Australian news and politics live: Albanese addresses Rudd-Trump meet, rejects Coalition secrecy claims

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has played down a meeting Kevin Rudd had with Donald Trump in January, saying he’d previously spoken publicly about it.

The former Labor PM turned Australian ambassador and the Us President met on January 11, at the Trump international golf club dining room in west Palm Beach, Florida.

Speaking in Sydney on Friday, the PM said it wasn’t a secret and slammed criticisms from Liberal Senator James Patterson who has called for further details on the face-to-face.

“I’d spoken publicly about this at the time. I spoke in a morning TV interview. James Patterson needs to pay more attention,” he said.

“They had a brief discussion. It’s out there. What we don’t do is take meetings with world leaders. What we do is engage constructively.

“I talked about it at the time, so it’s pretty hard for it to be a secret when you talk about it and get asked on morning TV.”

The Prime Minister in January briefly mentioned in a TV interview Mr Rudd had met the US President but did not provide any details on that meeting, only saying he had “already had a meeting with the incoming President”.

Anthony Albanese has backed his Foreign Minister Penny Wong ahead of his China trip after she warned of China’s “worrying” military build-up at a Malaysian event this week.

Asked if Senator Wong had spoken out of turn in her Institute for Strategic and International Studies address, the PM said she “does a fantastic job”.

“Penny Wong speaks as Australia’s Foreign Minister and never speaks in any other capacity than that. She does a fantastic job,” he told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

“We raise the full range of issues. We cooperate where we can and we disagree where we must and we’re able to have those honest conversations about some of the disagreements that are there.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared he’s “pro-Panda” ahead of this six-day trip to China.

His trip will include stops in Beijing, Shanghai and to the infamous panda-hub of Chengdu in the south west of China.

“On my last visit to China, I did declare that we were pro-panda and, as a direct result of that, we still have pandas present of course in the Adelaide zoo,” he told reporters in Sydney on Friday.

“That is a major tourist attraction but it is also a sign of friendship between our two countries.

“I will visit Chengdu next week, as well I look forward to that.

“We have a range of cultural exchanges which can be really positive in broadening understanding between our two countries.”

Anthony Albanese has spruiked Australian Border Force’s current work to cancel visas of people posing anti-Semitic risk after it was a recommendation on special envoy Jillian Segal’s plan released yesterday.

Asked while speaking in Sydney if the Federal Government was doing enough, the PM brought up the recent example of Australia cancelling rapper Kayne West’s access to the country.

“We make sure that we represent Australia’s national interests,” he said.

“You recall, there was a particular American citizen who recently got denied a visa because of the anti-Semitic comments that he’d made in having a song that praised Adolf Hitler.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has slammed the former Coalition government for their previously icy relationship with China, Australia’s biggest trading partner.

China in 2020 imposed trade sanctions on Australian products including beef, barley, lobsters and wine after the Morrison government’s criticism of Beijing over the origins of COVID.

Speaking at a wine cellar door in Sydney on Friday, he said his government had worked hard to restore that relationship.

“Businesses will recall that in the term of government between 2019 and 2022 there were no fun conversations between Australian government representatives and Chinese government representatives,” he said.

“They recall that there were impediments to more than $20 billion of our trade.

“Wine is one of the areas that has bounced back very strongly.”

Speaking in Sydney on Friday morning, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has expressed the importance of Australia’s relationship with China.

Sharing new details of his upcoming six day trip, the PM said a string of businesses will join his delegation.

“There’ll be representatives of companies like Rio Tinto, BHP, Fortescue, Macquarie Bank, the university sector as well traveling with me,” he said.

“I’m very much looking forward to traveling with so many Australian businesses.

“It will be a further demonstration of the good relations that exist between Australia and China.

“The relationship with China means jobs in Australia.”

Former ambassador to the US Arthur Sinodinos, who was in Washington during the latter part of Donald Trump’s first term, says the government or DFAT should clarify the nature of Kevin Rudd’s encounter with Donald Trump.

“I assume what happened is that Kevin went down there on the chance that he would be able to meet the President, say hello. And that’s perfectly natural,” Mr Sinodinos told Sky News.

“No one expects Kevin to disclose anything that’s confidential or whatever, but if it was just a meet and greet and a quick hello and how you going and what’s happening in Australia, I mean, you can make some general comments about that.

“I don’t think the President would have blown him off. He’s not like that in private, necessarily. So I don’t think they need to say much. It’s just to clarify the nature of the encounter.”

A former Sydney councillor and self-proclaimed “alpha male” has been nominated by US President Donald Trump as the new US ambassador to Malaysia, with the President praising the Hooters enthusiast as an “incredible patriot.”

In 2023, Adams’s posts on X revealed his interests, including the restaurant chain Hooters, rare steaks, heavy weightlifting, and the Bible. He also described himself as “pursued by copious amounts of women”.

Following his nomination, Nick Adams took to X to express his gratitude to Mr Trump for what he called the “honor of a lifetime,” adding, “In your America, all dreams come true.”

Mr Adams wrote, “It will be my honor to represent the United States of America in Malaysia.”

“I look forward to a confirmation process that reflects the Constitution which has given me the freedom to pursue the American Dream.”

He concluded his post with, “Thank you again to our Greatest President Ever! God Bless the United States of America!”

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The Coalition is demanding more details after it was revealed Australia’s ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd and Donald Trump had a brief meeting at the US President’s Florida golf club.

The informal “pull aside” meeting occurred in the dining room of the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach on January 11 this year.

Answers released on notice from senate estimates on Wednesday also said a diplomatic cable was produced and sent back to Canberra, which would most likely detailed the meeting.

“Ambassador Rudd has professional relationships with and has met with a range of senior Administration officials,” the document read.

​Read more.​

After it was revealed Australia’s Ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd’s had a private meeting with US President Donald Trump, Shadow Finance Minister James Paterson says the stakes for Australia’s relationship with the US have never been higher.

Mr Paterson argues that while it’s positive for Australia’s Prime Minister to pursue a meeting with Mr Trump, the government’s lack of detail about Mr Rudd’s January conversation raises concerns.

“We don’t know if the meeting lasted 30 seconds or 30 minutes, or if it went well or badly,” Mr Paterson told Sunrise.

“Have there been any subsequent conversations or meetings between the Ambassador or President. Has the Ambassador even had a meeting at the White House? We don’t know any of this information.

Paterson also highlighted the importance of scrutinising Mr Rudd’s performance as ambassador, given his past criticism of Trump and the major issues at stake—including AUKUS, trade, and looming tariffs on Australian exports.

“If the arrangement isn’t working, we need to know now so changes can be made to protect Australia’s interests.

“We could have tariffs supplied to the $3 billion pharmaceutical export sector any day now and we still don’t know where we stand on that.”