GYEONGJU, SOUTH KOREA: Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has denied the praise heaped upon him by US President Donald Trump overnight is the result of the Australian leader’s obsequious approach to their relationship.

In his speech at a dinner in the President’s honour at the APEC summit in South Korea, Mr Albanese was seated next to the President.

In his speech, Mr Trump singled out Mr Albanese for praise, said he and the PM had “a great meeting” last week to strike a deal on processing rare earths, and declared the PM was doing “a fantastic job”.

Leaving the dinner last night (main picture) Mr Albanese denied he was playing up to the President’s transactional approach to diplomatic relations and his known desire for flattery and personal tributes despite his alleged billionaire status.

“It’s ridiculous to suggest that I would tailor my personal or political approach just to crawl to some rich and powerful person’s ego,” Mr Albanese said as he brushed past reporters.

“That’s offensive to me – a boy who grew up in public housing with a single mum who…,” he continued as reporters then brushed past him while yawning and rolling their eyes.

It was left to a spokesperson for the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) to defend Mr Albanese’s tactics.

“The PM is treating President Trump the same as any leader he meets and is not, as many of you suggest, selling out or crawling to the President,” the PMO spokesperson said.

The spokesperson then outlined gifts Mr Albanese had given to Mr Trump at the dinner, even though no other leaders exchanged similar offerings.

“The Prime Minister brought along an amendment to the deal struck last week which means in addition to the US securing Australian rare earths, President Trump will personally receive a percentage of all gold mined in Australia,” the spokesperson said.

“The PM also presented the President with an official Australian Olympic team green-and-gold tracksuit suitable for wearing on a golf course  – actually it was a specially commissioned one with no green in it at all.

“Even though President Trump doesn’t touch alcohol, the PM gave him a pallet of Fourex Gold stubbies flown in overnight from Brisbane where it’s brewed.

“Brisbane was also the source of another gift the PM gave the President – a 20-foot container full of products from the Golden Circle cannery.”

The PMO spokesperson said Mr Albanese had also insisted on giving Mr Trump a golden showerhead. (below)

“We did try to talk the PM out of that one because we suspect he might have misheard or conflated a couple of Mr Trump’s predilections,” the PMO spokesperson said.

“But in the end we thought it harmless enough so we gift wrapped it – in large sheets of gold leaf at the PM’s insistence.”

Want to be alerted immediately a new blog hits Australia’s longest running and most offensive satire site? Simply click on the Follow sign or the link below to be emailed new yarns the moment they are uploaded! The very second we go far too far – and trust us we will – you can then quickly unfollow via the three dots!

Follow The Bug Online on WordPress.com