Anthony Albanese became Australia's 31st prime minister last May. Photo: RNZ / Samuel Rillstone
Australia's Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been included in Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people of 2023, alongside King Charles III, Ukraine's First Lady, Olena Zelenska, and model Bella Hadid.
The annual list - which first appeared in 1999 - compiles leaders, innovators, humanitarians and those in arts and entertainment who had an impact on the world, either in a positive or negative light.
Time's final 100 are picked by its editors from a larger pool of nominations chosen by previous entrants on the list and the US news magazine's international writing staff.
Albanese, a career politician, led the Labor Party to victory in the May 2022 federal election, becoming Australia's 31st prime minister.
Since then, he has sought to lead the country out of the coronavirus pandemic during fractious economic times and spearheaded the push for the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
Other political figures to make the 2023 list were US President Joe Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Cindy McCain, the wife of late US senator John McCain.
Also on the list was Evan Gershkovich, the Wall Street Journal reporter who was arrested and charged with espionage in Russia earlier this month.
Journalist Evan Gershkovich is also on Time's list. Photo: AFP
'A symbol of hope and inspiration'
Each entry on the Time 100 list is accompanied with a foreword by a contemporary, with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau penning a glowing tribute for Albanese, describing him as "a symbol of hope and inspiration".
"He works to lift up and amplify the voices of those who need to be heard from, particularly Indigenous peoples," Trudeau wrote.
"His government supports those who need it most, believes that we need to take ambitious climate action, and unwaveringly supports democracy in the face of unprecedented threat.
"In a world where people are increasingly uncertain about what the future holds for them and their families, it's easy for politicians to sow fear and division.
"To choose the path of hope and opportunity takes immense courage, and that courage lives within Anthony Albanese."
Former Australia prime minister Kevin Rudd made the fifth annual Time 100 list in 2008, with Academy Award-winning actor Cate Blanchett praising him for the apology to the Stolen Generation and for ratifying the Kyoto Protocol climate change treaty.
A year later, Rudd was also shortlisted.
Another former leader, John Howard was on the Time 100 list for 2005, with the late newspaper editor Frank Devine drawing comparisons between the then-PM and the post-war US president, Harry S Truman.
-ABC
