Sunrise host Nat Barr calls out Anthony Albanese’s latest overseas tour as support for The Voice plummets: ‘Not ideal’

Anthony Albanese is going abroad just days after launching a six-week campaign for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.

The prime minister boarded his private jet bound for Indonesia on Tuesday ahead of attending the ASEAN and East Asia summits in Jakarta.

The visit to Indonesia will be the first leg of his nearly week-long trip to Asia, where he will also fly to the Philippines and then India for the G20 summit in New Delhi.

The timing of his visit has been questioned, with polls showing support for The Voice waning.

The latest Newspoll published this week shows that only 38 per cent of Australians intend to vote Yes, with the majority planning to vote No with 53 per cent.

The Prime Minister’s trip to Asia is the first in a series of eight epic overseas trips that will see him fly another 106,500 kilometers in the air before the end of the year.

The global diplomatic marathon adds to the 23 overseas trips he has already made across four continents since becoming prime minister in May 2022.

Sunrise presenter Nat Barr asked Tuesday whether the prime minister should have stayed in Australia.

“The timing is probably not ideal as the No campaign gains momentum,” she said during a panel discussion with journalist Joe Hildebrand.

“Should he go or should he stay,” she asked.

Mr Hildebrand said the ASEAN trip was important to counter China’s rising influence.

“It’s really about building a kind of bulwark, both in terms of trade and security, against China,” he said.

“It takes about ten countries to match China in terms of influence and trading power, and that is the number of countries that are part of ASEAN.

Time and time again the Prime Minister has been accused of paying too much attention to the Voice and not enough attention to bread and butter issues such as the cost of living and national security.

“Well, here he does just that.”

The Prime Minister will return to Australia for a few days in September before departing again, with an expected trip to New York for the United Nations General Assembly.

Albanese will then campaign in the likely hectic last two weeks of campaigning to rally support for the Voice referendum before flying off again.

Regardless of the referendum result, he will be invited to meet with US President Joe Biden during an official four-day state visit to Washington beginning October 23.

In confirming the date last week, Mr Albanese said he accepted the prestigious invitation ‘on behalf of all Australians’.

He added: “Our alliance with the United States has long been at the core of our foreign policy.”

But soon after he returns from that trip, he now has a possible historic meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping scheduled for October 31.

Diplomats from Canberra and Beijing are believed to be working out the finer details, but it will be the first time in seven years that an Australian prime minister has traveled to China.

The trade war with China, amid escalating defense concerns, is finally thawing as the export ban on barley was lifted earlier this month following the latest easing of Chinese restrictions.

This week’s visit to Indonesia also includes the Prime Minister’s launch of Australia’s South East Asia Economic Strategy for 2040 – the plan to strengthen economic ties with regional allies and two-way trade.

Mr Albanese said Australian resources and crucial minerals would likely play a key role in economic ties with Asian countries.

“When I’m in Jakarta for the ASEAN and East Asia Summit, and then in New Delhi for the G20, I can guarantee you that so many leaders at those meetings want to discuss the future of your industry,” he told a media outlet. Dinner of the Mineral Council on Monday.

‘Australian minerals are sought after by any country that wants to industrialize. Now Australian minerals are vital to any country that wants to decarbonise, and they are doubly important to economies like Indonesia and India that want to do both.”

While in Indonesia for both summits, Mr. will hold Albanian talks with Indonesian President Joko Widodo, as well as one-on-one talks with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and leaders from Malaysia and East Timor.

President Joe Biden will not attend the East Asia Summit, with Vice President Kamala Harris representing the US.

Chinese President Xi Jinping will also skip the East Asia Summit and the G20 Summit.

Regional security and tensions in the Indo-Pacific region will dominate talks at the Jakarta summits.

Australian Strategic Policy Institute analyst Gatra Priyandita said the emphasis on ASEAN was crucial for Australia to maintain its strategic focus in the region.

“Anthony Albanese’s presence demonstrates Australia’s commitment to multilateralism in relation to ASEAN and the central role of ASEAN,” he told AAP.

“There has long been an argument that ASEAN is losing out to regional players (as a forum), and the Prime Minister is at least trying to close that gap.”