Prime Minister Scott Morrison to touch down in US, cement mateship with President Donald Trump
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has touched down in the US this morning on one of his most important foreign trips — and to cement his mateship with President Donald Trump.
National
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Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his wife Jenny have arrived in Washington DC ahead of their landmark US state Visit to do “something very important”.
The couple arrived at 6.15pm Thursday local time (8.15am Friday AEST) to a red-carpet welcome.
They were greeted by an official US party led by Cam Henderson, the country’s Chief of Protocol.
A US Air Force band then played both national anthems.
After greeting a group of waiting Australians, Mr Morrison said he was looking forward to the trip to “celebrate our tremendous relationship”.
“Well here we are, the land of the free, the home of the brave,” he said as the couple stood in front of an air force sign.
“As we just heard there are no two anthems anywhere in the world when played together talk about liberty and freedom and everything that we hold dear as Australians.
“As someone said to me years ago, it is not just about the anniversaries, it is not about the years rolling by, you have got to invest in those relationships, you have got to take care and you have to tend to them.
“It is a great honour and privilege for Jenny and I and our delegation to come here at the very gracious invitation of President Trump and Mrs Trump to do something very important.
“Firstly to honour and celebrate 100 years of mateship.
“It is also about laying the foundation for another 100 years.
“And whether it is on our defence relationship, our security relationship, our economic relationship, our partnerships around the world, whether in the Middle East or closer to home around the Pacific, all of these things go together to have, I think, one of the best relationships of any two nations, anywhere in the world.
“There are more larger, I suppose more powerful friends that America has, but they know they dare not have a more steadfast friend than Australia.”
Mr Morrison paid tribute to Australia’s US ambassador Joe Hockey for helping build the alliance.
He also paid tribute to his wife who “looked nice” after the long haul flight.
The fanfare and pageantry launched a frenetic week of high-level meetings, speeches and events at the White House, State Department Pentagon, NASA as well as the United Nations in New York, when Australian space, farming and defence will be promoted.
The landmark trip’s showpiece, however, will be a star-studded formal state dinner on Saturday (AEST), during which the President and First Lady Melania Trump will host the Morrisons as guests of honour.
“At this dawn of a second century of mateship this trip is our opportunity to renew and modernise our Alliance to build the economic and security partnership to help both countries,” Mr Morrison said yesterday, adding that “our mateship cannot be undervalued”.
“Our conversations on trade will be practical discussions that have a real impact on all those Australian farmers, manufacturers, educators and entrepreneurs fighting to attract more business and ultimately create more jobs to support their expansion into more marketplaces. “This trip is once again about the one in five jobs in Australia that depend on trade.”
State dinner attendees will include former NASA astronaut, Adelaide’s Andy Thomas, Melbourne billionaire Anthony Pratt and Queensland IndyCar driver Will Power, of Toowomba.
While the guest list remained a closely guarded secret last night, other reported guests are said to include leading Australian business leaders including billionaires Gina Rinehart, Andrew “Twiggy’’ Forrest and Kerry Stokes.
Rupert Murdoch, executive chairman of News Corp, and his son and co-chairman of News Corp Lachlan Murdoch are also expected to attend, as is Greg Norman.
The White House has only hosted one other state dinner since President Trump won office — for French President Emmanuel Macron. Mr Trump personally invited the Morrisons earlier this year.
The last Australian leader bestowed such an honour was John Howard when he dined with George W. Bush 13 years ago.
After a White House ceremonial welcome, the two leaders will today privately meet in the Oval Office before the Australian delegation meets President Trump’s Cabinet as the First Ladies talk over tea.
Bilateral talks will likely be dominated by mounting Middle East tensions over drone attacks on Saudi Arabian oilfields, Iran’s detention of three Australians, terrorism and Chinese trade wars.
Originally published as Prime Minister Scott Morrison to touch down in US, cement mateship with President Donald Trump