Interview with Sunrise

Matt Shirvington, Host: Foreign Minister Penny Wong joins us now live from Melbourne, great to have you with us. Should the Prime Minister have done more here? Should he have gone over to Washington and met with the President face-to-face?

Penny Wong, Foreign Minister: I think it's pretty clear that the Government, from the Prime Minister down has been working overtime to try and land this deal. But the reality is, as we know from what the White House has said, they reckon that the exemption that they gave last time to Australia and other countries was a mistake. And so this time, they were very clear that they didn't want any exemptions.

Shirvington: Has the Government ruled out retaliatory action or should we be putting some tariffs on exports?

Foreign Minister: Shirvo, we've made clear we're not going to go down that path. And the reason is we don't want to add to people's cost of living. The reality is, tariffs are a tax on, they make things more expensive for the people buying things. So, that's why this is actually going to harm American consumers, these tariffs that have been imposed. So, we're not going to make the same mistake and make Australians pay more.

Shirvington: Is this just the start for us here? Our beef producers are holding their breath, of course it is our biggest export. How concerned are you that it will be hit with a tariff like the steel and aluminium?

Foreign Minister: What we would say is Australian beef is a great product. Australian beef enters the United States market under a free trade agreement that's been in place for a very long time. As a friend and ally, we want to continue to see that free trade agreement honoured. That's what we want. That's what the Government will keep working towards.

And if I can say this, we'd invite Mr Dutton and the Opposition to back Australia here, whenever they've got a chance, Mr Dutton's got a chance to stand up for Australia, instead, he stands for political opportunity. I'd say to him, you've got a chance over the next few weeks. Back Australia, back buying Australian, and back Australia in our campaign to try and ensure that beef and other products continue to enter the US free of tariffs.

Shirvington: You touched on us being friends with the US. Is that friendship being tested right now?

Foreign Minister: We obviously don't believe that the action that has been taken is in the spirit of the friendship that we have, the long-standing friendship between our two countries. The Prime Minister has made that clear and he was very upfront about that. We think that given the friendship and alliance between our two countries that there ought to have been a different result. What I would say is we've had a long-standing relationship with the US that will continue. They are our principal strategic partner. So, it's a friendship and an alliance that's lasted for decades, and it will continue to stand.

Shirvington: Slightly smaller issue to global tariffs, but just on our Australia-US relations. There are calls this morning to deport an American tourist, an influencer, who filmed herself picking up a baby wombat and ripping it away from its mother and then running away to get a photo opportunity. Is the Government looking into this? It's caused outrage.

Foreign Minister: I actually just saw that as I was prepping for this interview and it looked pretty dreadful, didn't it? I'll leave those sorts of questions to Tony Burke and to the authorities, but really, leave the wombat alone.

Shirvington: Should Tony Burke get onto it?

Foreign Minister: I'm just going to leave it to him. But I think everyone who would have seen that would have thought, look leave the baby wombat alone, leave it with its mum.

Shirvington: Yeah, the squeals are horrendous, aren't they? Penny Wong, thanks for your time.

Foreign Minister: Great to be with you.