Radio interview with David Penberthy, FIVEAA Breakfast

David Penberthy, host: Penny Wong, good morning, thanks so much for joining us. Can I just start by asking you about Kevin Rudd and his role as Ambassador, do you think that you guys need to recall him? Because there's no way that the new President, the President-elect, is going to have a relationship with him, is there?

Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: Morning, Penbo. Good to be with you both. Look, I first say congratulations to Donald Trump on his election as President of the United States. We're old allies and true friends and it's an alliance that's grounded in history and our shared strategic interests and values. In terms of Kevin Rudd, what I would say is he has been an outstanding Ambassador and one of the hallmarks of his term so far is his ability to work both with Republicans and Democrats. And you've seen that in the delivery of legislation and changes to deliver AUKUS. And he's got a very strong relationship with many Republicans. He and I both engaged, for example, with Mike Pompeo, President Trump's, in his previous administration, Secretary of State, when I was in New York in August.

Penberthy: But I just can't see a scenario whereby, like the first photo op between the pair of them, how hilarious is that going to be? Because, I mean, he's on the record. The quote is, he's the most destructive president in history. He drags America and democracy through the mud. He thrives on fomenting, not healing, division. He abuses Christianity, church and Bible to justify violence. It's hard to sort of go, oh, yeah, I might have said that, but I didn't really mean it.

Foreign Minister: Look, we have a relationship between two countries and it's a very long-standing, historic, important relationship. It's our most important strategic relationship. And I think the alliance is bigger than any individual. And there are a lot of people who made comments about Mr Trump over the years and have had continue to have productive relationships with him.

Penberthy: Minister, what gives you confidence that AUKUS will survive this term of the Trump presidency?

Foreign Minister: I have a great deal of confidence in AUKUS continuing to be something that both sides of the aisle in the United States support. We would not have got the legislation that was passed through Congress. We would not have seen that passage without bipartisan support. So, we're very pleased to see both the progress we've made with the support from Republicans and Democrats alike. We've been engaging with both sides of politics in the US for a very long time about this project. It's a project, it's an endeavour that's going to be multi, many governments over many decades and governments of all political persuasions. And it's important we all in a national endeavour, make sure we deliver it.

Penberthy: Has Trump’s win do you think Penny Wong made the world a less predictable place? I mean, people are looking at Ukraine, they're looking at his views towards NATO, his views towards Taiwan and whether that's something that America needs to get involved in. Like there's a lot of stuff that changes, isn't there?

Foreign Minister: Well, the key word you say there is change, Penbo. It's very clear President Trump has run a campaign based on change and he's made it very clear is going to do things differently. We shouldn't be surprised if things change. What I would say to your listeners is we should be confident in ourselves, in our place in the world and the ability of Australians to work together to deliver on our interests as Australians.

Penberthy: Good stuff, Foreign Minister Penny Wong, always love chatting to you. Thanks so much for calling in and we'll catch up again soon.