Anthony Albanese’s military parade fail as Australian PM marches away from German chancellor

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had an embarrassing marching mishap during his official visit to Germany, forgetting to stop during a military inspection and awkwardly wandering off.

Anthony Albanese met with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin on Monday to announce Australia will send a surveillance aircraft to Germany to monitor military and humanitarian supplies to Ukraine.

The PM also announced Australia will join the ‘Climate Club’ – an international group that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

All was going swimmingly during a military inspection with Chancellor Scholz, who Mr Albanese had formally invited to visit Australia next year.

As the two paraded, Mr Scholtz stopped and turned to the guard who was following behind but the blissfully unaware Aussie PM continued down the line, taking in the line-up of German soldiers.

Mr Scholz is then seen reaching for Mr Albanese who is none the wiser as he continues on another few steps before the chancellor calls out to him.

The PM then swings around and faces the guard who salutes the pair.

It was a minor slip-up in an otherwise fruitful visit to Germany, with the PM now headed to a NATO summit in Lithuania where the Ukraine conflict is expected to dominate discussions.

Mr Albanese on Monday said Australia is ‘pleased’ to continue to work towards the target of net zero emissions by 2050 and the joining of the climate club is another step in that direction.

‘We’re very pleased to join the climate club because we are ambitious and we also see that this isn’t just the right thing to do by the environment, but this is also the right thing to do by jobs and by our economy,’ Mr Albanese said at a news conference in Berlin.

‘One thing we can do is to cooperate and learn off each other, because you can’t address climate change as just a national issue. It has to be by definition, a global response,’ Mr Albanese said.

As the two paraded, Mr Scholtz stopped and turned to the guard who was following behind but the blissfully unaware Aussie PM continued walking, taking in the line-up of German soldiers (pictured)

The PM on Monday announced Australia will send a surveillance aircraft to Germany to monitor military and humanitarian supplies to Ukraine as well as committing to joining the Climate Club, a group that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions

Australia also agreed to deploy an E-7A Wedgetail aircraft for six months, starting in October, to protect multinational logistics hubs that are used to offer critical support to Ukraine.

The aircraft has a long-range surveillance radar and can simultaneously track airborne and maritime targets, according to the RAAF.

Australian officials state the Wedgetail would operate in European airspace and not within Ukraine, Russia or Belarus.