US President Donald Trump says he is “very friendly” with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who was re-elected over the weekend in a landslide victory.
“We have had a very good relationship,” Trump told the Sydney Morning Herald at the White House on Sunday, in his first remarks about the Australian election.
But the US president was less familiar with the other electoral candidate.
“I have no idea who the other person is that ran against him,” he said of conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton, who many saw as Australia’s equivalent to Trump.
In the lead-up to the election, Dutton and his Liberal National Coalition initially seemed to have an advantage over Albanese, who had to deal with public dissatisfaction over the government’s handling of issues like housing and healthcare.
But on Saturday, Albanese defied the so-called “incumbency curse” and made a surprising comeback to secure a comfortable majority for a second term.
The global uncertainty created by Trump’s sweeping tariffs has been cited as a reason for a swing towards Albanese’s centre-left Labor party.
“Albanese, I’m very friendly with,” Trump said on Sunday. “I don’t know anything about the election other than… the man that won is very good. He’s a friend of mine.”
When asked about Albanese’s previous remarks that Trump’s tariffs on Australia were “not the act of a friend”, Trump replied: “Well, I can only say that he’s been very, very nice to me, very respectful to me.”
Dutton ran a “very Trumpian campaign”, according to former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who told BBC Newshour the US president was “the mood music that had a very big influence on how people perceived” the Coalition.
Dutton’s brand of hard-line conservatism, his support for controversial immigration policies – like sending asylum seekers to offshore detention centres – and his fierce criticism of China all led to comparisons with Trump.
And while it’s a likeness he rejected, the Coalition under his leadership pursued policies that seemed to have been borrowed from the Trump administration.
Dutton appeared to try to shake off these associations towards the end of his campaign, and in the final leaders’ debate repeatedly told the audience that he didn’t know Trump, before attempting to answer questions on him.
He had also long tried to convince voters that he would be the politician best suited to dealing with Trump, however, citing his experience as a cabinet minister during tariff negotiations in Trump’s first term.
Voters weren’t convinced.
Dutton’s campaign ended in defeat and Dutton lost his own seat of 24 years in Dickson. He resigned hours after polls closed on Saturday, as election results trickling in pointed to a Labor victory.
