The head of the foreign affairs department is taking a turtle rather than a hare approach to securing an Oval Office meeting for Malcolm Turnbull.
The leaders of Japan, the United Kingdom, Canada and Israel have all met US President Donald Trump since his inauguration mid-January.
Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade secretary Frances Adamson played down Australia's apparent tardiness in obtaining an appointment for Mr Turnbull.
"It's been the Japanese approach to want to engage very quickly," she told a Senate hearing in Canberra on Thursday, noting Japan also managed to snare the first leaders' meeting with Barack Obama.
"I think in our own case... there is no need to rush to Washington, we will get there in good time."
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Australia was engaging the new Trump administration at ministerial level and would build up to a leaders visit, Ms Adamson said.
It was important to give the new administration time to settle in.
In early February there were leaked reports of a heated phone call between Mr Trump and Mr Turnbull, in which the pair clashed over a refugee resettlement deal struck with the outgoing Obama administration.
Since then Mr Trump has reluctantly agreed to honour the deal, subject to extreme vetting.
