Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton have revealed they got together to celebrate the Defense Secretary’s birthday while in the US, further cementing their unlikely friendship.
The political leaders, from the two major opposing parties, appeared on the Today show on Friday morning where they opened up about their clashes abroad.
“We actually met in the States. I happened to be doing my morning run and I ran into Peter at the mall,” said Marles.
“We’ve been seeing each other a little.”
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Dutton revealed that he attended Marles’ 55th birthday party in Washington during his stay.
“He doesn’t tell you that he also celebrated his birthday while he was in Washington,” the opposition leader said.
“It was a meeting of about 900 people and he was the protagonist.
“Too many birthday candles for me to report on, but it was a good occasion… I was really excited to be there.”
Marles visited the US last week to meet his US counterpart Lloyd Austin to discuss the Australia-US alliance.
Speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, Marles said there was “no more important partner” for Australia than the US.
Dutton was on leave and traveling in America, but attended the US-led dialogue to stay informed about the alliance.
In May, the two politicians revealed they were actually friends, describing the revelation as a “dirty secret”.
“The dirty secret is we’re actually friends,” Marles said ahead of the May 21 federal election.
“Peter has terrible politics. I really hope he loses,” Marles continued.
“I like Peter and we are good friends.”
Dutton then delivered his own message to the deputy Labor leader.
“I would tell Richard it’s a secret and we don’t want to reveal it on the Today show,” she said.
“We’ll leave that for another time.”
The deputy prime minister also admitted last month that he was “very proud” of Mr Dutton after he was appointed opposition leader.
“On a personal level I’m very proud of him, but on a professional level the gloves are off,” Marles said.