NICOLA SMITH: Donald Trump has laid down gauntlet with Gaza plan, Anthony Albanese needs to rise to occasion

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was asked for direction on US President Donald Trump’s potentially history-shifting plan to take over the Gaza Strip and did not rise to the occasion.

“I’m not going to have a running commentary on statements by the President of the United States,” Mr Albanese said repeatedly when asked by the Canberra-based media.

“The Australian government supports on a bipartisan basis, a two-state solution,” he answered multiple times. “My job is to give Australia’s position,” he stressed, refusing to deviate from set-piece responses.

But Mr Trump’s shock proposal for the US to occupy Gaza and for Palestinians to be permanently resettled effectively upends long-held hopes of reaching a two-state solution, and Australia’s Government does not have the luxury of sitting in isolation when it comes to such consequential global shifts.

Mr Trump’s plan, if it proceeds, would not only trigger major ramifications across the turbulent Middle East but its consequences would also play out on the streets of Australia’s cities as the country already struggles to contain a rise in violent acts of anti-Semitism.

On the global stage, as one of the United States’ closest allies, Washington could be expected to demand Canberra’s support.

Nobody has been asking the Prime Minister for a “running commentary” on every whim of the Trump administration.

Mr Albanese has not faced demands for Canberra to come to Denmark’s defence amid reports of Mr Trump’s threats if Copenhagen does not cede to his takeover demands of Greenland.

The Government had hoped to lead Wednesday’s headlines with its new $1.7bn fund for public hospitals, but it now faces the fresh reality of its daily agenda being derailed by Trump’s White House.

And on issues with the potential to create global shockwaves, the public should expect it to be ready with a more robust and longer-term vision.