Norman called on again to act as a go-between for Trump and Australia

Washington: Golfing great Greg Norman was once again called upon to act as a bridge between the Australian government and Donald Trump, revealing he was asked to help broker relations between Australia and the returned US president.

“There was a request put through, yeah,” Norman told this masthead. He would not reveal the details of the request, including who made it and whether it came from Canberra or the Australian embassy in Washington. But the result “was positive”, he said. “It worked … we’ll just leave it at that.”

Greg Norman at the Australian Embassy in Washington where he is receiving a lifetime achievement award. Credit: Leigh Vogel

After Trump won the 2016 election, it was Norman who passed on Trump’s phone number to then-prime minister Malcolm Turnbull so that the two could talk, following a request by then-ambassador Joe Hockey, also a friend of Norman’s. Trump, Norman and Hockey have all bonded through golf.

Norman said his latest assistance was not related to an interaction between Trump and Australian ambassador Kevin Rudd at the Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach before the president’s inauguration.

That interaction reportedly involved a brief chat in which Rudd passed on good wishes from Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Albanese has confirmed the pair had “direct contact, and that is a good thing”.

The golfing legend revealed the request in an interview ahead of him receiving a lifetime achievement award at the Australian embassy in Washington on Wednesday night, local time, hosted by Rudd and due to be attended by several US dignitaries.

A spokesman for the Australian embassy said that Rudd had spoken with Norman “as well as many others” to ensure “Australia is engaging with the Trump administration at every level”.

“There has been senior government engagement with the Trump Administration from the very beginning,” the spokesman said.

Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s office was contacted for comment, as was the embassy in Washington.

But in his speech congratulating Norman on his award, Rudd said Norman had always been willing to help build connections between Australians and US political or business leaders.

“He’s done that with me, he’s done that with various ambassadors and prime ministers,” Rudd said.

Norman said that as a friend of several Democrat and Republican presidents, as well as Australian prime ministers from both sides of politics, he was happy to help “accelerate” the relationship between the two countries. But it was sometimes delicate acting as a broker.

Greg Norman with Donald Trump in April 2024.Credit: Getty

“I have to weigh that up, too, because you become the ham in the sandwich,” Norman told this masthead. “I have to make my sure that my relationships are strong enough or intact enough where you can actually deliver it [the message] say something and move on.”

The relationship between Rudd and Trump – and, by implication, the president’s relations with Australia – has been subject to significant speculation due to Rudd’s description of Trump as “the most destructive president in history” in now-deleted social media posts, among other comments.

In a March 2024 interview with Britain’s Nigel Farage, Trump said he had heard Rudd was “a little bit nasty” and “not the brightest bulb”.

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

‘Australia is the lighthouse’

Norman said he spoke with Trump last week, though they did not talk about Australia on that occasion. But he said the president does give Australia due consideration because of its strategic role in the Asia-Pacific.

“My point of view is Australia is the lighthouse in the Southern Hemisphere, and the APAC region, for big brother, and that’s the USA,” Norman said. “We punch well above our weight.”

Those looking to understand Trump’s decision-making and dealmaking should understand the president is “very much an open book”, Norman said.

“He says what he means, and he means what he says. So you’ve got to take that at face value.

“He has more Stars and Stripes flowing through his veins than anybody else.”

Norman was among several Australians honoured at the embassy’s Australia Day Awards Gala, which also recognised “Mozart of Mathematics” Terence Tao, said to have the highest IQ in the world at 225-230, according to the event program.

US dignitaries to attend the gala dinner included senators Mark Warner and Chris Coons, and former senators Joe Manchin and Roy Blunt, along with Kevin Hassett, Trump’s appointee to run the National Economic Council.

Rudd noted the closeness between the two nations, citing a congratulatory call from Albanese to Trump the day after the 2024 election and a call between Defence Minister Richard Marles and US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth on Tuesday night.

He also noted Australia had not run a trade surplus with the US since the days of president Harry Truman after World War II. “Please pass that on to President Trump,” he said.

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