Interview on Radio National Breakfast with Sally Sara

Sally Sara, Host: Well, Anthony Albanese has started his second term with a flurry of phone calls from world leaders, including what he described as a warm and positive conversation with US President Donald Trump. The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Senator Penny Wong, is my guest this morning. Minister, welcome back to Breakfast.

Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: G'day, Sally. Good to be with you.

Sara: Do you want to stay on as Foreign Minister?

Foreign Minister: I will be staying on as Foreign Minister and I'm looking forward to be part of a third-term Labor Government as well, but look what I want to say first is just to thank your listeners. We were given an enormous opportunity, a great privilege on Saturday. We're very conscious of the weight of that, the responsibility of that and the privilege of that. And we will work every day to repay the trust Australians have shown in us.

Sara: How do you guard against hubris or the party letting standards drop with such an emphatic result going into a second term?

Foreign Minister: I think the culture in the Albanese Labor government, set by the Prime Minister, but by all of us in the leadership group, in the cabinet, in the caucus is we never take the position we have for granted. We never take the Australian people for granted, we serve ultimately at their pleasure and they have – Australians are always our focus. So, I think when the Prime Minister talks about humility, about recognising the weight of responsibility, that is what we have, the sense we have across our caucus.

Sara: What was it in the results on Saturday that surprised you?

Foreign Minister: The extent to which the Coalition are not the party of middle Australia. Now, I had a look at the AEC's current count of metropolitan seats, so they have an inner and outer metropolitan seats at this stage, on current numbers, the Coalition are down to seven out of 88 seats in metropolitan areas. You know what that says, Sally? That says that in the cities and suburbs, the Coalition does not represent middle Australia. It doesn't represent the hopes, aspirations and struggles of people, of Australians and their families living in our cities and suburbs. That really was a profound message from the electorate.

Sara: Let's have a look at your portfolio. The Prime Minister had the chance to speak directly with Donald Trump yesterday. What was discussed and what sort of value do you think there was in having that call yesterday?

Foreign Minister: It was very important to reach out after an election to key leaders. And obviously, the US is so important to Australia. And the Prime Minister also has spoken to a number of other leaders in the region and beyond. He spoke about that yesterday in his press conference. There's obviously a lot to discuss with the United States, we know we have a difference of views on tariffs and we will continue to press our view to them as well as getting on with the job that we said, which was to continue to diversify Australia's exports as a consequence, not only of this US tariff decision, but to make sure we are more economically resilient in a world that is changing.

Sara: Has there been any significant progress or developments in Australia's push to secure an exemption from the Trump tariffs?

Foreign Minister: Well, we've been in caretaker, which is what you're in when you're in the election. So, obviously the business of government becomes much, much more constrained because of the political campaign. We will continue to engage with the US administration, whether it's on steel or more broadly. We know that President Trump and his administration have a different view on tariffs, a much tougher view than the first Trump administration. We know that these tariffs have been imposed on countries across the world and that no country has been in a better position than Australia. But equally, we believe that tariffs are unjustified and unwarranted. You would know that we have very few, the US is less than five per cent of our exports. What we need to do, apart from what we've done, which is to open up trade with China, where we've seen $20 billion worth of trade impediments taken off in our first term of government. But we need to do what we were doing in the first term, we need to continue to do that, which is to diversify our export markets.

Sara: What sort of effect could it have on Australia if Donald Trump goes forward with this proposed 100 per cent tariff on foreign-made films? And is it even possible given that now it's not a physical entity, films are a service rather than a good.

Foreign Minister: And films are a lot of collaboration in films between countries and certainly Australia and America, we've worked so closely on so many great movies and our movie and entertainment industries are really very interlinked and very collaborative. And you see Australian actors working in the US, you see American films being filmed here in Australia. You see such collaboration through the whole creative process. And I think that's to the benefit of both our countries. So, what we would say to the Trump administration is, it's a great thing that we're collaborating on films. So, let's keep working together because that's what viewers want to see, the audience wants to see. I heard the President as I was driving into the office early this morning, I think actually on one of the news clips that you ran, saying that he will talk to the studios, and that's a good thing. And I think what he'd hear from them is that this collaboration, the involvement of Australian artists, Australian actors, as well as filming in Australia, is a good thing for the US industry.

Sara: As you're saying, we're coming out of caretaker mode. On the question of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, would your government allow the arrest of Benjamin Netanyahu if he were ever to visit Australia?

Foreign Minister: I'm surprised you asked me that, Sally, because I've answered that multiple times, as has the Attorney-General, Mr Dreyfus, and we don't speculate on hypotheticals. I know that this was something I think Senator Cash pressed me on quite obviously in Senate Estimates, and I gave her the same answer. One of the things I would say about this election, though, the Middle East conflict has been so deeply distressing for so many people and it has been polarising in the Australian community because people do have very strongly held, different views. We have always said, let's not bring the conflict here. And I think the result on Saturday demonstrates that Australians also don't think we should bring that kind of anger and conflict into our society. We will continue to advocate for a ceasefire, for the return of hostages and for humanitarian aid to flow.

Sara: How concerned is Australia about the political instability in the Solomon Islands right now, and particularly today's expected no confidence motion against the Prime Minister?

Foreign Minister: These are matters for the people and the Parliament of the Solomon Islands. It's a sovereign country and you know, I'm not going to comment on it. That's a matter for, as I said, the people and the representatives of Solomon Islands.

Sara: Penny Wong, we'll need to leave it there. Thank you for your time this morning on Breakfast.

Foreign Minister: Great to speak with you.

Sara: That's Senator Penny Wong, the Minister for Foreign Affairs.