Morrison backs Rudd as Australia’s man in DC despite Trump sledges

The Albanese government has launched an energetic charm offensive aimed at locking in support for the AUKUS security pact and ensuring Australia is not hit by Donald Trump’s tariffs, as ambassador to the US Kevin Rudd scrubbed critical comments about the incoming US president from his online record.

Former prime minister Scott Morrison said Rudd should be allowed to remain in Washington despite his past criticisms of Trump, while Australia’s former ambassador to the US, Arthur Sinodinos, urged Albanese to move swiftly to meet with Trump to build a personal rapport.

Albanese spoke to Trump by telephone on Thursday morning, making him one of the first global leaders to secure a conversation with Trump since his election victory.

Australia’s ambassador to the US, Kevin Rudd, in the corridor after a television interview in the press gallery at Parliament House.Credit: Alex Ellinghausen

“We talked about the importance of the alliance, and the strength of the Australia-US relationship in security, AUKUS, trade and investment,” Albanese said on social media.

“I look forward to working together in the interests of both our countries.”

Speaking to reporters in Canberra, Albanese said he would continue to advocate for free trade even though Trump had vowed to impose tariffs between 10 and 20 per cent on all imports into the United States.

“We’re a trading nation, and we will continue to be advocates for free and fair trade,” Albanese said.

Albanese has insisted that Rudd will remain US ambassador even though the former prime minister previously excoriated Trump as “the most destructive president in history” and before his diplomatic appointment, described him as a “traitor to the West” in social media posts.

In a statement posted on Thursday morning, Rudd’s office said: “In his previous role as the head of an independent US-based think tank [the Asia Society], Mr Rudd was a regular commentator on American politics.

“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.”

Rudd looked forward to working with Trump, his office said.

Morrison, who met with Trump several times during his prime ministership, defended Rudd, saying: “It’s up to Australia to decide [who serves as US ambassador].

“I know Kevin has been very active in engaging both sides of politics in the US and has been doing so very effectively.”

While singling out Trump’s tariff policies as Australia’s biggest challenge, Morrison said much of the “catastrophising” about a second Trump term would prove to be overblown.

“All these doomsday scenarios about him leaving NATO or capitulating to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin will turn out to be rhetorical nonsense,” he said.

Sinodinos, who served as ambassador to the US from 2020 to 2023, said it was good that Albanese had secured an early phone call with Trump.

“The question now is when they can meet and begin to build a personal relationship,” he said.

Sinodinos said Albanese’s priority should be ensuring Trump was engaged with the Indo-Pacific and retained key elements of the regional architecture developed by the Biden administration.

On Australia’s plan to acquire nuclear-powered submarines under AUKUS, Morrison said: “I don’t accept the premise that AUKUS is in any trouble ... there’s no need to jump at shadows here.”

Describing Rudd as “indefatigable”, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton told 2GB that “he’ll be ordering those MAGA hats; he will do everything he can to ingratiate himself with the Trump campaign”.

Dutton also took a swipe at Albanese’s 2017 comment at the Splendour in the Grass music festival that Trump “scares the s--t out of me”, saying it “showed terrible judgment” and there was “a lot of repair work to do” on the US-Australia alliance.

Signalling a likely attack line ahead of the next federal election, Dutton said Trump won votes because he was seen as strong, whereas “there are a lot of people in Australia who’d really see the prime minister as being very weak”.

Donald Trump holds a Bible outside St John’s Church across Lafayette Park from the White House during the 2020 protests. Credit: AP

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham pressed officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade about Rudd’s now-deleted posts at Senate estimates on Thursday, pointing out that some criticisms were published in “close proximity” to his appointment as ambassador.

In an especially critical post from 2020, made after protesters were forcibly removed from an area near the White House, Rudd said Trump “drags America and democracy through the mud. He thrives on fomenting, not healing, division. He abuses Christianity, church and Bible to justify violence.”

The question of Rudd’s future in Washington came up in March when Trump told Brexit champion Nigel Farage that while he did not know much about Rudd, he had heard “he was a little bit nasty” and “not the brightest bulb”.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong insisted Rudd was “absolutely” the right person to represent Australia in Washington, as he had played a crucial role in securing the passage of legislation to deliver AUKUS.

Wong said she met Mike Pompeo – who previously served as Trump’s secretary of state and may return to a senior cabinet role – during a recent visit to Washington, and received a positive response.

A 2017 social media post from Defence Minister Richard Marles has also resurfaced, arguing that “Australia should not be afraid to criticise Donald Trump when his unpredictability harms the national interest”.

Marles’ office has been asked whether he will also delete any Trump criticisms from his social media.

Michael Green, the United States Studies Centre chief executive and a former senior official in George W. Bush’s administration, said: “There is every reason to believe Kevin Rudd will stay in his post.

“He hasn’t said anything worse about Trump than J.D. Vance, and Trump’s national security staff will not want to start off the term with a fight with Australia over the ambassador.”

Vance once compared Trump to Hitler, but was subsequently chosen to be his running mate.

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