If Australia can't trust the US, can it trust Japan?

Global Roaming with Geraldine Doogue and Hamish Macdonald · May 1, 2026 · 29m

There’s an important meeting in Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s diary.

On Monday, Japan’s first female prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, will touch down in Australia for high‑level talks with the Albanese government, following Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s trip to Tokyo to shore up fuel and fertiliser supplies.

So, are friends in need friends indeed? Australia wants fuel from our friends in the north, but what will Japan’s new prime minister want in return?

Takaichi has been called the world’s most powerful woman. So, how will Anthony Albanese approach the meeting? And as Japan bolsters its…