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In statements to the National Press Conference today, the former prime minister compared Trump with the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin for his declared desire to absorb Canada in the United States.
“There is a spooky resonance between the language Trump uses about Canada and the language that Putin uses on Ukraine: the borders are fictitious, it does not deserve to be a separate country, etc.,” Turnbull said.
“And then I don’t need to remind you of the shameful way in which Trump has treated Ukraine.”
Turnbull was in power during the first Trump administration, when he secured the president’s tariff exemptions, but said that the current United States government was adopting a drastically different approach from global issues, with flow effects for Australia.
“The United States under President Trump does not share the values we have shared with each of its predecessors, Republicans and Democrats, for more than 80 years, and does not intend to share them,” he said.
“This is a characteristic, not an error, of the Trump administration.
“Now Australian sovereignty, sovereign autonomy, has never been so important and, nevertheless, in recent years, it has decreased.”
Turnbull said it was crucial that Australia increased his defense capabilities to “become a genuine sovereign force capable of defending Australia, to deter adversaries without US support”, and argued that there is a “small perspective” that Australia would receive any submarine under the Aukus agreement.
“Alternative submarine plans are difficult, but they don’t even look at them,” he said.
“However, doing nothing is even worse, because then you have nothing. At least if you say: ‘Very well, the chances are that we are not going to obtain any subs … We acquire other long -range capabilities’, that may not be so effective but at least do something.
“It is as if the government and the opposition were frozen in some kind of bipartisan terror to admit the truth. That is the problem and where the system is failing us.
What politicians have been doing on the path of the electoral campaign
“Bipartisanship is very good, but not when the two parts of the policy are bound by mistake.”
The former prime minister’s speech arrives only five days after the federal electoral campaign and, as a second round of American tariffs, will be announced this week.
When asked if the current prime minister Anthony Albanese or opposition leader, Peter Dutton, would be better located to deal with Trump, Turnbull said “honestly could not choose between them.”
He said Dutton faced a “two -edged sword” of being more politically aligned with Trump and having a good relationship with Gina Rinehart, a massive donor of the Liberal Party and prominent supporter of Trump.
“The difficulty of facing Trump is that you are facing the most popular person in the ecosystem you live,” Turnbull said.
“Albanese does not have that. He does not have the advantage of great connections … but he also does not have the problem that his political base, his media environment, if he wishes, is a fan of Donald Trump.”
However, what Turnbull was decisive was the need for Australian leaders to be more transactional and direct when dealing with Trump.
“The United States is a friend, but my plea to Australian politicians is: getting off knees and defending Australia,” he said.
“Be as transactional with the United States as it is with us and remember in the imperial capital, they always consider deference as its due.
“Trying to enter a race of who can make more suck, particularly with Trump, as I know from direct experience, it is not the way to advance their interests or the interests of their nation.”
He finished his final response from the appearance of the press club with a supplantation of the president of the United States, who found a dispersion of laughs and applause.
“Our leaders … They have to be able to stand up,” Turnbull said, before imitating the speech of the president of the United States.
“And if that means you get a Breitbart or a ‘social publication of the truth that says you are weak and ineffective, you don’t know anything about China’ … if you scare yourself, you shouldn’t be at work.”
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