Anthony Albanese gives himself rockstar welcome home donning Joy Division t-shirt after Trump meet

There was no hiding Anthony Albanese’s hubris when he touched down in Australia after his successful meeting with Donald Trump.

The PM gave himself a rockstar welcome home from Washington, donning a Joy Division T-shirt as he stepped off the plane at Sydney Airport.

His casual choice of a band T-shirt was fitting for a leader comfortable turning diplomacy into performance. The PM looked every bit the frontman of his own victory tour as he basked in the afterglow of the meeting with President Trump that exceeded expectations.

His White House treatment included compliments from Mr Trump saying he was doing a “fantastic job as the Prime Minister” and referred to him as a “friend” and Australia as an “amazing ally”.

“They’ve really got a great Prime Minister,” the President said, when lavishing Mr Albanese in praise.

Mr Albanese replied through laughter: “I’ll use it in my ads in 2028”.

It was an interesting claim after the Labor campaign machine used likening Peter Dutton to Mr Trump as warning for people to vote against his rival.

Mr Albanese and US President had successfully penned a $US8.5 billion ($13 billion) critical minerals deal during the bilateral and shared commitment to the longevity of the AUKUS defence pact.

Politicians — serving and former — shared their praise to Mr Albanese for the successful trip. Even former Liberal PM Malcolm Turnbull who rated his performance a “10/10”.

Mr Trump’s warm endorsement came after four phone calls between the pair, with Mr Albanese describing the last “warm and constructive”.

It marked a contrast from the infamous heated confrontation Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy faced during one White House trip, and the ambush South African president Cyril Ramaphosa received over false claims of “white genocide”.

There was only one awkward moment when Mr Trump failed to recognise Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, before telling him “I don’t like you either. I don’t. And I probably never will.”

The timing couldn’t have been better for the PM given China’s latest round of proposed restrictions on rare earths, which gave Mr Trump a reason to look favourably on Canberra.

Even issues which were expected to be points of tension were overlooked.

Mr Trump did not press the issue of defence spending, despite Secretary of War Pete Hegseth previously requests to Defence Minister Richard Marles for the nation to lift it to 3.5 per cent of GDP.

It won’t be the last time the PM gets to show off his band-shirt, as he prepares to jet off again for the upcoming APEC and ASEAN summits in Asia.

It will mean Mr Albanese won’t be able to flaunt the success of his trip on the floor of Parliament when it resumes next week in Canberra.

It wasn’t the first time Mr Albanese has dressed down on international trips, with previous travelling parties understood to have copped his grumbles about having to change into a suit to exit the plane.

His Joy Division T-Shirt also made an appearance during his trip to China in July to meet President Xi Jinping.

Mr Albanese’s casual appearance on the tarmac was however, soon met with chaos when he returned to Kirribilli House where a man’s behaviour drew a large police presence.

The man was spoken to and patted down by officers before he was taken from the scene to hospital by ambulance.

It came after the first leg of his flight home was diverted to Missouri when a crew member was struck in the head by luggage from an overhead locker.

The PM will fly to Kuala Lumpur on Sunday for the ASEAN/East Asia Summit and then on to South Korea for APEC.