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Cameron Stewart

Malcolm Turnbull as prime minister was no less craven towards Donald Trump as every other leader

Cameron Stewart
Donald Trump shakes hands with Malcolm Turnbull aboard the USS Intrepid, in 2017. Picture: AP.
Donald Trump shakes hands with Malcolm Turnbull aboard the USS Intrepid, in 2017. Picture: AP.

“We thank you, sir,” a grinning Malcolm Turnbull said to Donald Trump in a face-to-face meeting in New York in May 2017, for “a commitment to the peace, stability, the rule of law in our region renewed by President Donald Trump.”

That was the same Turnbull who said this week that: “If you suck up to bullies, whether it’s global affairs, or in the playground, you just get more bullying.”

The rewriting of history by ex-prime ministers is a flourishing art form, but let’s call a spade here, Malcolm: you, as prime minister, did what every prime minister does – forge a workable relationship with any US president in the national interest.

That required Turnbull to be just as craven towards Trump as any other prime minister. In Turnbull’s case it required him to flatter Trump and his administration ad nauseam to turn the president from his initial hostility towards Australia over the so-called refugee deal to the point where Trump granted an exemption for Australia in 2018 from his steel and aluminium tariffs.

An excellent outcome, and one for which Turnbull should be proud, but let’s not pretend that this outcome was because Turnbull was the brave, fearless and outspoken warrior against Trump that he would now like everyone to think.

Malcolm Turnbull is interviewed on Bloomberg's The China Show about the Trump administration's tariffs.
Malcolm Turnbull is interviewed on Bloomberg's The China Show about the Trump administration's tariffs.

So it’s a bit rich, now that Turnbull is freed from the constraints and responsibilities of leadership, to criticise both sides of politics for not openly challenging the more extreme behaviour of Trump Mark II.

It should also come as no surprise to Turnbull that journalists would question the timing of his decision to criticise Trump via a high-profile TV interview just days before the US President was due to decide whether to give Australia an exemption over his planned 25 per cent tariffs on steel and aluminium imports.

Turnbull pulled the “free speech” card against journalists when they asked the sensible question about the timing of his comments. Of course, Turnbull is free to repeat his criticisms of Trump whenever he wants, but did the words “national interest” ever register in his head when seeking the limelight on the eve of a major decision by Trump impacting Australian jobs and businesses?

Turnbull Clashes with ABC Host, Says Australia Must Not Bow to Trump

What Turnbull said about Trump – about China, tariffs and the alliance – were valid criticisms and Trump was foolish to have cared enough to spray Turnbull on social media. But the result was an unedifying spat between two narcissists from which there were no winners and, indeed, a likely clear loser in the form of Trump’s expected refusal to grant an exemption to his planned tariffs this week.

The question of how Australia should handle the wildly erratic Trump is the most difficult challenge in Australian diplomacy right now. Turnbull is simply wrong to imagine that it is in Australia’s national interest on the economy, trade, investment, defence and security to attack Trump’s excesses at every turn. That might make Malcolm sleep well at night, but at what cost to the country?

Yet Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton must also stand firm on Australia’s basic principles when discussing differences with Trump on Ukraine, Russia, the Middle East or China. It is a fine line, which often pleases nobody, but which is the only realistic path because, ultimately, the main aim of any prime minister is to leverage the situation to maximise the benefits to Australians.

A leader’s role is not to pick unnecessary fights with the president of our closest ally just so that they can feel good about themselves. That’s not what Turnbull did as prime minister, so he can hardly expect his successors to suddenly declare a rhetorical war against Trump when – for good reason – Turnbull never had the courage to do so himself.

Read related topics:Donald Trump
Cameron Stewart
Cameron StewartChief International Correspondent

Cameron Stewart is the Chief International Correspondent at The Australian, combining investigative reporting on foreign affairs, defence and national security with feature writing for the Weekend Australian Magazine. He was previously the paper's Washington Correspondent covering North America from 2017 until early 2021. He was also the New York correspondent during the late 1990s. Cameron is a former winner of the Graham Perkin Award for Australian Journalist of the Year.

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Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/commentary/malcolm-turnbull-as-prime-minister-was-no-less-craven-towards-donald-trump-as-every-other-leader/news-story/60e713cc7ed2379646aac55ce962f229