His chief-of-staff Peta Credlin also attended the Murdoch meal. Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin arrive for dinner with Rupert Murdoch. Credit:Andrew Meares The two came from an event with the Asia Society after an action-packed day in New York City. Mr Abbott had expressed a hope that he and Mr Murdoch could meet during his time in New York, calling the News Corp boss a ''distinguished Australian''. A spokeswoman for Mr Abbott could not say what the Australian Prime Minister and the Australian-born mogul, and long-time US citizen, would discuss during their rendezvous, only that it was a private meal.

But perhaps Mr Murdoch's views on climate change will be on the agenda during Mr Abbott's dinner. Mr Abbott and Ms Credlin emerge at 10.19pm from the lobby of Rupert Murdoch's apartment in Central Park West, New York. Credit:Andrew Meares As he recently tweeted: ''Wild winter in US, UK, etc. no respectable evidence any of this man made climate change in spite of blindly ignorant politicians''. Mr Abbott follows in the footsteps of Julia Gillard and Kevin Rudd, who hung out with Mr Murdoch in NYC while they were in the top job. Then opposition leader Kevin Rudd pictured leaving the News Corporation building with Rupert Murdoch after a meeting in April, 2007, in New York. He visited again after being elected prime minister. Credit:Michael Nagle

But despite the tradition of Australian PMs dropping in on the News Corp chairman, Mr Abbott's visit has prompted a not-too subtle dig from Greens leader Christine Milne. ''@TonyAbbott MHR set for dinner and latest instructions from Rupert Murdoch,'' Senator Milne tweeted. On Wednesday, Labor leader Bill Shorten said that Mr Abbott was "entitled to meet with whoever he wants". "I just wish Mr Abbott would come and meet with real Australians who are putting up with the unfair impact of his budget". Later this week, Mr Abbott is to have a highly anticipated meeting with US President Barack Obama, where the two leaders' differing views on how to combat to climate change could be discussed.

The Prime Minister has repeated statements he made with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Tuesday that he does not support emissions trading or pricing carbon and that climate change should be tackled in a way that does not harm economic development. Loading In contrast, Mr Obama this week declared that if there was one thing he could do to combat global warming it would be to put a price on carbon. Last week, Mr Obama promised a 30 per cent cut in coal-fired emissions by 2030, which dwarfs Australia's target of 5 per cent by 2020. Follow us on Twitter