Anthony Albanese was left rather pink-faced when he rocked up to a press conference with other leaders of Pacific nations in the wrong Hawaiian shirt.

The Prime Minister clearly did not get the memo when he arrived at a meeting during the Pacific Islands Forum in in Honiara, the capital of the Solomon Islands, on Wednesday night. Albanese stuck out like a sore thumb in a floral, bright pink shirt, while the other world leaders all wore a more sober and serious navy blue.

As the leaders took questions from the press, an embarrassed PM got up and left the room in footage captured by the ABC. He returned moments later in the right shirt, with Mark Brown, Prime Minister of the Cook Islands, laughing at his expense.

Albanese allowed a brief smile before he resumed a serious expression. But the gentle ribbing didn’t end there for the PM. New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told reporters his counterpart ‘made some mistakes yesterday on his shirt selection so I was just reminding him of it’.

Asked if Albanese’s decision was an example of Australia ‘being the big dog and thinking they can do whatever they want’, Luxon took an opportunity to needle his rivals across the ditch. ‘No, I think he just forgot the instructions to be honest, but you know, you’ve got to reiterate quite a lot to the Australians what they need to be doing and the rules sometimes,’ Luxon added.

Albanese had earlier shared a ‘family photo’ taken with the other gathered leaders, all of them wearing the same shirt. ‘When we work together, our whole region is stronger. I’m proud to be in Solomon Islands for the Pacific Islands Forum this year, to help shape a more prosperous, and secure region,’ he captioned the post.

The Pacific Islands Forum is an annual meeting of 18 Pacific Island countries and territories, including Australia and New Zealand, to discuss climate change, economic ties and security pacts. The Pacific leaders are pushing to co-host the 2026 United Nations COP climate talks over a competing bid from Turkey.

Albanese said he and his counterparts at the Pacific Islands Forum were universally aligned on bringing the United Nations environmental summit climate-vulnerable region. The Labor government had been hoping to sign a new $500 million economic and security treaty with Vanuatu before the Pacific Islands Forum but it has been postponed over concerns about infrastructure funding from China.