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Penny Wong’s secret weapon as meeting with Trump’s top diplomat Marco Rubio looms

Penny Wong could have a trick up her sleeve for when she meets with Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State.

Penny Wong will open Australia’s budget books to explain our defence spending to Donald Trump’s top diplomat, in a bid to woo the administration and dampen pressure from the United States on our military bottom line.

The Foreign Affairs Minister plans to point to the Albanese’s government’s indirect spend on military-related items across a number of departments, if current defence spending levels come under fire when she faces off against US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington.

It’s understood the Minister could make the point Australia is already spending more than two per cent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defence, if budget items like veteran’s affairs claims are included, if pressed during the meeting.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Monday hinted the tactic could be used, when he pointed out the United States’ spend on defence included infrastructure linked to military use.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese with Foreign Minister Penny Wong. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

“The United States, for example, includes some funding for roads and bridges as part of their defence expenditure. We haven’t done that in Australia,” Mr Albanese told the ABC on Monday.

Ms Wong’s series of sit-downs in the US – as part of a meeting of Quad-aligned nations consisting of the US, Australia, India and Japan – comes amid ongoing pressure from the Trump administration for Australia and other nations to lift defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP.

It also comes as the Prime Minister faces increasing pressure to secure a meeting with President Trump, while worldwide tariffs levelled by the US could be imposed within days.

Ms Wong touched down in the US on Tuesday morning, Canberra time, immediately meeting with Australia’s ambassador to the country, Kevin Rudd.

“Looking forward to discussing how we continue to support a peaceful, stable and prosperous Indo-Pacific,” she wrote alongside a picture posted on social media with the former Prime Minister.

Australian Foreign minister Penny Wong snaps a picture with ambassador to the US, former PM Kevin Rudd, shortly after arriving in Washington on Tuesday. Picture: X
Australian Foreign minister Penny Wong snaps a picture with ambassador to the US, former PM Kevin Rudd, shortly after arriving in Washington on Tuesday. Picture: X

It came as Mr Rudd faced renewed criticism from the Opposition, with Coalition defence spokesman Angus Taylor saying “there’s something not working here” when queried over the role the ambassador had played so far in landing a first meeting between Mr Trump and Mr Albanese.

“What I know is … it’s not working and the reasons for that probably are apparent to the Prime Minister himself. So, sort it out,” Mr Taylor told 2GB.

Mr Albanese defended his predecessor on Tuesday, saying having a former prime minister as ambassador highlighted the value Australia placed on their relationship with the US.

“It says something about the importance that we place in (our relationship) that we have a former prime minister in Kevin Rudd as our Ambassador. That says a lot about the priority that we place in the relationship with the United States,” Mr Albanese told Sunrise.

In a packed day of meetings, Ms Wong is expected to first hold a bilateral with Japanese counterpart Takeshi Iwaya, before a full gathering of the Quad’s foreign ministers.

She will then meet with Mr Rubio before finishing with India’s external affairs minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Originally published as Penny Wong’s secret weapon as meeting with Trump’s top diplomat Marco Rubio looms

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Original URL: https://www.couriermail.com.au/news/nsw/penny-wongs-secret-weapon-as-meeting-with-trumps-top-diplomat-marco-rubio-looms/news-story/994b10ffc10b879556a4093bd8faf119