“This will be the fifth joint address to the Australian parliament by a US president and demonstrates the warmth, depth and strength of the Australia-US Alliance,” the Australian government said in a statement.Īlbanese and Biden would also have a bilateral meeting focusing on “elevating global climate ambition and accelerating the clean energy transition”, the statement said. The Australian prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said on Tuesday he was pleased that Biden had taken up his invitation to address parliament, an honour also afforded to Barack Obama in 2014. He emphasised he was not “teasing” a cancellation but simply explaining what was going on and that a decision would be made “relatively soon”. Kirby said Biden was able to do “both things”, to travel overseas and also work with congressional leaders. “And so they understand that the president also has to focus on making sure that we don’t default.” “These leaders, all leaders of democracies … they know that our ability to pay our debts is a key part of US credibility and leadership around the world,” Kirby said. He said Biden would still meet Albanese at the G7, as well as India’s Narendra Modi, but it was “prudent and reasonable for the president to look at the rest of the trip and evaluate whether it makes sense”. However on Wednesday morning the White House revealed they were considering cancelling the entire Australian visit as a result of the deadlock in negotiations with Congress to raise the US debt ceiling.īiden is still confirmed to travel to Hiroshima for this week’s G7 meeting, however “we are re-evaluating the rest of the trip right now”, White House spokesman John Kirby said, including the Australian leg.
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