Anthony Albanese has confirmed the Sydney Quad meeting will not go ahead, after US president Joe Biden pulled out of his Australian visit to deal with domestic issues.
Early Wednesday morning Albanese was still hopeful the meeting with the leaders of India and Japan could proceed with a senior representative from the US, but hours later confirmed the event was off.
Instead, the Quad nations are expected to have a sideline meeting at the G7 summit in Hiroshima this weekend, with all four leaders still attending.
Biden's visit to Australia, with a historic stop to Papua New Guinea having been confirmed in recent weeks, had been long anticipated and would have included an address to the parliament.
Instead, Albanese will hold a bilateral with Biden in Japan, and has been invited to the US later this year for a state visit.
It is not known when Biden will be able to reschedule his Australian trip.
The postponement, due to hostile negotiations with the Republican heavy US congress over the government's debt ceiling comes at a delicate time in the US's engagement with the Pacific region.
The visit was supposed to help cement the US's renewed interest in the Indo-Pacific and help quell regional concerns over the Aukus agreement.
In a radio interview speaking on the postponement, which came just hours after the visit had been confirmed, Albanese stressed Biden's commitment to the Quad arrangement.
"President Biden emphasised the importance of the Quad," he said.
"He was very disappointed at some of the actions of some members of Congress and the US Senate. We long ago passed the time where opposition parties tried to hold up supply in Australia, you might recall, you're old enough like me to recall 1975. And ever since then, of course, we don't have those supply issues. But that effectively is what you've got in the US at the moment.
"And obviously the domestic priority for the President, understandably, is to play a role in resolving those issues."