Richard Marles says Roger Cook’s JD Vance insult would not have been his language of choice
Defence Minister Richard Marles has distanced the Federal Government from Premier Roger Cook’s loose comment labelling US Vice-President JD Vance a “knob”, saying it would not have been his term of choice.
Mr Cook twice apologised for the “light-hearted” remark that he made during a fill-the-blank section of The West Australian’s Leadership Matters event on Tuesday.
Mr Marles said the relationship between Australia and the second Trump administration was going well.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“Well, I wouldn’t use that language,” he told the ABC on Wednesday morning.
“And I think Premier Cook has also perhaps said that this was not a moment of the greatest discipline on his part, which we can all understand.
“But look, we are working very closely in building our relationship with the new administration in Washington.”
Mr Marles pointed out that he was the first counterpart US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth met, Foreign Minister Penny Wong was among the first to meet diplomat Marco Rubio and Prime Minister Anthony Albanese had spoken twice with President Donald Trump.
“There is a real courtesy and respect which is being afforded to us by the Trump administration, and we’re grateful for that,” he said.
Mr Albanese has continued to offer Australia’s strong support for Ukraine but has been more reluctant to rebuke Mr Trump or Mr Vance for their extraordinary Oval Office confrontation with President Volodymyr Zelensky, unlike other global leaders.
Australia is hopeful of securing exemptions from US steel and aluminium tariffs due to come into effect next week.
Mr Marles said the Government would continue to put Australia’s case.
“The point here is that there is a trade surplus that America enjoys in respect of the two-way trade that we have … and to the extent that we are exporting products, aluminium and steel into America, that benefits American jobs,” he told Sky News.
“All we can do is make sure that we are pressing our cases as fulsomely as possible, which we are doing.”
