Trump and Albanese had a personal phone call, where the US president was ’very generous in his personal warmth and praise.’
U.S. President Donald Trump has talked up his positive relationship with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese following the Australian federal election on May 3.
Australia’s centre-left Labor party is currently tracking to win 85 seats following a convincing win against the centre-right Liberal-National Coalition. This means Labor has claimed more than the 76 seats required for a majority government, defying earlier expectations that it would end up in a minority government with the Greens.
Trump, speaking to reporters about the Australian election outside the White House after disembarking from a helicopter, spoke positively of their relationship.
“Well, I don’t know, Albanese I’m very friendly with. I mean, I don’t know anything about the election other than the man that won. He is very, very good, he is a friend of mine,” Trump told reporters.
The U.S. president then reiterated his praise when asked about the Australian prime minister’s comments that the U.S. tariffs “were not the act of a friend.”
“Well, I can only say that he’s been very, very nice to me, very respectful to me,” Trump said.
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Trump imposed a 10 percent universal tariff on all imports into the United States on April 5, just a week after Albanese called the election.
Trump also said he did not know the person running against Albanese.
“I have no idea who the other person is that ran against him, and you know we’ve [Albanese and Trump] had a very good relationship,” Trump said.
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton lost his seat of Dickson, akin to the Canadian opposition leader, and no longer has a seat in Parliament.
Albanese Speaks With Trump
Meanwhile, Albanese thanked Trump for his message of congratulations.
Albanese said he would not be drawn into all the personal comments Trump made during the conversation, but added, “It was very generous in his personal warmth and praise towards myself.”
“We talked about AUKUS and tariffs and will continue to engage, we’ll engage with each other on a face-to-face basis at some time in the future,” Albanese told reporters at Parliament House.
“I thank him for reaching out in such a positive way as well.”
Trump Factor in the Election
Coalition Senator Bridget McKenzie believes Trump impacted the election result.
“I think the Trump factor absolutely had a role in the election. It was weaponised by one side,” Coalition Senator Bridget McKenzie told Nine on election night.
However, Griffith University politics expert Paul Williams and executive director of the Australian Institute of Progress, Graham Young, both agreed that the Trump factor had little impact on how Australians voted.
Williams said the Liberal campaign was inadequate and that the backflipping on multiple policies had been extremely damaging.
“Lack of focus cost him [Dutton] dearly,” he previously told The Epoch Times.
SA Labor Tries to Link Opponents to Trump
In South Australia (SA), the Labor Party is trying to link their opponents to Trump ahead of the state election, to be held in 2026.
It’s a continuation of the strategy to link right-leaning political figures to supposedly sensitive topics like the “culture wars” or “Trump.”
SA Minister Tom Koutsantonis took to social media to post a photo of Liberal Senator Alex Antic with Trump.
“The SA Liberals encapsulated in one picture,” Koutsantonis wrote on X.
In another post, Koutantonis described Antic as “the man who runs and now owns the South Australian branch of the Liberals SA,” to which Antic responded with, “Thanks for sharing.”
In SA, Labor picked up the seat of Sturt, which was held by former Defence Minister Christopher Pyne for 26 years and had been in Liberal hands since 1972.
Regarding Antic, in an effort to steer the party’s direction more in line with conservative and traditional values, the senator began recruiting churchgoers to join the Liberal Party.
The effort appears to have paid off with the senator promoted to the top of the Senate ticket for the Liberal Party in SA. Senators are allocated positions on “tickets” from 1 to 6 with the number one the most likely to get a seat, and number six less likely to.
