Former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull has hailed Anthony Albanese's meeting with Donald Trump a diplomatic success but says the US president's emphatic Aukus endorsement doesn't alter his view that its a "bad deal" for Australia that might never provide the promised US submarines.
Turnbull - who sparred with Trump in his firm presidential term - scored Albanese's White House visit a "10/10" after Trump praised the prime minister as a "great leader", agreed a multi-billion dollar rare earths deal and publicly backed-in the $368bn pact to equip Australia with a fleet of nuclear-powered submarines.
The former Liberal leader also dismissed Sussan Ley's claim that Kevin Rudd's position a US ambassador was untenable after Trump's "tongue-in-cheek" rebuke of the man who once called him a "village idiot".
Rudd apologised for the four-year-old remark during the White House meeting, with Trump later telling the former Labor prime minister that "all is forgiven", according to Australian sources in the room.
"I'm pleased that Albanese kept him (Rudd) there (as ambassador) and I'm pleased he took him to the meeting - it showed strength," Turnbull told Guardian Australia.
The Albanese government has never doubted the US' support for Aukus but Trump's public statements has assuaged any lingering fears that the Pentagon's review of the deal could result in major changes.
While the US navy secretary, John Phelan, said some "ambiguity" in the Biden-era agreement needed to be clarified, Trump insisted the US was "full-steam ahead".
Turnbull, a high-profile critic of Aukus, said Trump's "warm words" don't alter the "reality" that the US wasn't building enough Virginia-class submarines to meet its obligations under the pact.
The US Navy estimates it needs build about 2.33 submarines a year to have enough boats to sell to Australia from the early 2030s, but as of July, it was building them at a rate of about 1.13 a year.
"Warm words don't build submarines," Turnbull said.
"Trump said lots of warm things about Aukus but none of that changes reality. The Americans are still not producing enough submarines to replace their own retirements let alone have any available for us. Unless there is a more than doubling of US attack submarine production they simply will not be able to spare any for us. And that is a risk that we have assumed.
"Aukus is great deal for the Americans, a fantastic deal. It is not a good deal for Australia because all of the risk is on our side."
Turnbull said he always believed Trump would support Aukus, given it hands the US billions of dollars for its shipbuilding industry and use of a naval base in in Western Australia before it needs to fulfil any obligations to sell boats to Australia.
Speaking from the Osborne shipyard in Adelaide, where the first Australia-built nuclear-powered submarines are slated for construction, the acting prime minister, Richard Marles, said the White House meeting proved a "really important affirmation" of the two countries' support for Aukus.
"And Aukus is moving at a pace that, when you meet these workers around here, you can touch, feel and see Aukus occurring. Aukus is happening," Marles said.
Marles said Rudd deserved his "share of credit" for the meeting's outcomes and the overall state of the Australia-US relationship, which he said was "in a very good place".
Earlier, Ley said Rudd’s position as Australia’s top diplomat in Washington was “untenable” after the White House meeting.
After an Australian reporter reminded Trump of Rudd’s past criticisms of him, the president appeared unaware of who the ambassador was despite being seated across the table from him.
“You said ‘bad’,” Trump asked Rudd, after Albanese pointed to him, to which the ambassador replied: “before I took this position, Mr President”.
“I don’t like you either, and I probably never will,” Trump said, prompting laughter in the room.
Ley doubled down on her criticism of Rudd even after reports surfaced that Trump had assured him that “all is forgiven”.
“Well I just invite everyone to observe the sharp exchange that took place and make their own conclusions as I think many of us have, which is that the president didn’t appear to know the ambassador and after sledging him in the way that he did then for the prime minister to actually laugh at that sledge in front of everyone at that table shows me that the relationship is not where it needs to be with respect to all of the hard work,” she said.
Asked about Ley’s comments, Turnbull said it was part and parcel of the “miserable” job of being opposition leader to be critical of the government.