Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese faced an awkward moment on Thursday AEST when he was asked by reporters how he intended to handle his relationship with American president-elect Donald Trump.
The question came after a 2017 video was unearthed in which Albanese, appearing at a popular music festival, Splendour in the Grass, was asked about how he would cope with Trump. At the time, the Labor prime minister was in the opposition and serving as transport and infrastructure spokesman, while Trump was six months into new presidency.
“With trepidation,” Albanese responded.
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“You’ve got to deal with who was elected,” he continued. “We have an alliance with the U.S., we’ve got to deal with him, but that doesn’t mean that you’re uncritical about it.
“He [Trump] scares the s--- out of me and I think it’s of some concern that the leader of the Free World thinks that you can conduct politics through 140 characters on Twitter.”
On Thursday morning local time, Albanese, who was elected prime minister in 2022, confirmed via social media that he had spoken to Trump to personally congratulate him on his election victory.
“We talked about the importance of the Alliance, and the strength of the Australia-US relationship in security, AUKUS, trade and investment,” Albanese said. “I look forward to working together in the interests of both our countries.”
What Albanese didn’t mention, however, was whether he apologized to Trump for the negative comments after suggestions that he should say sorry.
Hours earlier, at a press conference, Albanese was quizzed about whether he would confront the president-elect on his former comments.
“No,” he said. “I look forward to working with President Trump. I’ve demonstrated, I think, my ability to work with world leaders and to develop relationships with them, which are positive. And I think that I’ve demonstrated in the 2.5 years that I’ve had the honour of being Prime Minister.”
It comes as Australia’s ambassador in Washington, former Labor Party prime minister Kevin Rudd, confirmed he had removed disparaging posts about Trump.
“In his previous role as the head of an independent US-based think tank, Mr. Rudd was a regular commentator on American politics,” a statement said.
“Out of respect for the office of President of the United States, and following the election of President Trump, Ambassador Rudd has now removed these past commentaries from his personal website and social media channels. This has been done to eliminate the possibility of such comments being misconstrued as reflecting his positions as Ambassador and, by extension, the views of the Australian Government.
“Ambassador Rudd looks forward to working with President Trump and his team to continue strengthening the US-Australia alliance.”
