Malcolm Turnbull has offered some blunt advice to Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on how to handle incoming US President Donald Trump after he won a second term.
The former prime minister urged Albanese and other Australian political leaders to stand up to Trump during alphabetContinued coverage of the US election on Wednesday.
Turnbull did not mince his words when asked by Insiders host David Speers how to deal with the outspoken republican.
“My advice is don’t do what everyone tells you to do, which is suck it up,” Mr Turnbull began.
“The newspaper columns are full of people – not all of them are scammers, but some are – who say ‘you have to flatter him and flatter him.’
“People tend to do that with guys like Trump because they are big, intimidating, bombastic narcissistic personalities.”
Turnbull, who was Prime Minister of Australia during Trump’s first term, warned that Albanese would gain little by not taking on the billionaire businessman.
“The problem with that is that that’s what Trump wants, of course, but if you don’t earn his respect that way you’re not going to get what you want to achieve,” he said.
Malcolm Turnbull (pictured right) urged Albanese and Australia’s political leaders to stand up to Trump during an interview with the ABC on Tuesday night.
‘If all you want is a pat on the head and a photo (opportunity), then I guess you can do that.
“If you really want to get good results… you have to be able to stand your ground and defend your arguments.”
Turnbull referenced his infamous phone conversation with Trump in 2017 over a controversial refugee resettlement deal just days after Trump was sworn in as president.
The deal, which was announced in November of that year, was originally scheduled to hand over to the United States about 1,250 refugees who were being held in detention centers on Manus Island and Nauru.
The agreement was reached between the previous US administration led by former President Barack Obama and Turnbull.
The pair had a heated exchange during their argument, which Trump called his “nastiest call” of the day and called the deal a “stupid deal.”
Trump also expressed his anger on X – then known as Twitter – over the deal even though he agreed to keep it.
Turnbull, who was Prime Minister during Trump’s first presidency, said Albanese will gain little by not standing up to Trump (pictured with his wife Melania).
Turnbull referenced his infamous phone conversation with Donald Trump (pictured) in 2017 over a controversial refugee resettlement deal.
‘Do you believe it? The Obama administration agreed to take in thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Because? I’ll look into this silly business!’ he wrote.
Elsewhere in the interview, Turnbull said it was up to Albanese to protect Australia’s best interests in the face of Trump’s backlash and fierce resistance.
He defended the way he handled his relationship with the property developer and said Australians benefited from his actions as a result.
“If you give in to bullies, you will only get more bullying,” Turnbull said.
“I stood up to Trump; I had a real fight with him. He wasn’t happy with me, he was furious, but I earned his respect and that was extremely valuable to Australia.”