"People have chased this round and round for months … at the end of the day what's important is the relationship we have with the United States, and it's never been better." The WSJ report at the time said Mr Morrison was "determined" to bring Brian Houston "as part of his delegation" but "the White House vetoed the idea, telling his office that Mr Houston was not invited". Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video "Weeks before Mr Morrison's arrival in Washington, the standard advance-planning process hit a bump in the road," the report said. "After several rounds of discussions across the 14 time zones between Washington and Canberra, Mr Morrison agreed to leave the pastor at home, according to several people familiar with the matter."

Hillsong and Mr Houston were censured by the Royal Commission into the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse for their response to abuse by his father, Frank Houston. The commissioners found the younger Mr Houston and the church's senior leadership had failed a victim by not reporting abuse to the police. "I've known Brian for a long time and Hillsong Church has a very big network of churches all across the United States and the ministry when it comes to the music, and so many other things have been very big - it's probably the single largest church organisation that is known in the United States," Mr Morrison told the radio station. Mr Morrison said Mr Houston had attended the White House "a few months after" at a function for faith leaders "at the invitation directly of the White House" so "the President obviously didn't have an issue with it".