The Australian prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has been recorded mimicking Donald Trump and joking about his poll numbers, his attacks on fake news and his alleged links to Russia.
Leaked video and audio of Mr Turnbull’s off-the-record speech – which was also self-deprecating about his own poor opinion poll ratings – shows him impersonating the US president’s unique oratorical style.
In his speech to the Canberra press gallery's midwinter ball, the Australian equivalent of the White House correspondents' dinner, Mr Turnbull says: "The Donald and I, we are winning and winning in the polls. We are winning so much, we are winning, we are winning like we have never won before. We are winning in the polls, we are, we are. Not the fake polls. Not the fake polls. They're the ones we're not winning in.
“We’re winning in the real polls,” he said. “You know, the online polls. They are so easy to win. I know that. Did you know that? I kind of know that. They are so easy to win. I have this Russian guy.”
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Speeches at the press gallery mid-winter ball are intended as light-hearted parodies.
For a decade, the speeches made at the dinner have been widely regarded as being off-the-record. However, the most senior press gallery journalist, Channel Nine's Laurie Oakes, routinely refuses to attend the ball, and has consistently said he is not bound by the off-the-record convention.
He played leaked audio, and a small snippet of video uploaded on social media, in a news piece on Thursday.
Mr Turnbull and Mr Trump had a famously difficult phone call after the president entered the White House. A furious president ended a call early, angry over a deal struck by the Obama administration for America to resettle refugees from Australia's offshore detention islands. Mr Trump reportedly told Mr Turnbull he had spoken with four other world leaders – including Russian resident Vladimir Putin – and said "this was the worst call by far".
‘It was beautiful’
Later the two met for an apparently convivial meeting at a dinner on the USS Intrepid aircraft carrier in New York to mark the 75th anniversary of the Battle of the Coral Sea. Impersonating Mr Trump at the press dinner, Mr Turnbull joked: "It was beautiful. It was the most beautiful putting-me-at-ease ever."
Speaking in a 3AW radio interview shortly after the speech was leaked, Mr Turnbull said the speech was light-hearted and affectionate.
“Well it [the ball] is a great tradition, it’s a big charity fundraiser . . . and it is a good-humoured sort of roast really, the PM and the opposition leader give a speech and poke fun at themselves and often other politicians.
“My speech was light-hearted, affectionately light-hearted.”
Mr Turnbull said he was disappointed elements of the speech had been leaked, given the convention that it is not reported. “I guess what this means is at the mid-winter ball next year, I will read selected passages from Budget Paper Number Two.
“It’s a breach of protocol and a breach of faith and all of those thing, but it’s light-hearted, affectionate, and good-natured. And the butt of my jokes was myself.”
The prime minister said he wasn’t mocking the president. “It was more good-natured than that . . . It’s a stressful business politics, you’ve got to have fun.”
The US embassy in Canberra issued a statement, reiterating Mr Turnbull’s position that the speech was not intended to mock. “We understand that last night’s event is equivalent to our own White House correspondents’ dinner. We take this with the good humour that was intended.”
Guardian service