Natalie Barr: And Penny Wong joins us live from Washington DC now, good morning to you. Tell us, did you manage to score the PM an invite to the Oval Office?
Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: Good morning, Nat. Good to be with you and hello to your viewers. It's been great to be back in Washington. Second time in six months. Obviously, I was here for the inauguration as well, which was a great honour. We had a great set of meetings today, including a good discussion with Secretary Marco Rubio. He again expressed regret for the fact that the US has had to reschedule a meeting with the Prime Minister as a result of the president leaving the G7. We agreed that we would reschedule the meeting, and we're looking forward to the leaders meeting.
David Woiwod: OK. So, to be confirmed. Minister, we know that the issue of defence spending has been a very large one between the two countries. Did the US Secretary of State raise that in your meeting? Was that pressure applied?
Foreign Minister: Look, we had a long discussion about all the work we do together to assure strategic stability in the Indo-Pacific. The Secretary of State did not raise Australia's defence budget with me. We did have a good conversation about the positive benefits of AUKUS for all three countries. It's a good deal for Australia, it's a good deal for the United States, and obviously, a good deal for the United Kingdom as well.
Natalie Barr: So, on AUKUS, America is investigating or doing a review of it because we may not end up with any subs. Did he give you an update on how that review's going?
Foreign Minister: Look, I don't think that that's an accurate assessment of the review, Nat. It's a new administration wanting to look at a policy or partnership that is of great importance and that will go over many decades. We understand that. The UK also had a review when there was a change of administration or change of government. We think AUKUS is a very important partnership for all countries. For the United States, for Australia, and for the United Kingdom. We talked about that today. We'll continue to work with the United States through this review and beyond. I think it's important to remember AUKUS is something that is going to have to be supported and managed and secured over multiple governments across many decades. It's a multi-decade project that many of us will be working to secure.
David Woiwod: Alright, Minister, the President's 90-day pause on his so-called Liberation Day tariffs, they will end in exactly one week. Was it raised? Did you manage to land any exemptions? Because there will be a lot of farmers, there will be a lot of Australian business owners very keen to know what happens here.
Foreign Minister: Obviously, you know, we did discuss trade, although I'm not the key trade negotiator.
David Woiwod: No, but specifically those tariffs.
Foreign Minister: Of course. And the point I made in the meeting is the same point we've made publicly. We have a free trade agreement with the United States. That free trade agreement assures the US of entry into the Australian market without tariffs. We will continue to seek the application of that free trade agreement for Australian goods and services entering the United States. That's the position we take--
David Woiwod: So, with the clock ticking we've got one week to go with those tariffs at the moment.
Foreign Minister: Well, I don't know about clock ticking. I think on this we do have a difference of views, and the Prime Minister has made that clear in the election campaign and beyond. We have a difference of views because we don't see that tariffs benefit the country which is imposing them. We don't see a benefit to increasing costs for consumers. We'll continue to advocate that to the United States as you would expect.
Natalie Barr: And did he make any points to you?
Foreign Minister: Well, I never go into, you know, all the detail of the discussions. I've told you this was discussed, and I've explained to you we have a very clear view about this, which I expressed.
David Woiwod: OK, thank you, Minister.
Natalie Barr: Thank you very much.
Foreign Minister: Good to speak to you.