Quad summit: Banter between US President and Australian Prime Minister has the whole room laughing

There were jokes and mock walk-outs between Anthony Albanese and US President Joe Biden as the pair held high-level security talks and a one-on-one meeting in Japan. The moment that had everyone in the room laughing at the start of a bilateral meeting in Tokyo was when Mr Biden pretended to walk away from our new Prime Minister when Mr Albanese spoke about his meeting with the National Rifle Association years ago. The rather casual encounter had the two leaders in a fit of laughter, as well as Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong, US officials, and the Australian and American press packs — who were invited in for the brief remarks. Mr Biden stood up to walk off before turning around to say “you’re a brave man” to the Labor leader. The US President — who had met Mr Albanese before when he was the US Vice President — invited the new Prime Minister to visit him in Washington DC. It came hours after Mr Biden praised Mr Albanese for flying to Tokyo for the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue leaders’ summit on his first day in the top job. The 79-year-old, who was captured falling asleep during the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow last year, told Mr Albanese it was “OK” if he fell asleep during the meetings. “Prime Minister Albanese, I welcome you to your first Quad meeting,” Mr Biden said. “Like I said, you got sworn in, got on a plane and if you fall asleep while you’re here, it’s OK, because I don’t know how you’re doing it. “It’s really quite extraordinary just getting off the campaign trail as well.” Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida also congratulated Mr Albanese on his new appointment. This was after the four leaders posed for a “family photo” ahead of the summit, where they appeared to get along really well. They shook hands, engaged in a conversation and then took the iconic Quad photo.

Quad summit: Banter between US President and Australian Prime Minister has the whole room laughing

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