Seeds of positivity for Albanese-Trump relationship, former US ambassador Dennis Richardson says

Dennis Richardson says the early signs are positive for the relationship between Anthony Albanese and Donald Trump, as Penny Wong lands in Washington for the inauguration and a meeting with Marco Rubio.

Donald Trump and Anthony Albanese have already spoken on the phone following Mr Trump’s election win

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Former Australian ambassador to Washington Dennis Richardson says the early signs are positive for the ­establishment of a good working relationship between Anthony Albanese and incoming US president Donald Trump.

Mr Richardson made the comments after Foreign Minister Penny Wong touched down in Washington to attend Mr Trump’s inauguration and flagged a meeting with the incoming secretary of state Marco Rubio, noting his recent endorsement of the AUKUS security agreement.

Dennis Richardson. Picture: NewsWire / Gary Ramage

Joe Hockey, another former ambassador to Washington and former treasurer, suggested last week that both the Prime Minister and Peter Dutton should consider offering Mr Trump a state visit to Australia – arguing “it costs nothing to make an offer”.

The comments from Mr Richardson – a former ASIO chief and head of both Defence and Foreign Affairs – came as Mr Trump promised to transform America and unpick Joe Biden’s legacy as he seeks to electrify his base, confirming he would unveil details of the most aggressive crackdown on the US border in history during his inauguration address.

At a victory rally in Washington, Mr Trump pledged to “end the reign of a failed and corrupt political establishment in Washington” as he cycled through a list of his key priorities ahead of taking the oath of office at Tuesday’s (AEDT) inauguration, including a fresh plan to save video sharing platform TikTok by allowing the US to take a 50 per cent ownership in the popular app.

Sketching out a blitz of emergency actions, Mr Trump said he planned to construct an American “Iron Dome” missile defence shield, deliver the cheapest energy on Earth, end wokeness in the military and dismantle the culture of diversity, equity and inclusion in favour of restoring the “merit system”.

Within days, his administration would release classified records on the assassinations of former president John F. Kennedy, former presidential candidate Robert Kennedy and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr in the interests of transparency.

Hinting at pardons for some of the more than 1500 people charged for crimes over their involvement in the January 6, 2021, march on the Capitol Building, Mr Trump said his supporters would be “very happy with my decision on the J6 hostages”.

As Senator Wong represented the nation in Washington, Labor signalled its willingness to invest in the AUKUS nuclear submarine pact, with $262m to boost local industry’s role in building the vessels. The funds will go toward helping businesses to get the right classifications to work on nuclear submarine projects, boost local suppliers’ relationships with US and British partners and increasing skills.

With Mr Trump promising to make partners contribute more to their own defences, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles said the new spend showed AUKUS was now underway.

Senator Wong, who is the first Australian foreign minister to be invited to a presidential inauguration, confirmed that she would lobby for Australia to be exempt from any US tariffs while in Washington and “make the point that America has had a trade surplus with us since the Truman presidency – so that’s a long time”.

“I’d make the point that Australia, in terms of US-Australia economic relationships, America has had a trade surplus with us since the Truman presidency, so that’s a long time,” she said.

“I’d make the point that, in fact, that trade surplus is two to one in America, the US’s favour. And I’d also make the point that I think around half of our Australian exports to the US are inputs to US production.”

Senator Wong said the current Australian ambassador to the US – former Labor prime minister Kevin Rudd – had demonstrated that he would be able to form an effective relationship with the incoming Trump administration.

“I think that is demonstrated, isn’t it?” she said.

“I mean, we’ve seen the AUKUS legislation shepherded through. We’ve seen this visit organised. We’ve seen the invitation to the inauguration for both me and also Ambassador Rudd, and I think that speaks for itself.”

President-elect Donald Trump dances with The Village People at a rally ahead of the 60th Presidential Inauguration. Picture: AP

Doubts were raised about the ability of Dr Rudd to establish effective ties with the incoming administration when Mr Trump last year said in an interview with Nigel Farage that he had heard Dr Rudd was “a little bit nasty”.

“If he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long,” he said.

Dan Scavino, Mr Trump’s incoming deputy chief-of-staff, also posted a GIF of an hour glass on social media in response to Dr Rudd’s congratulatory message following Mr Trump’s election win – a move widely seen as a message that Mr Rudd’s time was running out.

However, Mr Albanese this month confirmed that Dr Rudd had recently met with Mr Trump and had been “very active developing relationships with the new administration”. Mr Richardson said he believed the relationship was “off on a good footing if you look at what Rubio said in his confirmation hearing”.

He added that there was “no reason to think that Trump has anything less than a positive view of the relationship”.

Mr Richardson said he did not believe “anything in the so-called stabilisation of the relationship with China should cause us a problem with the Trump administration” but argued there were uncertainties on the trade side.

He acknowledged there could be “bumps in the road” given Mr Trump’s tendency to “tweet something or say something that might cause a hiccup, but I would have thought we have enough experience and enough maturity to handle that sensibly”.