Analysis of PM Albanese’s US Trip and State Dinner
Who: Dr Emma Shortis, Senior Researcher in the Australia Institute’s International & Security Affairs Program
What: Dr Shortis is available to provide analysis and commentary on Prime Minister Albanese’s trip to the Unites States and State Dinner with President Joe Biden.
When: The State Dinner will take place on Thursday morning, Australia time. Dr Shortis is available for interview and is based in Melbourne.
“Australian leaders have generally shared the President’s view of the United States as a force for good in the world,” said Dr Shortis.
“That message is complicated by chaos in US domestic politics, where the lack of a House Speaker will likely mean Albanese won’t be able to address a joint sitting of Congress as originally planned.
“In a world overshadowed by disastrous conflict at home and abroad, Biden and Albanese will stick to a familiar narrative, arguing that we live in a world divided into democracies versus autocracies.
“We can expect to hear a lot about our 'shared values' of democracy, and the importance of the international rules-based order. Biden and Albanese are betting on US leadership still being up to the task of holding everything together.”
Media enquiries: Chris Redman on 0457 974 636
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Dr Emma Shortis is historian and writer, focused on the history and politics of the United States and its role in the world.
Emma’s first book, Our Exceptional Friend: Australia’s Fatal Alliance with the United States, was published by Hardie Grant in 2021. She writes regularly for Australian and international outlets and appears regularly on Australian radio and television.
Before joining the Australia Institute, Emma was a Lecturer at RMIT University, where her academic work focused on international relations and climate transition. Before that, she spent a year in the United States as Fox-Zucker International Fellow at Yale University, where she finished her PhD in History.