This week Scott Morrison will follow the well-worn path of his discarded predecessors. He’s jetting off for the annual ‘summit season’ fully expecting to be asked privately the same question he hasn’t convincingly answered publicly: Why is Malcolm Turnbull no longer Prime Minister?
After visits to Singapore for the ASEAN summit (11-15 November) and Papua New Guinea, for APEC (12-18 November), Mr Morrison will head to Argentinian capital Buenos Aires to become the newest member of the ultra-exclusive Group of Twenty (30 November – 1 December).
Scott Morrison will meet many world leaders for the first time.
AAP
Known simply as the G20, member nations collectively represent two-thirds of the world’s population and 85 per cent of gross world product. It’s an economic and political powerhouse.
Membership will permit the self-described “mortgage-belt Liberal” and “NRL tragic” to rub shoulders with the likes of US President Donald Trump, Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin.
While one-on-one meetings with all three leaders top the bilateral wish list of Australian diplomats, SBS News understands none of the trio has, as yet, accepted Mr Morrison’s invitation.
Trade and economic ministers at the ASEAN summit in Singapore on Monday.
EPA / AAP
The Prime Minister has also prioritised so-called “grip and grin” photo opportunities with the leaders of Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Thailand.
While Mr Morrison travelled to Indonesia to meet with President Joko Widodo barely a week after being sworn in, he will be an unknown face – and entity – to many of the world leaders he will encounter on his travels.
Australia will use all three summits to push the case for open and rules-based multilateral trade, arguably the most important meeting of Mr Morrison’s Prime Ministership will take place when Pacific leaders gather around a barbecue in Port Moresby next weekend.
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