Scott Morrison spends New Year’s Eve with Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago
Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison and his wife have spent New Year’s Eve at US President-elect Donald Trump’s exclusive members-only club Mar-a-Lago.
Morrison posted a photo of himself and Jenny, dressed in formal evening wear, alongside Trump and his wife, Melania, on social media with the message “HNY 2025 from Mar-a-Lago”.
Trump bought the resort in Palm Beach, Florida, for about $US7 million in 1985 and has since renovated the beachfront property extensively.
Membership of the club reportedly costs $US1 million ($1.6 million) a year. Australian billionaire Anthony Pratt, chairman of paper and packaging company Visy Industries, is said to be a member, while mining magnate Gina Rinehart was at the club on the night Trump secured election to a second term as president.
Morrison and Trump developed a bond during the US president’s first term in the White House, and the former prime minister has retained close links with senior figures from Trump’s first term in office.
The former MP for the Sydney seat of Cook launched his book, Plans for Your Good, at an event last year hosted by US ambassador Kevin Rudd. Trump’s former vice president, Mike Pence, and his former secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, were on hand for the launch.
Since leaving politics, Morrison has taken a role as vice chairman of US consulting firm American Global Strategies, which was founded by former Trump administration officials Robert O’Brien and Alex Gray.
In an interview in early 2024, Morrison reflected on his relationship with Trump, saying a re-elected Trump “doesn’t pose any concerns in terms of the impact on Australia’s national interests”.
Morrison dealt with both Trump and President Joe Biden during their presidencies and said both were committed to the US-Australia alliance.
“The commitment to the alliance was strong and reliable with both of them,” Morrison said. “I think both of them, particularly on our biggest existential threat, which is China, I think Donald Trump was the disrupter in terms of the West’s relationship with China. That was absolutely essential. Had it not been for him, I doubt the world would have woken up to the threat.”
Morrison and Trump met up in May 2024 when Trump gave his “warm” support to the AUKUS submarine deal during a private meeting at Trump Tower in New York.
“Trump is often accused of being isolationist, but he just doesn’t like the US being taken for a ride and we cannot be accused of that,” said Morrison in a reference to the billions of dollars Australia will spend to help the US industrial navy base as part of the AUKUS deal.
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