Joe Biden hosts Anthony Albanese and Jodie Haydon at lavish White House state dinner
The White House has thrown a lavish state dinner for Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and partner Jodie Haydon but the pizzazz was toned down a notch in time of war. See photos.
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A White House state dinner looks like something out of a fairytale – especially when it is held in honour of a kid from a public housing unit in Camperdown, New South Wales.
But Anthony Albanese still had one regret about the night he was feted by the leader of the free world.
“I’m not quite sure how I top this for date night with Jodie (Haydon) at any time, anywhere in the future,” the Prime Minister said, prompting laughter from the crowd.
“It’s all downhill from here, my darling.”
US President Joe Biden’s dinner on Wednesday night (local time) may have been the hottest ticket in town, but the biggest surprise was the Australians who weren’t on the 350-person guest list, rather than those wining and dining in a pavilion on the South Lawn.
No Margot Robbie, not even after Mr Albanese name-checked Barbie in a speech earlier in the day. Perhaps it was the Hollywood actors’ strike that kept her away, or more likely a desire to tone down the star power as war rages in Israel and Ukraine.
No Anthony Pratt or Andrew Forrest, two of Australia’s richest men with major business interests in the US. No Arthur Sinodinos or Joe Hockey, two ex-ambassadors who have played a crucial role in boosting the US-Australia alliance.
The celebrity sightings were instead confined to Vance Joy and The Kid Laroi, although the White House managed to trick some observers by listing the singer by his real name (James Keogh) but not the rapper (Charlton Howard).
The Australian contingent ultimately served to support Mr Albanese’s political agenda, featuring both Australian Council of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil and business association chiefs Innes Willox, Bran Black and Andrew McKellar.
Senior Australian of the Year Tom Calma – a key architect of the defeated Indigenous Voice to Parliament – was on hand after sharing a warm conversation with Mr Biden during the earlier arrival ceremony for the Prime Minister.
So was NRL supremo Peter V’landys, who worked the room spruiking next year’s Las Vegas season opener, as well as body image advocate and Australian of the Year Taryn Brumfitt.
On the American side, the President’s son Hunter was a notable absentee, having made an awkward appearance at the last White House state dinner for Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, just days after pleading guilty to tax and gun charges. His daughters Naomi, Finnegan and Maisy represented the broader Biden family on Wednesday.
But Mr Biden and Mr Albanese were the stars of the show, along with First Lady Jill Biden and Ms Haydon, who was dressed in a draped asymmetric tulle gown on loan from Australian designer Paolo Sebastian.
“We both did very well,” Mr Biden joked to Mr Albanese as the President and his wife greeted Australia’s first couple on the red carpet for the black tie dinner.
The guests feasted on roasted beet salad and butternut squash soup, sarsaparilla-braised short ribs, and a hazelnut and chocolate mousse cake for dessert, while US military bands provided the music after the plug was pulled on Love Shack hitmakers The B-52s.
In his toast, the half-Italian Mr Albanese seized on his shared Irish heritage with Mr Biden by quoting legendary poet William Butler Yeats, while the President dug out some advice from a manual given to 150,000 American troops based in Australia during World War II.
“You’ll find the Australians haven’t much respect for stuffed shirts – their own or anyone else’s,” the troops were advised.
Mr Biden said he had learned as much “becoming friends with the Prime Minister”.
“No wonder we get along so well,” he said.
But the fairytale did not even last until dessert. The President’s aides had to pull him away to brief him on an horrific mass shooting in Maine.
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