E&OE TRANSCRIPT
Topics: President Trump; Australia and USA trade relationship.
KARL STEFANOVIC, HOST: Welcome back to the show. This morning we've witnessed the greatest comeback in political history. Donald Trump sworn in as the 47th president of the United States.
SARAH ABO, HOST: Joining us to discuss and for their analysis is Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth and Nationals Senator Bridget McKenzie. Good morning to you both. Amanda, let's start with you. Donald Trump has hit the ground running, signing a suite of orders already this morning, some executive orders to come later this morning. What tone does this set for his second term?
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: I think President Trump shows that he's taking this seriously and he's getting down to business. And, I have to say from Australia's perspective, we want to make sure that we're working very closely with him. This, of course, is the most closest global partner we have, America, and the most important strategic ally. So, as a country, we'll be working incredibly closely with him.
KARL STEFANOVIC: How worried are you and the Government about the establishment of, as was mentioned during his speech, the External Revenue Service in relation to what we think is tariffs. How concerned is the Government about that and a realignment of trade deals?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Importantly, the Australian US Trade relationship is one that is mutually beneficial. So, in fact, the US has a trade surplus with Australia, we'll be working in our national interest. We think that we can have a very constructive relationship when it comes to this. And the Prime Minister no doubt will be putting forward just how mutually beneficial that this trade relationship is, which I think is important to recognise.
SARAH ABO: Bridget. It was heartening, obviously, that Penny Wong was there, but as Carl touched on the tariffs, there wasn't much detail in his inauguration speech. We know he's going to come down hard on China as he's foreshadowed, which will impact us.
BRIDGET MCKENZIE, NATIONALS SENATOR: Yeah. And how that impacts us, he obviously is focused on his own domestic automotive industry and is looking at the EV issue quite closely. I think what we're seeing from Trump, Mark 2, shall we say, is an outlining of a massive agenda and a guy that now has the institutional support being Congress and the Senate and an experienced cabinet to actually implement it. And he's calmly going about doing that. And I think that's the big shift. We obviously warmly congratulate him. And this is, as Amanda said, our most strategic alliance partner. And we are both countries that love liberal democratic values, peace and prosperity. And I think him implementing what he campaigned on, immigration and economic changes are also going to benefit us in the long term.
KARL STEFANOVIC: I was in America when they signed the trade deal 20 years ago, so it stood the test of time and it stood the test of multiple presidents. Trump's different, though, and you represent, the rural community who would be looking at this going, hang on a second, which way is he going to go? Have you had any preliminary conversations with anyone in America and with, I know it's not your lot in office, but there must have been conversations going on?
BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Carl, I think you pointed out in that comment that our relationship between the US and Australia transcends individuals and those institutions, such as the AUKUS Agreement and indeed our Free Trade Agreement, transcend administrations. Australia is not the target, shall we say, of Trump's tariff agenda. And so, as we know, the Wall Street Journal is obviously reporting now, he's going to review the trade situation and then look at what sort of tariff changes need to be made. So, we need to make sure that our Foreign Affairs Ministry, our Trade Minister and our Ambassador are deeply engaged in that review process to make sure our national interest is upheld.
KARL STEFANOVIC: Amanda, how involved is Kevin Rudd in that process? I mean, you'd want him knocking on the door of Rubio's today. I mean, straight after lunch. I hope Kevin Rudd's involved in that.
BRIDGET MCKENZIE: Where's Kevin Rudd?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, I think our Foreign Minister is there, in addition to our Ambassador. I think it is worth recognising that only a few countries or foreign countries got an invitation to this inauguration. And I think it shows the strength of our relationship that Minister Wong did get an invite. So, she, along with the Ambassador, along with the Prime Minister, are going to be very, very engaged through this process. And we've seen the benefit of that through getting bipartisan support in the US for the AUKUS arrangements as an example. So, these sorts of abilities to work both sides of the Congress in the US have been shown that we've been able to do it, and we'll keep doing that and having these really important conversations.
KARL STEFANOVIC: All right, good to talk to you. Let's see what happens in the next coming days.