO summit in Washington.
“Maybe the Airbus Albo tag is starting to hit home, maybe Anthony Albanese knows he needs to stay at home,” Mr Kenny said.
“Maybe after all his grandstanding over Julian Assange, it is embarrassing for the prime minister to confront the Americans … it is unusual the prime minister is skipping a NATO summit in Washington next week.”
In response to news of Mr Albanese’s absence at the summit, shadow foreign affairs minister Simon Birmingham condemned the refusal and argued Australia needs to attend important events on the international stage.
“Unless Anthony Albanese has a very, very good reason not to be attending the NATO summit, then this is frankly a dereliction of duty by the Prime Minister,” Mr Birmingham said.
An insider source told the Sydney Morning Herald that NATO was disappointed by the Prime Minister’s apparent refusal to attend.
“It is somewhat disappointing because this gathering of leaders will hopefully send a message that the world’s leading democracies are united,” the anonymous diplomat in Brussels said.
Mr Albanese has faced criticism in the past for excessive overseas travel and it has been suggested this factored into his decision not to attend the NATO summit.