Camperdown kid Anthony Albanese takes his place at the table of power

After a six-week campaign shaking hands with mums and dads, workers and child carers, Australia’s 31st PM was in hot demand in Tokyo.

Joe Biden, right, jokingly stages a mock walkout at Kantei Palace in Tokyo on Tuesday as Anthony Albanese relates his experiences years ago on a US State Department program. Picture: Reuters

Anthony Albanese – the “kid from Camperdown” – now sits at the table of global power.

After a six-week campaign shaking hands with mums and dads, workers and child carers, Australia’s 31st Prime Minister was in hot demand in Tokyo on Tuesday. For the bloke known as Albo to Australians, many of whom had written him off against Scott Morrison, sharing equal billing with Joe Biden was surreal.

Adrenaline Albanese had built up through the campaign, Saturday’s decimation of the Liberal Party and the rush to swear him in less than 48 hours after the polls closed kept the exhaustion at bay.

The Prime Minister achieved the purpose of his flying visit to Japan: to reassure Australia’s closest allies that his government was “all-in” on the Quad, the ANZUS alliance and the AUKUS military pact.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, US President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the Quad meeting in Tokyo.

Early interaction between Biden and Albanese – two fellow travellers of the Left – felt warmer than relations between the US President and Morrison.

But despite the familiarity, Biden’s leading hawks Jake Sullivan, Kurt Campbell and Antony Blinken wanted to check out Albanese up close. They were impressed by Albanese, despite the fact he is playing catch-up on security briefings and getting up to speed on intelligence reports.

When Biden spotted Albanese ahead of the Quad summit “family photo” at the Kantei, he pointed at the Labor leader and threw his arm over his shoulder. In his opening remarks, Biden heaped praise on his new “fella from down under”.

“Prime Minister Albanese, I welcome you to your first Quad meeting,” Biden said.

“Like I said, you got on a plane — you were sworn in and got on a plane … if you fall asleep while you’re here, it’s okay. Because I don’t know how you’re doing it.”

Biden again congratulated Albanese on his election win. “As I told when you won — I called you — that we greatly appreciate your commitment of being here so soon after taking office,” he said.

The budding relationship developed later in the day at their bilateral meeting. In front of the US and Australian press packs, Biden jokingly walked away from Albanese after the Prime Minister recounted stories from his 20s when he visited the National Rifle Association and Planned Parenthood under a US State Department sponsored program. Biden stood-up to walk-off before quipping “you’re a brave man”.

Anthony Albanese, left, and Penny Wong in Tokyo on Tuesday. Picture: Getty Images

Mr Albanese ended the public chat between the leaders by inviting Biden “down under”. “Thank you Mr President, for your congratulations and your warm welcome,” he said. “And I look forward to welcoming you down to the Quad leaders’ meeting next year. But also, my intention is, I will be visiting the US before then. And I look forward to that.”

Thankfully for Albanese, Biden agreed the Labor leader should visit Washington DC.

Albanese will arrive back in Australia on Wednesday night to finalise his ministerial line-up when caucus meets next week.

Expect Albanese to come bearing climate change gifts at the Pacific Islands Forum, which is scheduled for next month.