A former prime minister helped prepare Anthony Albanese for his highly anticipated first face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump by giving him "fighting words" in the event of a hostile moment.

Paul Keating, Labor prime minister from 1991 to 1996, revealed he gave Albanese advice after seeing Trump lash out at other leaders ahead of their October 20 meeting.

"I did give our prime minister a heap of fighting points in the event that Trump turned nasty on him," he told the audience at an event at the State Library of NSW last night. 

"It turned out he didn't have to use them."

Keating added that he believed Albanese was "up for having Australia punch back" if he experienced any hostility.

"If you showed the slightest sign of weakness, you're buggered with him," he said, describing the

See Full Page