Why Anthony Albanese won’t be apologising to US President-elect Donald Trump

Anthony Albanese has revealed he won’t be apologising to US President-elect Donald Trump after a video emerged of him saying the Republican “scares the sh*t out of me”.

The Prime Minister was asked about the comments on Thursday after archival footage emerged of his unplugged remarks at a 2017 music festival with comedian Tom Gleeson.

The comments were made during a Q&A at Splendour in the Grass in July 2017, around six months into Mr Trump’s first administration.

“He (Mr Trump) scares the sh*t out of me. I think it’s of some concern that the leader of the free world thinks that you can conduct politics through 140 characters on Twitter overnight,” Mr Albanese said.

Gleeson then suggested in the video that Mr Albanese “might even be Prime Minister” one day and then added, “But like, again, like, how do you deal with Trump?”

“With trepidation,’’ Mr Albanese replied. “We’ve got to deal with him. But that doesn’t mean that you’re uncritical about it. He scares the sh*t out of me.”

The comments came back to haunt the Prime Minister at a press conference in Canberra on Thursday.

“Prime Minister, do you feel that you need to apologise for some of the things you’ve said about Donald Trump in the past?,” he was asked by Seven News’ Mark Riley.

“No,” Mr Albanese replied.

“I look forward to working with President Trump. I think my ability to work with world leaders and to develop relationships with them is positive. And I think that I’ve demonstrated in the two-and-a-half years that I’ve had the honour of being Prime Minister.”

Shortly after the Prime Minister’s press conference this morning government sources confirmed he had spoken to the US President-elect briefly to congratulate him on his victory.

Kevin Rudd diplomatic drama

The Albanese government remains under pressure over the decision to appoint Kevin Rudd as US ambassador after he criticised Mr Trump, but the Prime Minister said there were no plans to move him at this stage.

Mr Rudd has previously described Mr Trump as “nuts”, a “traitor to the West” and “the most destructive president in history”.

Mr Trump has also returned serve, describing Mr Rudd as “nasty”.

“I don’t know much about him. I heard he was a little bit nasty,” Mr Trump said.

“I hear he’s not the brightest bulb, but I don’t know much about him. If he’s at all hostile, he will not be there long.”

Asked if Mr Rudd can now survive as ambassador, Foreign Minister Penny Wong said he was doing a great job.

“Kevin’s done an outstanding job as ambassador and he’s done an outstanding job with both Republicans and Democrats,” she said. “He’s a very effective ambassador.”

Australian officials also remain concerned over US threats to impose major tariffs on all imports.

“Well, Australia has, of course, considered, given consideration to the potential

outcomes of the election yesterday,” Mr Albanese said.

“So we’ve been prepared for that. We’ve had considerable briefings, whether it be across security, economic and other issues, but Australia is a supporter of trade. We’re a trading nation and we will continue to be advocates for free and fair trade, including through the APEC meeting that I’ll be attending with many of you next week in Peru.”

Peter Dutton: Donald Trump’s victory and the ‘death of woke’

Speaking on 2GB radio, broadcaster Ray Hadley asked Liberal leader Peter Dutton if Mr Trump’s historic victory signalled the “death of woke”.

“I think when I see a government that is more interested in pronouns than they are people, it starts to become a real problem,” Mr Dutton said.

“If you can’t pay your mortgage, and you can’t pay your electricity bill, and there’s uncertainty at work, or you own a small business, and numbers are down by 30 per cent and you hear the government talking about the Voice and all these sorts of issues, well, you get angry and you respond.”