Anthony Albanese’s sky high travel log as he prepares to fly out for the 18th time

The opposition says the PM should be spending more time at home as he prepares to set out for his 18th overseas trip.

The overseas travel log of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will rack up more kilometres than a trip to the moon when he jets out to the United States this week.

Mr Albanese’s visit, to attend the APEC forum in San Francisco, will be his 18th international trip since he took office in May last year.

Analysis by The Advertiser shows that on return he will have travelled 385,586km – further than the 384,400km distance between Earth and the moon.

It will be Mr Albanese’s third visit to the US – the second having taken place late last month for a state dinner.

He has also visited Indonesia and Japan three times, while he has twice visited Fiji, India and the UK.

The schedule has earned him the nickname “Airbus Albo” from some within the Opposition, but the government says the visits have achieved a range of outcomes in the national interest.

Those have included a $5bn investment in Australia announced by Microsoft during a US visit and an announcement during the German visit that Australia would supply more than 100 heavy weapon carriers to Germany, worth $1bn to the Australian economy.

On his recent trip to Beijing, Mr Albanese spoke of China’s role as “our most important trading partner”.

“It represents more than 25 per cent of our exports, and one in four of our jobs relies upon our trade,” he said.

“We are a trading nation. This is very much in Australia’s national interest for us to be engaged just as it was in Australia’s national interest for me to be engaged in the United States.”

The government has also pointed to the return of Cheng Lei from China, Chau Van Kham from Vietnam and Sean Turnell from Myanmar as reflections of international engagement supported by visits.

Dr Emma Shortis, senior researcher with the Australia Institute’s International and Security Affairs program, said prime ministers back to Gough Whitlam have faced criticism about their overseas travel.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on board an RAAF aircraft flight from Sydney to Brisbane. Picture: Lachlan McKenzie/Supplied

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in India. Picture: Twitter @ALBO MP

But she said it was incumbent on a prime minister to strike the right balance between international and domestic engagement.

“I think that the prime minister has been doing that quite successfully,” she said.

“It can be difficult to see that, I think, from the outside when we expect more programs and announceables.

“But particularly his recent trip to China shows that a lot of international relations is symbolic … and maintaining and deepening and broadening those relationships, particularly the difficult ones, is essential to the peace and security of Australia.”

Dr Shortis said the timing of international trips was sometimes unfortunate — for example, Mr Albanese’s two trips to the US in the space of a month – but that was not always in the government’s control.

She said, on balance, Australia’s international standing has improved over the past 18 months – considering the improvements in relationships with China and the US.

Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese arrives at Haneda airport in Tokyo on May 23. Picture: Charly Triballeau/AFP

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong set out for Japan in May. Picture: David Gray/Getty Images

“The government has engaged in a concerted effort to do that, quite clearly,” she said.

“But I do think that our allies and our partners, particularly in the Pacific, are very aware of the kind of contradiction between symbols and statements and the material reality of Australian policy, and I think it will become increasingly difficult for the government to walk that contradictory line.”

Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley said leading Australia is about priorities, and the Opposition has supported “certain trips taken in our national security interest”.

“But what is clear is that whilst he has been overseas and distracted by the Voice, Anthony Albanese has failed the Australian people on cost-of-living,” she said.

“On Anthony Albanese’s watch, millions of Australians have been falling into food insecurity, struggling to hold on to their homes and facing unaffordable rent rises.

“It is for the Prime Minister to justify how he spends his important time, but the situation facing Australians today is not what he promised when he was elected.”

She did not identify which of Mr Albanese’s trips the Opposition did not support.

A government source said the Opposition should be upfront about which visits it would have cut.

“Which international relationship, that directly affects Australian businesses here doesn’t matter? Which Australian returned home due to these closer ties wasn’t worth the engagement?”

Originally published as Anthony Albanese’s sky high travel log as he prepares to fly out for the 18th time