Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would say to the member that if you are seriously saying that China is our ally, then there is a real issue in terms of Australia and who its allies are. I congratulate President-elect Trump on winning the election in recent days. Like all oppositions and governments, I will continue to support and work with what is one of Australia's greatest allies, whom we have worked with, whether it is on defence and security or trade, since World War 2 and all the way through any number of conflicts.

Whether it is a Trump administration or others, whether it is a coalition or Labor government, right across the decades we have maintained that relationship and strengthened that relationship. One of the results of those decades of work is the AUKUS security pact and AUKUS agreement. It is critical to our nation's security. That is why it is a bipartisan approach. But I also welcome the comments of Assistant Minister Watts—that the Labor government will do whatever it takes, will take all paths through soft diplomacy and will pull whatever lever is necessary to strengthen the relationship with the United States.

I've got a couple of suggestions, which I'll come to. Firstly, there have been a lot of comments about Ambassador Rudd. Like many in this place, I've met Ambassador Rudd a couple of times. I don't know him well. We clearly have different politics. But when you put the green-and-gold tracksuit on and you have Australia's crest, you are Australia's guy. This country, regardless of where you sit in this parliament, expects you to do your utmost for our nation, and I expect the same from Ambassador Rudd. Of course, if that doesn't work out, the Prime Minister will have to deal with that issue. I expect Ambassador Rudd to work hard for our country, as anyone does around the world, whether they are consular-generals, ambassadors or any of the other diplomatic relations that we have with many of our nations, particularly our allies.

Here's one out of the box that they probably should consider on the other side. There is one Australian who is incredibly close to the Trump administration. There is one Australian who was actually there when the announcement was made in the last 24 or 48 hours about President-elect Trump. There is one Australian who happens to be Australia's biggest individual taxpayer. Gina Rinehart is very, very close to the Trump administration. If Assistant Minister Watts is going to be true to his word, the government should also reach out to those individuals who have direct contact with the camp, because it is in Australia's interest. The good thing about Gina Rinehart is she actually loves this country. She's incredibly patriotic, and I think she would be very helpful in terms of any government that is an Australian government in working with one of our strongest and closest allies. I thank Assistant Minister Watts for his suggestion. I think that it's one that should be taken up.

Regardless of whether it is AUKUS or ANZUS, regardless of whether it is trade or defence, we have always worked closely with our security partners, in particular the United States. That is why it is so disappointing that I've just had a message that there is breaking news on Sky News right now—whilst we're in the chamber—that the WA Labor Premier has said, 'The Trump victory is a dark road.' I have to say that that sort of commentary from a premier of a state in Australia is incredibly unhelpful. We need to ensure that we are all moving in the same direction. It is why we have bipartisanship on our defence agreements such as AUKUS. The idea that the WA Premier would be out there saying things like this is a mistake. We need to continue to work with the administration, as we always have.

Some of the things President-elect Trump said during his campaign I think are actually quite positive, because what he has said to the American people is that he wants to bring down interest rates and lower the cost of energy. I think that's a great approach. It's one that we want to take here in Australia. The way he intends to do that is, 'Drill, baby, drill.' He intends to have more oil and gas. If we look at the reality and the facts around energy production, Australia actually produced around 455 million tonnes of coal. The US domestic consumption in a year is about 425 million tonnes. So they actually consume almost as much as Australia produces as a whole.

We've got to be factual around the energy debate because people are hurting and they can't pay. They simply can't pay. There will be an increase in the domestic production of oil and gas in America. The danger for us is that more manufacturing from this country will leave to go somewhere where energy is affordable and will make their businesses profitable, rather than being here where energy costs continue to go up because we have decisions from governments like the Victorian government not to explore and produce more gas. As a result, they have now run out and the price is through the roof. It is an incredibly important arrangement with the Americans, and we should take every opportunity to strengthen it.

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