The new prime minister will visit farmers in Queensland tomorrow on his first official outing

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Donald Trump, the Indonesian president and Australia’s drought-stricken farmers have all been on Scott Morrison’s agenda on his first day as prime minister.

The newly minted leader spent his first day in Canberra drawing up his new cabinet ministry and met deputy prime minister Michael McCormack and national drought coordinator Major General Stephen Day to highlight his focus on a drought fix.

But he also fielded a congratulatory tweet from the US president a day after replacing Malcolm Turnbull as the country’s prime minster.

Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) Congratulations to new Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison. There are no greater friends than the United States and Australia!

Trump wrote there are “no greater friends than the United States and Australia!”, but made no mention of Turnbull, with whom he has had a famously rocky relationship.

In August last year, the Washington Post published extracts from a phone call between Trump and Turnbull, which reportedly became heated.

Morrison also spoke on the phone to the Indonesian leader, Joko Widodo, on Saturday. Turnbull had been due to travel to Indonesia next week to sign a free trade deal but Morrison will not make the trip, opting to stay at home to formulate domestic policy.

His first official visit will be to Queensland tomorrow to see first-hand the problems being suffered by farmers in the state.



“I’m not pretending to know one end of a sheep from another,” Morrison said on Saturday.



“But I do know people are hurting in the country, and they have been hurting terribly.”

Morrison acknowledged the one-week-old appointment of Major General Day by his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull.

But defeating the drought would require bringing together all the resources of government at all levels.

“Another major general once told me don’t rush to failure, and I think it’s important we listen, we plan, we coordinate and we respond,” Mr Morrison said.

He said it was Major General Day’s job to do just that.

“I’m up to the challenge,” the major general responded.

“Dealing with the drought is a team sport. I’m glad to be on the team.”

Labor welcomed Mr Morrison prioritising drought as “good news,” but said the role of climate change needed to be acknowledged.

Jacketless and with sleeves rolled up, McCormack said he was happy at efforts the government had recently made to help out rural small businesses.

“When our regional people are hurting - and they are really hurting in this dire situation - our nation hurts too,” he said.

For that reason, he was glad Morrison’s first port of call was drought-affected Queensland.

“I don’t have an akubra mate,” Morrison quipped. “So I’ll just have to wear my Sharks hat,” he said, referring to his local NRL club in Cronulla.

Trump wasn’t the only foreign leader to congratulate Morrison.



Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand leader, told reporters in Auckland on Friday that she had spoken to Morrison to congratulate him.

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“I look forward to building a really strong relationship with him,” Ardern said.

“Regardless of who’s in charge we’ll keep advocating in the same way on behalf of New Zealand. Certainly, I’ll make an assumption here based on the role he’s had in the past that he’ll know New Zealand and its fine attributes really well.”

The relationship between the two countries has soured of late over Australia’s policy of deporting New Zealanders who have failed character tests, usually as a result of criminal convictions.

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Since changes to Australia’s Migration Act in 2014, the number of deportations of foreign nationals on character grounds has soared, and New Zealand citizens have made up the vast bulk of those removed. Some have been issued with deportation orders despite having no family connections or friends in that country, or anywhere elseo to go.

In July, the New Zealand justice minister, Andrew Little, told the ABC Australia’s deportation of New Zealanders had a “venal, political strain” to it, and questioned the country’s commitment to humanitarian rights and ideals.

Australia “doesn’t look like our best friend, our nearest neighbour”, Little said.