Former prime minister Kevin Rudd has backed United States calls for Russia to be kicked out of the G20.
Overnight, US President Joe Biden said Russia should be removed from the global body following its invasion of Ukraine.
Mr Biden said if countries such as Indonesia, which is hosting this year's G20 summit, do not agree with Russia's removal then Ukraine should be allowed to attend the meeting of global leaders.
Mr Rudd, who helped elevate the G20 into a leaders' summit during his prime ministerial stint, said Australia should back the US in calling for Russia's removal.
"Given the egregious action by Russia in the territorial invasion of Ukraine, I believe that as a treaty ally of the United States we should support the leadership of the US president on this matter, until we have a resolution of the situation in the Ukraine," he told ABC Radio on Friday.
"It took a lot of diplomacy to get Australia in a position at the top of the economic table of the world."
On Thursday, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said allowing Russian President Vladimir Putin's presence at the G20 meeting in October would be a step too far.
Federal Labor has also joined calls for Australia to work in lockstep with other allies, with deputy leader Richard Marles indicating Australia should work with other G20 nations on how to handle Russia's presence.
"We should be working with Indonesia and all the G20 countries to make sure that at the next G20 there is complete unanimity in condemning Russia for its war aggression in Ukraine," he told the Nine Network.
"That's really important that the G20 adds its voice to the global communities, which we're seeing with NATO, which we've seen with the General Assembly of the UN.
"It's really important the G20 adds its voice to all the voices in condemning Russia for what it's doing."
Defence Minister Peter Dutton reiterated his call for Chinese President Xi Jinping to play a role in telling Russia to call off attacks on Ukraine.
"That's where the pressure needs to come from. It's OK for the US and Australia and other like-minded countries to continue to ramp up the pressure, but Putin's resisted it so far," he told the Nine Network.
"China needs to step up and not provide the comfort they've provided to Russia, but to step in and to really put pressure on them to withdraw from Ukraine and stop the carnage from taking place."
Mr Dutton said Australia was continuing to work with other allied nations to make sure there were unified sanctions against Russia.
"There's a lot that we're doing, particularly in terms of the sanctions," he said.
"We've now had four C-17 flights of military and medication and equipment and otherwise, requested by the Ukrainians to help them fight, stay alive and help them repel the Russian forces."
