Senior Australian government sources have confirmed Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and US President Donald Trump had a "robust" phone call, which Mr Trump reportedly labelled "the worst by far" of a clutch of calls to world leaders.
Donald Trump on the telephone in the Oval Office of the White House. Photo: AFP
Mr Trump claimed the refugee resettlement deal struck with former US president Barack Obama was "the worst deal ever", before abruptly ending the 25-minute phone call, according to the Washington Post.
The deal would include about 1250 refugees. Many of those were from countries covered by Mr Trump's executive order curtailing immigration to the US from residents of seven majority-Muslim nations.
Mr Trump reportedly accused the Prime Minister of seeking to export the "next Boston bombers" to the US, and complained the deal would kill him politically.
He reportedly said, "I don't want these people", while discussing the resettlement deal with Mr Turnbull.
Mr Turnbull said he remained confident the resettlement deal would continue, saying "I received the assurance that I did from the President himself".
That was undermined hours later, when Mr Trump tweeted he would study the "dumb deal".
Do you believe it? The Obama Administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 2, 2017
After earlier refusing to comment on the call, Mr Turnbull said he was disappointed by the "leak" from Washington.
He refuted reports from some media that Mr Trump hung up on him.
"The call ended courteously," he said.
Call was 'robust'
At one point during the call, Mr Trump reportedly claimed his conversation with Mr Turnbull was by far the worst of a day on which he also spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Malcolm Turnbull said conversations with world leaders were candid and frank, but Australia's solid relationship with the US was still in place. Photo: RNZ
In the room during the call were Mr Trump's chief strategist Stephen Bannon, press secretary Sean Spicer and national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Senior Australian government sources told the ABC that The Washington Post report was "substantially accurate".
Australian officials say the conversation was "robust" and "shorter than expected", while one minister told the ABC that "Trump hates this deal".
Turnbull says relationship 'very strong'
Mr Turnbull refused to weigh in on the reports when pressed on the issue earlier today.
"I'm not going to comment on these reports of a conversation," he said.
Mr Turnbull said conversations with world leaders are conducted "candidly, frankly, privately", but stressed Australia's solid relationship with the US was still in place.
"I can assure you the relationship is very strong," he said.
"The fact we received the assurance that we did, the fact that it was confirmed, the very extensive engagement we have with the new administration underlines the closeness of the alliance.
"But as Australians know me very well - I stand up for Australia in every forum - public or private."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten called on Mr Turnbull to confirm or deny the accuracy of the reports.
"He made it clear that he had a constructive discussion and that the refugee deal, which Labor supports, was on track," he said.
"But now it appears another different version of the same conversation has emerged. I just say to Turnbull, talk straight to the Australian people. Tell us what's going on.
PM insists Trump gave him assurance on deal
Mr Turnbull remained confident the resettlement deal would continue.
"I can only say as I have said before, that I received the assurance that I did from the President himself," he said.
"That assurance was confirmed by the President's spokesman in the briefing room of the White House.
"That - and our officials, our respective officials - are continuing to work on the implementation of the arrangements. That's the position."
Mr Turnbull described the call as "constructive" when addressing the media on Monday, saying the pair "acknowledged the already strong and deep relationship between the United States and Australia".
A readout of the call from the White House stated that the pair "emphasised the enduring strength and closeness of the US-Australia relationship that is critical for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region and globally".
Philip Rucker, the journalist who broke the story for The Washington Post, told the ABC he had spoken with senior US officials who were briefed on the phone call.
He described the phone call as "extraordinary" and said it was uncommon for personal phone calls between leaders to be leaked to the media with such detail.
- ABC
