Albanese snubbed from Trump’s official meeting schedule in New York

“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 bilateral meeting and lunch with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Thursday.

At a press briefing, Leavitt also reiterated that Trump opposed the move by Australia, Canada, France and the United Kingdom to officially recognise a Palestinian state at this week’s UN summit.

“The president has been very clear: he disagrees with this decision,” she said. “He feels this does not do anything to release the hostages, which is the primary goal right now in Gaza.

“[It] does nothing to end this conflict and bring this war to a close, and frankly, he believes it’s a reward to Hamas. He believes these decisions are just more talk and not enough action from some of our friends and allies.”

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Leavitt said Trump would have more to say about the matter when he addresses the UN General Assembly on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST).

The president would also “articulate his straightforward and constructive vision for the world”, she said, and touch upon “how globalist institutions have significantly decayed the world order”.

Albanese addressed a conference on a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at UN headquarters on Tuesday morning, Australian time, 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.

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Further comment has been sought from the White House.

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.

Liberal Senator Andrew Bragg said the failure to secure a meeting was “embarrassing” and laid the blame at the feet of Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd – a former Labor prime minister who was critical of Trump while the president was out of office.

“Australia is being treated like a piece of dirt by this administration,” Bragg told Nine’s Today program.

With Matthew Knott and Nick Newling

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